Rabbinate

The rabbinate as an extra-territorial entity - opinion

The rabbinical courts operate according to their own internal rules, with virtually no external oversight.

REPRESENTATIVES OF the Chief Rabbinate of Israel cross Jaffa Street in Jerusalem as they deliver a kosher certificate to a local restaurant.
People walk past a projection depicting Israeli and US flags on the walls of Jerusalem's Old City on Oct. 22, 2025.

Rabbinic diplomacy between Israel and US explored in new exhibition

Newly elected Tel Aviv-Jaffa Chief Rabbi Zevadia Cohen, April 26, 2026.

Shas-backed Zevadia Cohen elected Tel Aviv chief rabbi after High Court delays, political battle

A ‘MOHEL’ holds a scalpel as he performs a circumcision

Third complaint filed against man suspected of causing infant's death after circumcision


Two rabbis too many? A look at Israel's confusing chief rabbi system

Throughout the Jewish world, Israel stands out by having two chief rabbis. The ‘Magazine’ looks at why – and asks if this model should continue

 Israel's chief rabbis seen as a playing card in this AI-made illustration

Local rabbi among 3 people arrested in altercation at Manhattan pro-Palestinian protest

Reuven Kahane, 57, was charged with assault in the 2nd degree, an NYPD spokesperson told the New York Jewish Week. 

 Law enforcement carries a protester away at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), during a pro-Palestinian protest on May 2, 2024.

Shelving contentious law on local rabbis signals unity discourse is not all talk - analysis

The reason Likud MKs gave for opposing the bill: not wanting to raise issues now that would split the country.

 MK ARYE DERI leads a parliamentary faction meeting of his Shas party, in the Knesset, last month.

Javier Milei's rabbi to 'Post': How the Argentinian president fell in love with Judaism - exclusive

Milei's visit to the Western Wall was one of the first things he did when he arrived in the Holy Land, bringing the leader to tears.

 Javier Milei at the Western Wall, February 6, 2024

Cultivated meat and kashrut: What will the Kosher status be? - opinion

The question of the kosher status of cultivated meat products carries great significance for the future of kashrut and may lay the groundwork for entirely new precedents in this area.

 An employee works at a laboratory of Bene Meat Technologies company, which is planning to scale up production of lab-grown meat for use in pet food, in Prague, Czech Republic, November 7, 2023.

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.

 A WOMAN seeking divorce in a ‘beit din’ was the sole female in the room until the advent of ‘toanot.’ (Illustrative)

Over 15 IDF soldiers pronounced dead in Gaza without bodies

Pronouncing a person’s death is one of the most sensitive, religiously complex issues faced by the Military Rabbinate.

 An IDF soldier salutes the grave of a fallen soldier at the Har Herzl military cemetery ahead of Israel's Remembrance Day, April 23, 2023.

Chief Rabbi David Lau establishes special rabbinical court to support agunot affected by war

An agunah is a woman unable to be divorced by her husband. During the Israel-Hamas war such cases have become noticeable enough to warrant rabbinical intervention.

 A PHOTO which expresses the pain, fear and frustration of the plight of agunot is part of a photography exhibit of Yad La’isha.

Senior judge in rabbinic court system named as victim in Jerusalem attack

Wasserman was considered one of the more senior and experienced judges in the rabbinical court system.

 People mourn rabbinical judge, Elimelech Wasserman, who was killed in a shooting attack when Hamas gunmen opened fire at a bus stop at the entrance to Jerusalem, in a hearse, ahead of the funeral in Jerusalem November 30, 2023

Rabbinate releases instructions for keeping Shabbat during wartime

Some laws can be altered or followed differently due to the principle of "pikuach nefesh," asving a person's life.

 ASHKENAZI CHIEF Rabbi David Lau (left) and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef: The silence of our two chief rabbis is thunderously indicative of the abject state of these once meaningful and relevant positions, the writer argues.