MembersRabbis Invoke “Law of the Pursuer” Against Israel’s Minister of Religion

Anyone who messes with the Rabbinate is vigorously attacked in the political arena. The reforms that the current Israeli government wants to implement in matters such as kosher certification, prayer at the Western Wall and rules regulating conversion always go a step too far in the eyes of the Orthodox. In their view, such reforms would negatively impact, if not destroy, the Jewish character of the Jewish state.

It must be stopped, say the Orthodox. They fear that the Bennett-Lapid government is trying to take religious power in the country out of their hands. From the perspective of secular Jews, however, Israel is too Jewish. Fifty-three percent of secular Jews think so, but 90 percent of Orthodox Jews think the opposite. This was the result of a survey conducted by the Jewish People Policy Institute.

Almost everyone, namely 98 percent of the Jews, wants a Jewish state. But many understand this to mean simply a Jewish majority in the country, not the imposition of biblical commandments and prohibitions. Among the secular, 94 percent are in favor of public transportation...