The Times of Israel

What Matters Now to religion and state activist Uri Regev: Averting a theocracy

Fri, 17 Mar 2023 06:48:35 +0000

The Israeli lawyer/Reform rabbi explains how the judicial overhaul package may affect religious freedom – and the lack thereof – in the Holy Land

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Amended figures refute claim that 6 of 7 immigrants since 2012 aren’t Jewish

Tue, 24 Dec 2019 19:24:23 +0000

Population Authority statistics show some 95% of Western immigrants are recognized by Israel's rabbinate as Jewish, but only about a third from former Soviet Union

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Population Authority dismisses claim 85% of immigrants to Israel aren’t Jewish

Mon, 23 Dec 2019 15:45:27 +0000

Hiddush, a religious freedom organization, releases erroneous number, obtained through a freedom of information request, also claiming 70% of US immigrants are non-Jews

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Israelis want American Jewish help in promoting religious pluralism, study finds

Fri, 07 Sep 2018 13:31:06 +0000

Overwhelming numbers of Israelis want a reduction in religious restrictions imposed by the Orthodox state rabbinate, even as most prefer Orthodox practice

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Mayim Bialik, Michael Douglas join call for religious freedom in Israel

Fri, 15 Sep 2017 16:05:45 +0000

Statement signed by dozens of rabbis, leaders and celebrities across religious spectrum urges Israeli reforms, including for civil marriage and gender equality at holy sites

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Could a 1924 British Mandate law kill the Western Wall pluralistic pavilion?

Thu, 31 Aug 2017 03:32:41 +0000

A long-awaited High Court hearing will assemble petitioners on both sides of a frozen government decision to stake their claims at Judaism's holiest site

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US State Department slams Israeli stagnation on religious freedom reform

Tue, 22 Aug 2017 18:54:59 +0000

Annual report homes in on hot-button areas of Western Wall pluralism, conversion and who has the right to pray at the country's holiest sites

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Reform and Conservative Judaism left out of new Israeli pluralism index

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 15:32:55 +0000

Survey of 1,300 Jewish and Arab Israelis is a window into seeds of coexistence, and lingering prejudice

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With a spotlight on the Western Wall, is this Israel’s Reform moment?

Fri, 13 Jan 2017 11:20:38 +0000

In an increasingly exclusionary religious Israel, Modern Orthodox Israelis are joining forces with a flourishing Liberal Jewry. Approaching a year to the announcement of a pluralistic prayer pavilion, will this partnership see it built?

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In about-face, rabbinate says attendant not mandatory in ritual bath

Wed, 22 Jun 2016 15:33:08 +0000

In Israeli religious authorities' allowing women to immerse in the mikveh in privacy, some see a possible recognition of other ways of expressing Judaism

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In Ottoman holdover, Israel doubles down on marriage restrictions

Thu, 02 Jun 2016 12:58:00 +0000

Knesset upholds 2-year jail term for Jewish couples who don't choose an approved rabbi to conduct their weddings

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Will Supreme Court’s bite out of rabbinate monopoly be upheld?

Fri, 01 Apr 2016 13:05:39 +0000

In landmark ruling aimed to embrace diversity of the Jewish people, conversions outside auspices of Israel's religious authority are to be acceptable for immigration status. But will this decision too be 'castrated' by a coalition of religious MKs?

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What happens when two Jews means two different peoplehoods?

Mon, 14 Mar 2016 14:04:43 +0000

The clash between much of the Diaspora and Israel over conversion and the question of 'Who is a Jew?' means the Jewish state now has two de facto classes of Jews. Where will it all end?

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660,000 Israelis unable to get married here

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 13:44:20 +0000

Prohibitions on civil and non-Orthodox weddings block 364,000 immigrants, 284,000 gays and lesbians, 13,000 non-Orthodox converts to Judaism, Knesset caucus told

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Will Orthodox Israelis’ revolt against the chief rabbinate spur a domino effect?

Sun, 27 Dec 2015 19:56:52 +0000

An in-depth look at a year of shifting sands in the notorious historical status quo of religion and state in the Holy Land

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