Chief rabbinate of israel

Manasseh’s children come home to Zion - and fulfill a 2,700-year promise - opinion

The aliyah of hundreds of members of the Bnei Menashe community from northeastern India, completes a long and meandering journey that began nearly 2,700 years ago.

|ByMICHAEL FREUND
PEOPLE AWAIT their Bnei Menashe relatives making aliyah, at Ben-Gurion Airport, 2006.
PHILLIPS and COHEN on their wedding day.

Lost in translation, found in love: Ariana Phillips’s path to marriage in Israel

After matriculating at Washington University in St. Louis and participating in Chabad and Hillel activities on campus, Phillips's interest in Judaism grew.

|ByALAN ROSENBAUM
Three women who arrived in the morning to sit the Rabbinate exams finally do so at a four-hour delay, April 27, 2026

Rabbinate accused of defying court as Israeli women left waiting for exams

Rabbi Seth Farber, the founder and head of ITIM, said the women had been left waiting for hours and that the organization was trying to get them food for lunch.

|BySARAH BEN-NUN
A Tzohar kashrut sticker in a window

Tzohar returns to High Court, seeks order compelling Rabbinate to license it as kosher certifier

The new petition argues that, even after a ruling in November ordering the Rabbinate to decide whether Tzohar qualifies and, if so, to issue a license, the state still has not acted. 

|BySARAH BEN-NUN

Position for Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi reopens as Rabbinical Committee withdraws candidate

The Rabbinical Committee withdraws Rabbi Meir Kahane as the Religious Zionist candidate for Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi, reopening the race for the position.

MAY 28, 2024ByYAKI ADAMKER/WALLA!
Rabbi Meir Kahane, Religious Zionist candidate for Chief Rabbi poses for a picture in Jerusalem, on June 7, 2023. Uploaded on 28/5/2024

Mayors demand that gov't drop plan to take over appointments of city rabbis

The 100 mayors who wrote the letter to the Religious Affairs Minister were specifically expressing their opposition to a series of directives published by the Religious Affairs ministry on April 11.

APRIL 16, 2024ByELIAV BREUER
Arye Deri and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, attend a Shas Party faction meeting, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on January 23, 2023.

Gantz, Sa'ar clash with rest of coalition over legislative veto power

Conflict arose within the government after the coalition announced that it would proceed with a bill proposal that Gantz and Sa'ar vetoed.

MARCH 18, 2024ByELIAV BREUER
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Benny Gantz, head of National Unity, and opposition lawmaker Gideon Saar look on as lawmakers gather at the Knesset plenum to vote on a bill that would limit some Supreme Court power, in Jerusalem July 24, 2023.

The Chief Rabbi's comments: Tone deaf and damaging - comment

Today, there is a strong sense that if people want to leave, they should go -- no one is keeping them here. 

MARCH 10, 2024ByHERB KEINON
Israel's Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef speaks during a ceremony of the Israeli police for the Jewish new year at the National Headquarters of the Israel Police in Jerusalem on September 22, 2022.

It's time to acknowledge women's Torah knowledge - opinion

The High Court of Justice ruling is significant in that it is a critical recognition of women’s education, knowledge, and integration into the sphere of Torah and Halacha.

JANUARY 27, 2024ByDEVORAH EVRON
THE WRITER converses with students in the Midreshet Lindenbaum Beit Midrash in Jerusalem.

High Court rules: Women can be on committee to select Chief Rabbi

The impact of the decision is yet to be seen: it does not mandate, but merely permits, the inclusion of women to be considered for the committee that selects Chief Rabbis and Chief Rabbinate Council.

JANUARY 14, 2024ByLEON KRAIEM
A WOMAN seeking divorce in a ‘beit din’ was the sole female in the room until the advent of ‘toanot.’ (Illustrative)

This is why Israel plans to bury hundreds of cars, with ashes and blood stains

To preserve the sanctity of those murdered by Hamas, for the first time since the establishment of the state, they decided to bury the vehicles.

NOVEMBER 22, 2023ByZVIKA KLEIN
Rabbi Yaakov Rose of ZAKA Tel Aviv examining the cars with remains in southern Israel

Israelis killed on October 7 denied Jewish burials due to halachic status

The incidents came to light on Monday during a Knesset discussion about expediting the conversion process for those currently serving in the IDF.

NOVEMBER 13, 2023ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Alina Falahati, 21, who was murdered on October 7 and buried 'outside the fence' due to her halachic status (she had not completed the conversion process to Judaism.)

'Wombs for rent': Opposition MK decries the lack of female reps on religious councils

Biton made the comments during a verbal scuffle between Labor Party MK Gilad Kariv and ultra-Orthodox coalition members.

JUNE 28, 2023ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
MK Dvora Biton taken out by Knesset guards during a a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting on the planned judicial reform, at the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem on June 25, 2023

Shas, Otzma Yehudit face off over controversial Chief Rabbinate bills

Shas controls both offices that have the most influence on religious services – the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Interior Ministry.

JUNE 27, 2023ByELIAV BREUER
Itamar Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security and head of the Otzma Yehudit political party gives a press statement during a party meeting in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, May 3, 2023.