The Ultra-Orthodox in Israel

One of the biggest challenges facing Israel in the coming years is to integrate the rapidly growing ultra-Orthodox minority into Israeli society and the economy. Yet the government of Israel lacks a comprehensive national plan to deal with all aspects of the problem, including education, defense, economics and identity. 

The Ultra-Orthodox in Israel Program seeks to provide the government with research-based policy proposals for integrating Israel’s ultra-Orthodox into Israeli society while allowing them to preserve their unique identity. The program has developed a Master Plan for Haredi Employment, much of which has been adopted by the Israeli government, and plans to create similar blueprints for change in the realms of K-12 education, higher education and military service.

View our Master Plan for Ultra-Orthodox Employment>> 

View the most recent Statitical Report on Ultra-Orthodox in Israel>>

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    Dr. Gilad Malach

    Director

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    Dr. Gilad Malach is the Director of IDI's Ultra-Orthodox in Israel program. He co-authored the Master Plan for Ultra-Orthodox Employment (along with Doron Cohen and Haim Zicherman) and was editor of the Statistical Report on Ultra-Orthodox Society in Israel (in copperation with Dr. Lee Cahaner and Dr. Maya Choshen). He was director of implementation of the Gabison-Meidan Covenant Project at the Avi Chai Foundation and content manager of the Committee on Sharing the Security Burden in the Eighteenth Knesset.

     

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    Adv. Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz

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    Co-founded and co-directed Itim – the Jewish Life Advocacy Center– an organization that committed to increasing participation in Jewish life by making Israel’s religious establishment respectful of and responsive to the diverse Jewish needs of the Jewish people. In this capacity, she has appeared before the Rabbinic Courts on issues of conversion, marriage, and divorce.

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    Dr. Rivka Neriya Ben-Shahar

    Senior Researcher

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    Prof. Benjamin Brown

    Research Fellow

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    An expert on ultra-Orthodox Judaism and its religious formation. The author of the book The Chazon Ish, Brown did his post-doctoral work at Harvard University.

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    Yair Ettinger

    Researcher

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    Gabriel Gordon

    Researcher

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    Gabriel Gordon is a researcher at the Center for Governance and the Economy and at the Center for Religion, Nation and State. He holds a Master's degree in Economics and Environmental studies.

    His research focuses on demographics and trends within the Israeli labor force.

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    Dr. Lee Cahaner

    Researcher

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    Dr. Lee Cahaner, a social geographer, is a senior lecturer and head of the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Oranim Academic College of Education. Cahaner is also a research associate in the Israel Democracy Institute's Ultra-Orthodox in Israel Program.

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    Dr. Asaf Malchi

    Researcher

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    Dr. Asaf Malchi is a researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, in the Ultra-Orthodox in Israel program. His research focuses on current social and economic trends  in the community, in the areas of employment,  higher education, military and Civilian  National Service, and more. These studies provide important input to  decision makers in crafting policy on the ultra-Orthodox.

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    Dr. Ariel Finkelstein

    Researcher

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    Dr. Ariel Finkelstein holds s bachelor's degree from the Integrated Program for Philosophy, Economics and Political Science at Hebrew University, and a Master's degree in Public Policy, with a specialization in local government administration and management from Haifa University, as part of the Ministry of Local Government's "Cadets for Local Government" program. He earned his Phd. At the Department of Political Science at Bar Ilan University. His doctorate is on the reciprocal effects of religion and state in Israel, in light of the institutionalization of religious services in the country.

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    Yael Cohen

    Research Assistant

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    Adi Wiener

    Research Assistant

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    Research Assistant, Ultra-Orthodox in Israel Program

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    Eliyahu Berkovits

    Research Assistant

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    Research Assistant, Ultra-Orthodox in Israel Program, The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Shared Society

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    Tehila Gado

    Research Assistant

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    Research Assistant, Ultra-Orthodox in Israel Program, The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Shared Society

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    Prof. Benny Porat

    Senior Fellow

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    A senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the director of the Matz Institute for Jewish Law. After completing his doctorate at the Hebrew University, he was hosted as a post-doctoral fellow by the University of Toronto

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    Dr. Efrat Dressler

    Researcher

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    Researcher, the Ultra-Orthodox in Israel Program, the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Shared Society