Diaspora

Fact Sheet: The Basic Law: The Nation-State

Dr. Shany Mor pens an open letter in The Forward in response to actor Seth Rogen's comments on the Israel

The attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court's ruling and strengthen the Rabbinate's monopoly and endanger the fragile balance in place today

Jewish Diaspora communities find it hard to identify with Israel and Israel's Jewery.

Jewish solidarity is an existential imperative. As we mark the solemn day of Tisha B'Av, Dr. Friedman reflects on the importance of strengthening the common denominator among all Jewish communities. 

Many Israeli policies only influence Israeli citizens. But when it comes to questions of Jewish identity, every decision and every statement made reverberates throughout the Jewish world.

Is it conceivable, for example, that a legislative body would enact a tax that would never apply, to its own members?

How can we reverse the growing rift between Israel and diaspora Jewry? Both sides have their work cut out.

The rift between the Israeli Jewish community (as opposed to the Israeli government) and the U.S. Jewish community is not as deep as it is portrayed in the media.

Amend the Nation-State Law and Add: "Jewish, Democratic and Equal"

In the bill’s final wording, the state only commits itself to act within the Diaspora to strengthen the ties of Jewish peoplehood – as if actions taken inside the Jewish state, like the reneged-upon Western Wall compromise, have no bearing on the rest of the Jewish world.

The Israel Democracy Institute issued a letter to the Prime Minister regarding the Nation State Billl, asserting that if the value of equality is not anchored in the legislation alongside the other enumerated national characteristics of the state, the law may eventually erode Israel's democratic character

IDI on the Rabbinate’s publication on the recognition of rabbinical courts abroad: "A potential strategic blow to Israel’s connection with Diaspora Jewry and a serious operative problem for many Jews in Israel"

A new book from the Israel Democracy Institute
exposes the failures of the State conversion system over three decades

Thought leaders recommend an ‘all in the family’ perspective when it comes to challenges between Jews in Israel and the Diaspora.

A year has passed since, The Basic Law: Israel the Nation-State of the Jewish People, was passed. What, if anything, has changed in that time?

Calls for applying "Torah Law"in Israel lay bare the the much larger problem posed by the substantial clash of the world of Halacha with two fundamental principles of the modern liberal world: individual freedom and equal rights

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” Dickens’s words seem a highly apt way of describing the current state of the Jewish people, and the relationship between the two largest Jewish communities in the world – those in Israel and the United States.