Freedom of religion in israel

Who owns Judaism? Israel must take it back from the religious establishment - opinion

Israelis have not abandoned Judaism. They are abandoning those who claim ownership over it.

|ByBATYA KAHANA-DROR
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish protesters demonstrate against a cafe operating on Shabbat, while secular protesters hold a counter-demonstration, in central Jerusalem, August 29, 2026
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.

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.

|ByJONAH DAVIDOV
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

The ship had banners that read, "Save the Clean Water Act" and "Indigenous Rights, Racial Justice, Climate Solutions."

|ByREUTERS
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

The debate over Torah from Sinai may depend less on proof than on the condition of the soul.

|ByNATHAN LOPES CARDOZO

Remembering a mentor, friend and peacemaker, Shaikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa

Shaikh Khalid died this past Friday, January 27th, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

FEBRUARY 1, 2023ByABRAHAM COOPER
Rabbi Abraham Cooper meets Shaikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, on Hanukkah, December 2017.

Mainstream religious Zionist rabbi appointed head of Conversion Authority

A new head of the Conversion Authority has been appointed by the Prime Minister's Office.

JANUARY 17, 2023ByZVIKA KLEIN
The building of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel is located in Jerualem.

Israel's High Court protects people from across the political spectrum - opinion

The legal reforms will remove barriers to misuse of power and open the door for more criminals to enter politics and destroy the state.

JANUARY 13, 2023ByKYLIE EISMAN-LIFSCHITZ
THE HIGH Court ruled that regulations arbitrarily preventing anyone under 21 from receiving compensation for the 2005 Gaza eviction did not comply with the proportionality requirement of the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty.

Israel's issues on religion and state – return to status quo or a new era?

POLITICAL AFFAIRS: Since we don’t yet know what the government will do, what are the most dramatic clauses in the agreements, taken at face value?

DECEMBER 30, 2022ByELIAV BREUER
UKRAINIAN IMMIGRANTS are greeted by then-absorption minister Pnina Tamano-Shata (third right) upon their arrival at Ben-Gurion Airport in February.

Override Clause will erode Israel's democracy, castrate Supreme Court - opinion

This policy is intended to bring Israel closer to the model of a Torah state and distance it from the Declaration of Independence’s promise of religious freedom and equality.

NOVEMBER 14, 2022ByURI REGEV
MK MOSHE GAFNI emerges from coalition talks at a hotel in Jerusalem, last week. ‘We are joining in order to implement policy and to do so we need the override clause,’ he said.

Israel's struggle for religious freedom in a Jewish theocracy

The struggle for religious pluralism in general in Israel is not a hot item politically – only when a certain powerful minority can wag the dogs of the party in power.

AUGUST 10, 2022ByILAN CHAIM
A rock fell on the egalitarian section at the Western Wall shortly after the end of the fast of Tisha Be’av on July 22, 2018.

Majority of Israelis wish to see budget for diverse Jewish cultural events

A majority of the Jewish public in Israel believes that there should be more accommodation for the diversity of identities and traditions in Israeli society.

JULY 21, 2022ByZVIKA KLEIN
REFORM JEWS hold up broken hearts as they demonstrate outside the Knesset in 1997 against pending legislation by ultra-religious parties to tighten their grip on conversion issues.

Board of Deputies of British Jews criticizes WZO over Kotel violence

Women of the Wall are demanding that Yaakov Hagoel, chairman of the World Zionist Organization and acting chairman of the Jewish Agency, take responsibility and apologize for violence that ensued.

MAY 10, 2022ByZVIKA KLEIN
Women of the Wall praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, January 2022

Israel’s democracy: Refuge for Christians in Middle East

Opinion: "Christians have been able to take pilgrimages to countless religious sites in every corner of Israeli territory," writes Rev. Johnnie Moore.

FEBRUARY 23, 2022ByREV. JOHNNIE MOORE
Sea of Galilee

Pluralists outraged over Bennett ruling out Kotel deal

PM's broken promise called "strategic ticking time bomb that will harm relations between Israel and world Jewry."

JANUARY 29, 2022ByGIL HOFFMAN
PRAYING AT Robinson’s Arch at the south end of the Kotel, the section set aside for pluralistic prayer.