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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 340

ITIM

File - Oded Forer, chair of Knesset Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs, attends a committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on January 19, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
January 23, 2024, 4:34 pm
Government failure to arrange circumcisions delays conversion to Judaism for 98 men
A soldier fighting in Gaza nearly spent NIS 7,000 of his own money to finalize the process, an activist representing him says
By Canaan Lidor
Justice Isaac Amit at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, January 4, 2024. (Flash90/Yonatan Sindel)
January 16, 2024, 12:52 pm
Rabbinate delays divorce of a woman it helped wed but now says may not be Jewish
High Court of Justice orders rabbinical judges to discontinue their inquiry and nullify the marriage, after delaying since 2021
By Canaan Lidor
Head of ITIM Rabbi Seth Farber. (Courtesy)
November 24, 2023, 9:20 am
What Matters Now to Rabbi Seth Farber: Hostages and mixed burials in Jewish law
Issues of religion and state can take on more urgency in times of war. The head of ITIM, an NGO aimed at helping Israelis navigate the country’s religious bureaucracy, explains
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at her inauguration ceremony in Jerusalem on February 8, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
September 4, 2023, 12:57 pm
Daily Briefing Sept 4: AG continues to march to her own drum as justice minister fumes
Political correspondent Tal Schneider on attorney general’s stances, what PM & FM aim to accomplish on overseas trips; religion reporter Canaan Lidor spends a day in south Tel Aviv
By ToI Staff
A mikveh, or Jewish ritual bath, in a Jerusalem neighborhood. (illustrative photo credit: Uri Lenz/Flash90)
August 31, 2023, 12:58 pm
Public mikvehs routinely violate women’s right to immerse alone, study finds
Analysis by ITIM group reveals that only 188 of 320 of ritual bathhouses in large cities say they comply with a 2016 ruling on the issue
By Canaan Lidor
File: Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau (L) and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef convene an emergency meeting against a new proposal to overhaul the conversion to Judaism system, on June 3, 2018. (Courtesy of the Chief Rabbinate spokesperson)
May 25, 2023, 9:41 am
As demand for Orthodox Jewish conversion soars, the number of successful cases dips
The government’s protracted process is not appealing to most of the half-million Israelis who are not recognized as Jewish by the Rabbinate
By Canaan Lidor
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) receives an invitation to the COP28 climate summit in November in Dubai from Mohamed Al Khaja, the UAE ambassador to Israel, May 25, 2023 (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
May 23, 2023, 1:33 pm
Daily Briefing May 23: Netanyahu finally gets UAE invite, but not the one he wanted
Diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman brings headlines from the annual Herzliya Conference; religion reporter Canaan Lidor on stymied conversions and dying European communities
By ToI Staff
Illustrative: An Israeli couple photographed for their wedding at a blossoming almond tree field in Latrun on February 25, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
February 16, 2023, 2:55 pm
As Jewish Israelis lose trust, fewer are marrying through the Rabbinate
The number of Jews registering weddings with the state body has decreased since 2011, even as the population has grown by more than 20%, religious advocacy group finds
By Judah Ari Gross
From right, MK Ze'ev Elkin, One Million Lobby CEO Alex Rif, manager of the alternative Orthodox conversion program Giyur K'Halacha Yael Belenky, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, Afula Chief Rabbi Shmuel David and journalist Yair Sherki discuss the Law of Return at a conference in Ramat Gan on January 25, 2023. (Judah Ari Gross/Times of Israel)
January 27, 2023, 2:52 am
Even among its advocates, changing the Law of Return proves trickier than expected
Lobbying group for Russian-speaking Israelis holds fierce debate on cutting the ‘grandchild clause,’ with all sides acknowledging that it won’t happen fast
By Judah Ari Gross
David Ben Moshe holds his newly received immigrant visa in the Population Authority on January 12, 2023. (Courtesy/David Ben Moshe)
January 12, 2023, 4:30 pm
After five years of waiting, American convert finally granted Israeli citizenship
David Ben Moshe, born David Bonett, first applied for citizenship in 2018 and spent years fighting against the unyielding world of Israeli bureaucracy
By Judah Ari Gross
Women study at the Ohr Torah Stone Susi Bradfield Women’s Institute of Halakhic Leadership in Jerusalem on November 22, 2022. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)
December 15, 2022, 7:01 am
In first, women take official Jewish law tests, but activists say it isn’t enough
For now, the state-issued exams represent a purely symbolic victory, granting female Torah scholars formal recognition with no practical significance
By Judah Ari Gross
View of the Jerusalem District Court on January 28, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
September 29, 2022, 6:06 pm
Court: Orthodox conversions done outside state rabbinate acceptable for citizenship
Despite ruling, those who convert to Judaism through private Orthodox rabbinic courts still won’t be recognized for official religious purposes
By Judah Ari Gross
View of a new underground cemetery at Givat Shaul Cemetery in Jerusalem, on October 30, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
September 7, 2022, 4:04 pm
Israel incentivizes proper burials for stillborns to ‘ease suffering of families’
Advocacy group says new changes to payment policy remove final obstacles keeping burial societies from performing funerals for fetuses
By Judah Ari Gross
Israel's Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau visits the Neve Shmuel High School in Efrat, on October 17, 2021. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)
August 23, 2022, 2:37 am
Chief rabbi held up conversions as leverage against government reform, group claims
Lau only started signing documents once coalition’s reforms fell apart, according to religious rights group Itim; chief rabbi confirms faster pace but denies political motivations
By Judah Ari Gross
Then-Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana speaks during a Conference of the 'Besheva' group in Jerusalem, on August 1, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
July 3, 2022, 1:16 pm
Matan Kahana has upset the religious status quo, and his work won’t be easily undone
After a year in the Religious Services Ministry, Yamina MK gets a middling grade from liberal figures for shaking up Haredi hegemony but failing to advance core issues
By Judah Ari Gross
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