יום ראשון, י״ב אב תשפ״וSunday, July 26, 2026
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The Supreme Court has ordered Tel Aviv to enforce the law that prohibits stores from operating on the Sabbath. It overruled a February ruling by a lower court, which accepted the city's claim that it carried out its responsibility by fining business owners without a need to force them to close. The three-judge panel, including […]
The Cabinet on Sunday approved a measure to extend Daylight Savings Time until the end of October. It also approved exporting 40 percent of natural gas, and the two decisions prompted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to remark, “Now we have a land flowing with milk and honey, gas and sunlight.” The latest change concerning when […]
Ephraim HaLevy, former chief of the Mossad, has committed himself to a program which will help certify the Jewish identities of thousands of immigrants, primarily from the former Soviet Union, who need certifications that they are Jewish in order to marry under official Israeli law. The announcement came at the annual meeting of the Shorashim […]
Israeli Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger today told the Justice Minister and the Minister of Religious Affairs that due to his ongoing investigation by police he decided to suspend himself as an active judge on the Rabbinical Court. Rabbi Metzger's attorneys David Libai and Elad Rath announced that, until the end of the investigation, he […]
The Rabbinical Council of America on Monday sent Rabbi David Stav, a Religious Zionist candidate for the post of Israel's Chief Rabbi, a letter of encouragement, stating the organization's full support: To the Honorable Rabbi David Stav Shlit'a, Rabbi of the town of Shoham, Chairman of the Rabbinical Organization Tzohar, the Rabbi of the Ezra […]
Streisand loves Israel – she even visits the country once in a while. She gives lots of money. And she can’t resist a chance to preach about women’s rights in Israel but admits it is a "foreign land.”
A few boys began to push him, trying to make him trip and fall while he was dancing.
The campaign for Chief Rabbi has sunk to the depths even politicians have not reached. Rav Ovadia calls Rav Stav of Tzohar “evil” and Tzohar calls on the Torah sage to “repent.” Next up: Tisha B’Av.
The campaign for Chief Rabbi in Israel got uglier Saturday night with Shas party’s spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef saying in his weekly address that Tzohar Rabbi does “not have the fear God.” Rabbi Stab has staged an unprecedented campaign to promote himself for Chief Rabbi. His candidacy is supported by most national religious leaders […]
The Racial Discrimination Act of 1975 made BDS actions unlawful.
Ten rabbis have signed a petition to boycott a mall in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramot because of “issues of modesty” while secular residents are organizing a demonstration in support of the shopping mall. The petition alleges that Haredi rabbis in the Ramot area struck an agreement with the mall developers on rules concerning modesty, […]
The Knesset passed into law on Tuesday a requirement that at least four women be included on the committee that elects rabbinical court rabbis. Haredi Knesset Members voted against the bill. The committee automatically includes the Justice Minister, who currently is Tzipi Livni and who will sit on the committee in addition to the four […]
By JTA
To passersby on Sunday, the crowd had a simple message, one that rings sympathetically to American ears.
Women of the Wall plan their monthly Rosh Chodesh prayers at the Kotel the second day of the month, with a Torah scroll. It’s okay to make up rules as they go along, so long as the Orthodox don’t make the rules.
In 1995, “everyone” knew settlers murdered Rabin. The “settler” Yigal Amir was from the Haifa area. Four years ago, gays accused Haredi gay-haters for killing three homosexuals. Now police say, “Not so.”
It can be argued whether the Women of the Wall are spiritual angels, but no sane person could accuse them of threatening rabbis to approve their agenda or face death. So who is behind the dirty work?
By Atara Beck
“You don’t have to send delegations to Hungary to witness raw antisemitism.”
Remember Hamas missiles on Israeli cities? Remember last year’s bloated deficit? Haredi MKs don’t. Everything was great, they say, until Lapid’s universal draft, which turned Syria against Israel.
By Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency
Similar attacks have occurred at other synagogues in the vicinity.
Jewish Home Minister Uri Orbach announced Monday night on his Facebook page that he supports Rabbi David Stav, who is part of the Tzohar organization, as Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel. Some other Jewish Home Knesset Members have backed Rabbi Yaakov Ariel for the position, but his candidacy is in doubt because of his age. […]
Lapid’s sounds like Bibi on the “peace process.” He has no trouble raising a regressive tax that hurts the middle class. But give the Haredim a break from the draft? Not in this government. We’ll see.
