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Religious Services Ministry

Knesset Finance Committee chair MK Hanoch Milwidsky leads a committee hearing, August 4, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 5, 2026, 5:32 pm
High Court freezes contentious Knesset funds for Haredi schools, Settlements Ministry
Justice Stein issues order due to ‘apparent procedural flaws’ in convening Finance Committee; coalition accuses court of hypocrisy, says similar funds allocated by last government
By Jeremy Sharon
Rabbi Zevadia Cohen (Religious Services Ministry)
April 26, 2026, 10:23 pm
Shas-backed candidate Zevadia Cohen appointed new chief rabbi of Tel Aviv
Rabbi selected by a 64-member committee after receiving the support of Mayor Ron Huldai
By Rossella Tercatin
Finance Committee chair MK Hanoch Milwidsky leads a Finance committee meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem on August 12, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
September 11, 2025, 8:54 pm
Knesset panel approves NIS 80 million budget transfer for religious councils
Finance Committee votes to fund Shas-linked religious councils after ultra-Orthodox party supported coalition’s Knesset advancement of ministerial cuts to boost wartime budget
By Ariela Karmel
Body bags of victims from the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, are stacked in a container at the Shura military base, near Ramle, October 24, 2023. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
April 26, 2025, 2:28 pm
IDF still holding 350 bags of unidentified human remains from Oct. 7 massacre – report
Military rabbinate reportedly wants to repeat forensic examination, which religious services ministry opposes; issue said set for decision in a committee over coming days
By ToI Staff
Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli attends a plenum session on the so-called Rabbis Bill in the Knesset, January 15, 2025. (Goldberg/Flash90)
January 16, 2025, 5:22 pm
After yearlong strife, Knesset passes Shas’s controversial ‘Rabbis Law’
New law on funding salaries of religious officials ‘promotes the politicization of the rabbinate,’ warns Rabbi David Stav of the liberal Tzohar rabbinic group
By Sam Sokol
Illustrative: Anti-government protesters and police stand next to the Jerusalem Rabbinate and Religious Council, May 4, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
December 20, 2024, 1:58 pm
Critics charge new regulations will hand Shas control over municipal rabbinates
‘They will actually control all the local rabbinates, all the local rabbis in Israel,’ says Rabbi David Stav from the liberal Tzohar rabbinic group
By Sam Sokol
Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli attends a session ain the Knesset plenum, April 15, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 28, 2024, 9:58 pm
After ‘Rabbis Law’ stymied, Shas minister advances appointments of municipal rabbis
Michael Malkieli’s spokesman says he doesn’t believe Haredi party ditched effort to pass bill despite Ben Gvir’s opposition, but ‘there’s an understanding’ it can’t clear Knesset
By Sam Sokol
Otzma Yehudit chief Itamar Ben Gvir (left) and Shas leader Aryeh Deri seen speaking separately in the Knesset in this composite image. (Flash90)
July 8, 2024, 11:40 pm
Some in coalition threaten its demise as Ben Gvir blocks key Shas bill, slams PM and Deri
Far-right minister says he won’t back law unless given a spot on disbanded war cabinet; Shas calls Otzma Yehudit chief an ‘inflated balloon,’ he labels Deri a lapdog of the left
By ToI Staff and Sam Sokol
Members of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee debate a measure on funding local religious councils, July 2, 2024. (Dani Shem-Tov/Knesset)
July 2, 2024, 10:25 pm
New bill on funding religious councils raises concerns over revival of Rabbis Bill
‘They are basically asking for a blank check to appoint rabbis as they see fit,’ says Rabbi Seth Farber; Shas MK argues bill ‘not connected at all’ to the controversial legislation
By Sam Sokol
The Chief Rabbis of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef (L) and Rabbi David Lau (R) speaks during an event, on January 11, 2016. (Yaakov Coehn/Flash90)
June 16, 2024, 9:38 pm
Knesset revives bill expanding Chief Rabbinate’s influence over local authorities
Previously torpedoed by Benny Gantz, legislation could cost taxpayers tens of millions of shekels annually in salaries for hundreds of new neighborhood rabbis
By Sam Sokol
Israeli soldiers walk past houses destroyed by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Be'eri, October 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
October 23, 2023, 10:43 pm
Families of Be’eri massacre victims say religious officials delaying cremation
Relatives say Religious Services Ministry, led by a Haredi minister, is dithering on release of bodies
By Canaan Lidor
In the streets of Uman, a day after Rosh Hashanah, September 18, 2023 (Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
September 20, 2023, 1:25 pm
Daily Briefing Sept. 20: A minister’s outburst; Uman, not just for adults; PM in US
Carrie Keller-Lynn discusses Tuesday’s Knesset debates, Canaan Lidor reports from Uman over Rosh Hashanah and Europe’s rabbis, and Tal Schneider updates on the PM’s US visit
By ToI Staff
Incoming Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli speaks at his inauguration ceremony at his ministry headquarters in Jerusalem on January 1, 2023. (Courtesy/Religious Services Ministry)
January 1, 2023, 10:47 pm
Incoming religious services minister pledges to strengthen Rabbinate, boost salaries
Michael Malkieli also vows to expand powers of rabbinic courts; Shas leader Aryeh Deri says party paid a political price to get the ministry
By Judah Ari Gross
Incoming Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli signs an order delaying the implementation of a kashrut reform as Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, right, watches, in Malkieli's office in the Knesset on December 29, 2022. (Courtesy: Michael Malkieli's office)
December 29, 2022, 10:08 pm
New religious services minister delays kashrut reform as coalition looks to nix it
Shas’s Malkieli signs order putting off privatization of kosher supervision by six months, giving incoming government time to roll back predecessors’ initiative
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
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