Strategy: How to most effectively advocate for religious freedom and equality in Israel

Much praise should be extended to Rabbis Rick Jacobs and Steven Wernick for publicly airing the cause of full religious equality in Israel for all. Their exchange with President Rivlin at the 2015 Chanukah event sponsored by the UJA Federation of NY should encourage us to consider the issues they raised and the best strategy to …

The role of Halakha in the modern, secular State of Israel

Over two hundred years ago our spiritual ancestors fought the battles of modernity, bringing Jewish practice into the modern world. Who knew that we would have to repeat the process two centuries later? While all of us, as rabbis, emphasize the importance of halakhah in our lives and the lives of our constituencies, we also …

J-REC and RRFEI By Rabbi Prof. Michael Chernick

Recently a coalition called J-REC, which RRFEI members may not be familiar with, made its first mission trip to Israel. The J-REC or Jewish Religious Equality Coalition is the brain child of Dov Zakheim, less known as an Orthodox rabbi than as an adviser to the American Defense Department and a neo-con. As a strategist …