Lapid is beginning to smell like a rose thanks to Haredi tycoons. He is taking yeshivas off the government dole and balancing the budget. How will yeshivas survive? The tycoons have an answer - money.
By JTA
Vandals spray painted the Jerusalem home of a long-time board member of the Women of the Wall (WOW) with vicious graffiti, the first time opponents to WOW have resorted to vengeance. Some of the graffiti sprayed on the door and stairwell of Peggy Cidor’s apartment read in Hebrew: “Women of the Wall are wicked,” “Peggy, […]
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Religious Affairs Minister Yair Lapid, who doubles as Finance Minister, are arguing via Facebook over the issue of a women’s minyan at the Western Wall. Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky has proposed that a Women of the Wall demand for the minyan be allowed at the southern part of the […]
JERUSALEM – Rabbi Shlomo Amar, Israel’s current Sephardi chief rabbi whose 10-year term is set to expire in the coming months, and Ramat Gan Chief Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, a leading Ashkenazi rabbi, announced their intention to force a legal change in the chief rabbinate selection process.
By JTA
Israel's Justice Minister Tzipi Livni ordered her ministry on Thursday to draft legislation that would make the gender-based segregation of women illegal. "Discrimination against women in public places, in public services, cannot be allowed," she said in a radio interview. She wrote on her Facebook page, "Removal of women from the public sphere is damaging […]
Hitler wanted to exterminate Jews. Lapid only wants to exterminate the Haredi habit of not to work or serve in the IDF. That is enough for a Haredi columnist to compare Lapid’s and Hitler’s speeches.
By JTA
Approximately Jerusalem residents, including Meretz party supporters, protested on front of City Hall Saturday night against a plan to close a new movie theater complex on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. The complex, which includes restaurants and a 15-screen movie theater, is set to open this summer. It will close on weekends in keeping with an […]
The absence of Haredi parties in the government is already being, and women probably will be among those nominating Israel’s next rabbinic judges and chief rabbis.
Rabbi Avraham Sherman could be charged with fraud, breach of trust, obstruction of justice, and abuse of office.
If Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid has any hopes of gaining one or even two Haredim as his fans, his deputy Finance Minister blew it “on air” when he called Haredim “parasites” on a Haredi radio program.
The women win a battle, but the question is, “Do they want a war they might lose?” Netanyahu approves Sharansky’s plan for women to pray like men in an “egalitarian” section at the Western Wall.
Yair Lapid is handsome, charismatic and ego-centric, all that takes to become a political leader and for TIME Magazine to rate him as one of the world’s top 100 influential people in the world.
During a Passover tour, participants were shocked to see the monument of Joshua Salome desecrated with black spray paint.
President Peres showed off his lack of knowledge of Jewish law and told the NY UJA, “The Torah does not ban women from wearing a tallis.”
By JTA
The rabbi of the Western Wall said he "can live with" a plan presented by Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky for a permanent prayer section at the Western Wall where women can organize minyans, even one for men and women together. Sharansky briefed Rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites of Israel Shmuel […]
Sharansky says the Western Wall is long enough for women to have their own minyan and Torah reading. The Women of the Wall leader accepts the compromise. Will the Rabbinate big enough to agree?
Do Israeli orthodox rabbis have a “monopoly?” Should Diaspora Jews try to pull Israel’s domestic strings? The National Council of Jewish Women seems to say “yes” to both questions.
Israel’s Haredi rabbis continue to make a mockery of themselves and of Judaism by pressing to arrest women for saying the mourner’s prayer at the Kotel. Sharansky comes to the rescue.
By Shalom Bear
Yitzchak Tshuva expressed regret that the gas flow's arrival into Israel was being presented as having desecrated the Shabbat or the Pesach Holiday.
Pst! Heard the latest “humras” for Passover. A group of Haredi rabbis put their seal of approval for Kosher for Passover cigarettes. Israeli’s chief rabbis respond: Poison is not kosher at any time.
This latest draft represents a 30% increase in the number of Haredim drafted into the battalion.
