United Torah Judaism

Purim Shpiel: Chabad reveals decades-old human-alien shidduch service

Purim Shpiel: The following is a satirical article from The Jerusalem Post's annual parodic Purim page, The Jerusalem Roast. Enjoy!

MARCH 3, 2026|BySHIR PARSEC

‘Shadchan’ questions include: Do you prefer gray or green-skinned beings?

A Jewish woman prays at the Little Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City, February 18, 2026

Knesset advances bill granting Chief Rabbinate authority over Western Wall prayer

The bill passed by a margin of 56-47 and will now be discussed in Knesset committee meetings. It will still need to undergo three more plenum readings to become a law.

FEBRUARY 25, 2026|ByKESHET NEEV

THE RABBINICAL Court’s Division for Agunot in Jerusalem.

Knesset panel advances bill to expand rabbinical courts’ power over civil matters

Critics have warned of the bill's democratic implications, including those involving women's rights, which may deepen the rift between the haredi and secular communities.

FEBRUARY 17, 2026|ByKESHET NEEV

High Court: Israeli gov't must explain why it funds haredi schools without core studies

The order, issued in a petition filed by Hiddush, demands that the Education and Finance ministries explain why state funding is not conditioned on the teaching of core-curriculum subjects.

FEBRUARY 17, 2026|BySARAH BEN-NUN

Haredi faction holds emergency talks as Israel’s 2025 budget deadline looms

Haredi faction Degel Hatorah's vote on the 2025 budget remains uncertain amid coalition strife.

MARCH 5, 2025ByELIAV BREUER

United Torah Judaism (UTJ) chairman rabbi Yitzchak Goldknopf is seen at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, July 28, 2022

Government approved 2025 ‘coalition funds’ amidst criticism

Coalition funds are a part of the national budget aimed at enabling the implementation of political agreements.

MARCH 4, 2025ByELIAV BREUER

Finance Minister and Head of the Religious Zionist Party Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, February 3, 2025.

UTJ leaders refuse Netanyahu request to delay haredi draft bill

While preparation of the haredi draft bill sped up in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in recent weeks, it is still unlikely to pass into law by March 3.

FEBRUARY 23, 2025ByELIAV BREUER

Police officers in Bnei Brak, Israel use water cannons as haredi Orthodox Jewish men block a main highway to protest efforts to allow the state to draft Haredi yeshiva students into military service, June 2, 2024.

MKs threatened bill to disperse Knesset over IDF exemption, major haredi paper reaveals

There is a growing sense of urgency, but the "feeling" in the party is that at the moment there is no concrete proposal on the table to disperse the Knesset.

DECEMBER 5, 2024ByELIAV BREUER

Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, leader of United Torah Judaism, arrives for a cabinet meeting together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu orders removal of haredi daycare bill from Knesset plenum agenda

United Torah Judaism, the party pushing the bill, reportedly said later on Tuesday that it was insisting that the bill remain on the agenda.

NOVEMBER 5, 2024ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

‘THE HAREDI leadership argues that it is forbidden to draft yeshiva students whose Torah is their profession and that they defend the State of Israel through their studies.’

Coalition, opposition spar as preliminary vote on haredi daycare bill nears

United Torah Judaism threatens to oppose other coalition bills if daycare bill falls

NOVEMBER 4, 2024ByELIAV BREUER

HAREDI JEWS walk in the streets of the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim, in Jerusalem, earlier this month.

On Simchat Torah, we dance because we refuse to let the darkness win - opinion

How can we dance again? It’s not just a question for Simchat Torah; it’s a question for every moment we face after loss, after tragedy, after the world splits wide open.

OCTOBER 23, 2024ByJACOB SCHIMMEL