Diaspora Jews feel that Israel must reflect all Jewish values, The Jewish People Policy Institute told Israel’s Cabinet in its 10th annual Assessment of the Situation & Dynamics of the Jewish People. The report was presented to the Cabinet Sunday by JPPI president Avinoam Bar-Yosef alongside co-chairs and former U.S. ambassadors Dennis Ross and Stuart…
(JTA) — At 3:30 Shavuot morning, more than 100 people are seated on folding chairs singing in Yiddish as men walk around with shots of vodka and cups of coffee. Up front, a man in a black frock coat and black hat is belting out the notes, his eyes closed. Except for the live instruments…
A survey found that United States Jews want Israel to remain a Jewish and democratic state, but that Israel’s Jewish character should also accommodate non-Orthodox Judaism. The survey, put out by the Jewish Agency’s jewish People Policy Institute and released Thursday, was conducted by holding discussions and seminars with Jewish groups across the U.S., as…
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke from Jerusalem recently to Reform Judaism’s large biennial conference via Jumbotron, the 5,000 Jews gathered here offered only pro forma applause as he restated his commitment to a two-state solution for Israel’s 46-year occupation of the West Bank. But then, Netanyahu turned to the issue of religious pluralism…
Defying predictions, America’s Jewish federations mustered to mount an unabashed show of strength when they gathered in Jerusalem November 10 for the annual General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). It wasn’t exactly the sort of defiance their Israeli hosts were accustomed to seeing at an American Jewish philanthropists’ convention. Prime Minister…
Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Labor Party Chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich called for greater religious pluralism in Israel. Speaking in separate appearances Monday at a plenary session of the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly in Jerusalem, Lapid and Yachimovich both advocated for the loosening of Orthodox control of Israel’s religious laws. Yachimovich stressed…
An Israeli lawmaker on Monday submitted a highly controversial proposal that would make Judaism superior to democracy in the State of Israel, amending a previous bill that was tossed by the Knesset before the last general election. Coalition Chairman MK Yariv Levin (Likud) presented his formulation for a new Israeli basic law, one that obligates…
The Israeli government has taken a major step in its effort to weaken Haredi control over marriages within the country’s mainstream population. Under a landmark reform, announced by the Ministry of Religious Services on May 19, local marriage registrars affiliated with the government-sponsored Chief Rabbinate will no longer have an exclusive monopoly over registering the…
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