By JTA
Israeli military officers and religious students are objecting to the selection of supermodel Bar Refaeli as part of an ad campaign to raise Israel's public image. Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, wrote the Foreign Ministry a critical letter of its choice of Refaeli, pointing out that she did not […]
Purim is an upside-down holiday, but Women of the Wall Rabbi Silverman takes the cake. She calls the Knesset Achasverous, a wicked goy, and suffers “tragedy” for her regarding them as enemies.
"Despite the mudslinging campaign against us before the elections, we recommended Netanyahu to form the next government."
By Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency
Since 2005, the annual growth rate in Judea and Samaria has been 5 percent.
Two Conservative rabbis were among the women arrested.
When the Shas Sephardi Haredi religious party is really to give up a Cabinet post for the sake of funding for yeshivas, you know they are really getting nervous.
A new Israeli government survey sheds light on mainstream media slander of Haredim and points to a growing trend of Haredim studying law and business.
The (Conservative) Rabbinical Assembly shares remarks, photos from Yair Lapid’s address to its 2012 convention.
By Aryeh Savir, Tazpit News Agency
Yesh Atid perceives a possible peace process as a response to an ensemble of threats looming over the State of Israel.
Shas party spiritual leader and former Sephardic chief rabbi Ovadia Yosef is urging Israelis not to vote for the party headed by Naftali Bennett, the Bayit HaYehudi Jewish Home party, calling it not a home for Jews but a home for gentiles.
The spot shows a Russian born bride to receive her instant giur-conversion document by fax.
By dvora
Talk of a two-state solution, while widely prevalent, is largely irrelevant.
After 10 years of marriage, with 2 children, the wife began an affair with her female boss.
The election of the next chief rabbis will take place after the 19th Knesset is convened.
Parents of students from the Raqia preschool in the Nofei Yam neighborhood in north Tel Aviv have expressed outrage that their children’s school will also serve as a synagogue on Shabbat and holidays.
By David Wilder, Tazpit News Agency
Toward early mid-afternoon the tents start popping up on the lawn in the park across from the Cave of Machpela.
In an interview published on November 7 by Israel’s Globes online business magazine, Ha’aretz editorial board member Gideon Levy spoke frankly and openly about his “hatred” of Jews making their lives in Judea and Samaria.
Memorials for two memorable Jews took place this weekend, though they stood, perhaps, on opposite sides of the political spectrum.
By JTA
The first Jewish Israeli male couple to marry has filed for divorce in a Tel Aviv rabbinical court that never recognized the marriage. It is unknown if the rabbinical court will provide a divorce for Uzi Even, the first openly gay Knesset member, and Dr. Amit Kama, Ynet reported.
By Tibbi Singer
Israel's Supreme Court on Monday ordered the Minister of Religious Affairs Yaakov Margi and the Chief Rabbinate Council to explain why they not allow single women to immerse in state-run mikvahs.
By Tibbi Singer
Among the items that Tzohar is calling for will be to elect new rabbinical court judges who would be more open to the needs of the general public, not just the religiously observant sectors; and new guidelines for managing the marriage, divorce and conversion processes in Israel – three areas that have been particularly alienating to secular Israelis.
On Tuesday, soldiers in the IDF Kfir brigade sent a letter to the office of Chief of Staff Benny Gantz complaining about discrimination between soldiers serving in the Haredi Netzach Yehuda battalion and other soldiers in the brigade, Walla reports. According to the soldiers’ claims it appears that recently soldiers serving in the Haredi battalion each received a grant of $5,000 from an American philanthropist.
By Tibbi Singer
We have grown accustomed to these letters being directed at Haredi women. Now, surprisingly, this letter is addressed specifically to the men.
Against the background of the expiration on August 1 of the Tal Law, which attempted to manage Haredi recruitment, the Moetzes Gdolei HaTorah (Assembly of Torah Sages), the supreme rabbinical policy-making council of several Haredi organizations in Israel convened Monday night in Bnei Brak at the home of leader of the Lithuanian sector, Rav Steinman, to solidify the policy of military conscription.
Senior Jerusalem rabbis permitted a late-night removal of the body of a Haredi rabbi from its grave, on the night between Thursday and Friday last week, because family members, who are Breslov Hasidim, claimed the "spiritual level" of the nearby dead was insufficient, causing what could be considered the desecration of the dead.
