Freedom of religion in israel

Education Ministry establishes guidelines guaranteeing students' rights to lay tefillin in schools

The directive aimed to establish clear, uniform rules and provide school principals with a guided framework to facilitate the policy's implementation throughout the public school system.

A man puts on a tefillin in Washington Square Park in Manhattan on June 19, 2026 in New York City. Tefillin are a Jewish traditional ritual object, believed to be an approximately 2000 year old tradition.
People watch Macy's Fourth of July fireworks as the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, from a ship at Brooklyn Bridge Marina, in New York City, US, July 4, 2026

Coast Guard removes environmentalist ship from US 250th anniversary parade over political banners

Scribe Nadav Elhadad writes a Torah scroll at Safed’s Mount Sinai Institute, in Feb.

Shavuot and Mount Sinai: Why modern Jews still wrestle with the Torah

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the general Conference of Fatah Youth in Ramallah, with a backdrop including a portrait of Abbas and Yasser Arafat, November 27, 2025; illustrative.

PA drafts constitution, omits Jewish ties to Jerusalem, calls for Sharia legal system


'All those who love Jerusalem must do utmost to prevent religious war in holy city'

Religious leaders of different faiths join Rivlin in condemning violence, terror and incitement.

President Reuven Rivlin hosts religious leaders at his residence

Center Field: ReligioGoons – the Jewish Taliban – threaten Judaism and Zionism

Israeli ReligioGoons mock Judaism’s ethical traditions. Their verbal violence often encourages physical violence. Their fanaticism demeans Judaism and Zionism.

Bezalel Smotrich.

Wars of the Jews, 21st century edition

A series of challenges to the monopoly of Israel’s state rabbinate may threaten stability of government

An Orthodox Jewish worshipper prays at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City

Analysis: Unyielding religious establishment threatens to be its own undoing

Slowly but surely, the conflict between democratic rights, and the legally enshrined monopoly of one Jewish denomination over religious life in Israel is being chipped away.

Chief rabbis of Jerusalem, Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Rabbi Arye Stern

Conversion victory

We recommend that the present government maintain that policy of keeping the question of “Who is a Jew” out of the hands of a bunch of ultra-conservative, politically connected rabbis.

Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef at the Western Wall

Jerusalem Municipality to fund pluralist and non-Orthodox religious study groups

Despite the haredi opposition, several of the ultra-Orthodox council representatives absented themselves from the vote.

HANAN RUBIN

I Need A Favor

The Jerusalem Post

Wanted: Spiritual leaders

The Chief Rabbinate must face the reality: Israel is not a religious state. That may be unfortunate, but it is a reality.

WHO WILL guide this man? The author argues we need better spiritual leaders.

A-G: Knesset bill restricting mikve use is unconstitutional

The bill passed a preliminary reading last week and has been put forward by haredi parties in the Knesset.

A mikve, the Jewish ritual bath [Illustrative]

THINK ABOUT IT: Unjustified hatred

In the Knesset plenum, whose verbatim minutes appear on the Knesset website within an hour of a speech being delivered, MK Bezalel Smotrich branded their religious beliefs and practices “a lie.”

A mikve, the Jewish ritual bath [Illustrative]