Chief Rabbinate must allow women to take rabbinical tests, High Court rules The landmark ruling stops short of saying that women are entitled to be ordained as rabbis, but is a major step forward in the advancement of female Torah scholars in Israel. Etgar Lefkovits July 16, 2025
Israel’s top rabbis in theological dispute over wartime weddings Former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef issued a religious decree allowing both Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews to wed during the mourning period in light of the war, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Rabbi Kalman Ber disagreed. JNS Staff June 26, 2025
Herzog condemns ‘hate crime’ arson at former chief rabbi’s shul A cross was found graffitied inside a nearby apartment building. JNS Staff June 8, 2025
Israeli chief rabbis urge world Jewry to pray for hostages during Passover "Just as You brought our ancestors out from slavery to redemption, so, too, may You appear for Your children who are held in captivity and deliver them," they wrote. JNS Staff April 9, 2025
Western Wall exhibit at Ben-Gurion airport sparks debate The Israel Antiquities Authority is pushing back against the country's chief rabbis’ objections to the display at the airport of a 2000-year old, 5-ton stone from Judaism's holiest site. Etgar Lefkovits March 27, 2025
Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi to visit Russia The announcement comes just one day after Israel joined the United States in voting against a U.N. resolution reaffirming the world body’s condemnation of Russia for its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. JNS Staff Feb. 26, 2025
Chief rabbis urge Israelis to pray for rain "We are in the midst of the month of Kislev and have not yet received the rains of blessing," the rabbis wrote. Dec. 16, 2024
Kalman Ber to be Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi A moderate rabbi with links to the Religious Zionism movement, he won the second round by a vote of 77-58. Oct. 31, 2024
David Yosef elected Israel’s chief Sephardic rabbi; Ashkenazi undecided A tie between hardliner Micha Halevi and moderate Kalman Ber requires a later second round. Canaan Lidor Sept. 30, 2024