On Saturday night, Tisha B'Av 5772, some 50 men, women and children, members of the settlement nucleus of Yad Yair, together with the Benjamin Settlers Committee and residents of Gush Talmonim, mourned the destruction of Jerusalem, and shared their private grief over the destruction of their settlement more than three years ago by the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria.
By Tibbi Singer
Haredi consumers are not, by and large, part of Israel's social protest movement, but their shopping savvy, it turns out, is evolving constantly.
Avigdor Liberman says he will continue to pursue the drafting of all Israelis at the age of 18, but will uphold the current coalition.
Thousands of Ultra-Orthodox adults and young children are protesting against the universal draft in Kikar Shabbat in Jerusalem. The adults have handcuffed all the children together as part of their protest. United Torah Judaism and Shas have renounced the demonstration and passed the message to Prime Minister Netanyahu.
By Neil Rubin
WASHINGTON – The latest battle over religious pluralism in Israel has unleashed a new barrage of criticism and calls for reform aimed at the Orthodox-controlled Israeli Chief Rabbinate.
During his weekly talk, the Ashlag Rebbe, Rabbi Simcha Avraham Halevy, challenged politicians who promote the notion of an equal burden, describing them as imbeciles. He proposed a solution to the inequality: "Let every secular boy be forced to bear the burden of defending the homeland of Israel and fulfill his national duty to study Torah and keep the mitzvot." He also said, "The nation of Israel did not survive our brutal history by the deterrence of the IDF, nor by the might of the State of Israel, but by the merit of the study of Torah."
The Plesner Committee, tasked with crafting an alternative to the Tal Law for haredi service in Israel, is reportedly drafting a proposal which would defer the enlistment of haredi men till age 22, offer financial incentives to yeshivot that have younger enlistment rates, and begin to levy economic sanctions on haredim who don't enlist by age 23.
The assembly of at least 2000 began by saying Slichot, led by Rabbi Yaakov Chanun, who is the baal tefilah at the Munkatch beit Midrash on the Yamim Noraim. The assembled repeated chapters of Tehilim, verse by verse, and sat down on the ground in mourning just as Jews do on the day of Tisha B'Av.
For many Tel Avivians, this past Shavuot seemed different. More than just another day to hit the beaches, and maybe indulge in some cheesecake, Israel's "White City" was dotted with groups celebrating the religious and spiritual aspect of the seminal holiday.
By Jewish Press Staff Reporter
The Israeli government announced on Tuesday that, for the first time, it will pay the salaries of a small number of Reform and Conservative rabbis who are considered leaders in their communities, and will also recognize them as rabbis.
The intensifying focus on legislating an alternative to the Tal Law has the ultra-Orthodox parties in the Likud-led coalition defensive yet intractable. Shas and UTJ - representing 15 seats in the government - have declared that they will not participate in the coalition committee on finding an alternative.
The mayor Tel Aviv told Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth on Friday that having an “ultra-Orthodox” majority in Israel would turn it “into a fundamentalist state like Saudi Arabia”.
The Board of Trustees of the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary voted to accept gay and lesbian students for ordination. “The Schechter Rabbinical Seminary views the serious process leading to this decision as an example of confronting social dilemmas within the framework of tradition and halachah,” Board of Trustees Chair Hanan Alexander said in a statement.
By Tibbi Singer
Some 13 years after its establishment, and six years after the court case on the settlement's legality began, all the residents of Migron, a large outposts in Judea and Samaria, arrived Sunday night at their local synagogue and signed an affidavit to be submitted to the court, committing to leave their homes voluntarily and without any forced eviction in three and a half years.
The internet pamphlet plays on a popular Purim greeting, 'sameach u'mevadech' [happy and humorous], and asks rhetorically if people really know what Purim is about.
By Rafi Harkham
The Knesset has quickly assumed a proactive role in filling the void left by the the Israeli High Court's decision to annul the Tal Law. Two bills pertaining to mandatory service were already debated and voted upon today, Opposition chairwoman Tzipi Livni continued to blast the low enlistment rate of the Haredi population, and FM Avigdor Lieberman pledged to propose more legislation on the matter in the future.
By Rafi Harkham
Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Lau responds with dismay to a resolution passed by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa City Council to operate public transportation on Shabbat. He appealed to Mayor Ron Huldai, who supported the resolution, not to "allow the candle of Shabbat to burn out."
July 24, 2026 
