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Is the Orthodox Halacha in the USA different than it is in Israel?

07/06/2023 12:03

The Halacha is the Halacha is the Halacha!

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Conversion compromise postponed - again.

Uri Regev 19/12/2017 11:16

Efforts to draft a compromise agreement between the Haredi political parties and the Reform and Conservative movements in Israel over the issue of Jewish conversion will not be finished before a six-month deadline arrives at the end of this month.

Mazal Tov from the Consul General of Israel in New York

Uri Regev 14/12/2017 00:50

The New York Times reports that Consul General Dayan wrote: "it is no secret many members of the American Jewish community disagree with existing Israeli legislation on civil status issues... Ultimately the Israeli Knesset — elected democratically by the Israeli citizens — legislates.

Highlights from the 2017 Israel Democracy Index

14/12/2017 00:33

This week, the annual Israel Democracy Index was published by the Israel Democracy Institute, underlining that Israelis harbor deep distrust for their politicians, the media, and the Chief Rabbinate but are generally favorably inclined toward the courts and presidency.

63% Israelis not aware that Jews can only divorce via Chief Rabbinate

10/12/2017 14:12

More than 700,000 Israeli citizens can not marry at all in Israel, but only 11% of the citizenry are aware of this. Sixty-three percent of the public is not aware that even couples who get married civilly abroad are required to get divorced via the Israeli Chief Rabbinate.

Three weddings and a protest

Uri Regev 03/12/2017 10:58

Today, at Temple Emanu-El in New York, New York three young couples from Israel got married, making the statement that the basic right of marriage freedom should be denied to no one.

Yair Lapid's forceful speech against legislating religious coercion

Uri Regev 30/11/2017 23:16

The forceful speech made by Yair Lapid at the Knesset yesterday during a debate on a bill proposed by MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni, Chair of the Knesset Finance Committee, regarding Shabbat.

New report sheds light on Haredim in Higher Education

29/11/2017 22:30

A recent report by the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel sheds light on another important dimension of the official statistics on Haredim in Higher Education that are so frequently cited by government officials.

Religion & gender discrimination in Israel

27/11/2017 22:03

An important reaffirmation of Hiddush's assertion that addressing the challenge of religious freedom & equality requires a more comprehensive, systemic, proactive, and bold overhauling was published this month by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in its sixth periodic report on Israel.

71% of Jewish Israelis favor allowing railway maintenance work on Shabbat

26/11/2017 15:53

The public believes in the principle of 'live and let live,' and it wants to support freedom of religion and freedom from religion in Israel.

Religion & State was front and center at the 2017 General Assembly

17/11/2017 00:27

The religion-state stew is clearly boiling. This week, the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America convened in Los Angeles, and these challenges were front and center.

Corruption in the name of God

Uri Regev 17/11/2017 00:18

In the last couple days, a new chapter was added to the never ending saga of Israeli religious leaders who view the law as merely a suggestion. Whether for personal benefit or political opportunism, they do not hesitate to deviate from law and common norms.

Deputy Minister Hotovely: pluralistic Judaism "emptied Judaism of content"

08/11/2017 15:46

At a conference of the American-Israeli community in Washington, the Deputy Foreign Minister said that non-Orthodox Judaism is not accepted in Israel. Director of the Reform movement: "Hotovely joins the wild campaign of incitement that has been going on in recent months against Reform Judaism."

The Kotel controversy

Uri Regev 03/11/2017 03:21

Many are following the twists and turns of the Kotel controversy with great interest and often anxiety. While grateful to the Jewish Week for featuring his take on the current state of the controversy, Rabbi Uri Regev feels that further contextualization and explanation is needed beyond the quotes that were reported.

Religious extremism emanating from Israel

20/10/2017 00:01

Not content to exert their influence within the Haredi community, fundamentalist religious leaders and their sponsors have taken to attacking the Modern Orthodoxy community, which extols the virtues of Torah together with modernity and secular education.

The religion-state aspects of Israel's Nation-state bill

Uri Regev 18/10/2017 23:11

Next week the Knesset Special Committee on the Nation-State Bill (formally, 'Basic Law: Israel - The Nation-State of the Jewish People') will be deliberating on the revised draft bill, which was initiated by fourteen MKs from the Likud, Jewish Home, Yisrael Beiteinu, and Kulanu parties.