Adv. Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz

This year, as we sit at our Seder tables, we will seek to infuse deeper meaning into the Simanei HaSeder – the traditional chapters of the evening.

Israel’s challenges on Tisha B’Av 5784 are severe and complex. The costs we pay for living here are heavy and bloody. Yet the people living in Zion cling to the tradition of their forefathers and foremothers and to generations of pioneers who lived and died hoping to establish a model society here.

On Monday August 5, 2024 and Tuesday August 6, 2024—900 ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students were required to present themselves at IDF enlistment centers. Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz, Dr. Eran Shamir-Borer and Mirit Lavi explain the next steps the IDF will need to take in order to enforce the legal obligation of conscription. 

As the IDF issues the first batches of draft orders for ultra-Orthodox men, the following outlines the challenges, opportunities and objectives of an amended conscription law. 

Ahead of the Shavuot holiday, the Israel Democracy Institute is releasing a series of source materials for study during the "tikkun leil Shavuot" (the traditional Shavuot eve study session).

Israel's Supreme Court convened to hear arguments on the issue of drafting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students who no longer are exempt from military service, and the legality of providing funding for yeshivas that enroll them as long as no new law has been legislated on this issue.

The proposed law ignores the dramatic change in Israel's security situation since October 7 and does not address the need for more combat soldiers, nor does it respect the burden on the populations that already serve.

We examine the increased burden of reserve service that the defense establishment is seeking to impose on the population groups that already perform regular and reserve service, and the economic-budgetary implications of this step for the period through to 2050.

What is the connection between the expiration of the conscription law and the budgets for yeshivas? What exactly was discussed in the Supreme Court and is the state in violation of the law? Bottom line, will the ultra-Orthodox be recruited, or not?

Beyond the fact that the Torah does not make the call to commit genocide, the Tanach and its interpretations in fact obligate the Jewish people to abide by the laws of war. To a large extent, humanity's earliest laws of war can be found in the Bible. 

One of the claims brought forth in the Application against Israel that it is committing genocide against the Palestinians is that many senior members of the government made references to the biblical precept to wipe out the memory of the ancient Amaleks. This is my professional opinion on the meaning of these locutions and the use made of them in the Application. 

The judicial overhaul is forcing Jewish Israelis to choose to identify, in an almost dichotomic manner with one of two camps. As they clash, the real loser is our unifying, complex, diverse, and open Jewish identity. 

This explainer will cover the current structure of the Haredi education system, its pedagogical requirements and the budgets it receives from the Government.

The ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Conscription bill, if passed into law, would in effect, allow Haredi men to totally avoid military service.

The Israel Democracy Institute published new chapters of the first Biennial Statistical Report on Religion and State.

A special survey Jacobs Center for Shared Society and the Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research, found that almost half of Israelis think that the diaspora Jewry should be part of the public debate on the Law of Return and 51% think that canceling the "grandchild clause" in the Law of Return is liable to significantly reduce immigration to Israel.

An increasing number of non-Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union to Israel is the motivation behind the proposed amendments to the Law of Return.

70% of Jewish Israelis do not accept patrilineal descent and therefore do not consider those born to a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother to be Jewish. The new IDI survey reveals what Israelis really think on matters of religion and state

IDI’s inaugural Biennial Statistical Report on Religion and State was published ahead of the annual conference organized by the Religion and State Program in the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Shared Society.

Shlomit Ravitsky-Tur Paz, Director of IDI’s Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Shared Society, joined Gilad Halpern and Yael Berda of the Tel Aviv Review podcast to discuss the findings presented in the inaugural Biennial Statistical Report on Religion and State. Compiled based on existing data, detailed surveys and research conducted “in the field,” The Statistical Report on Religion and State, provides a vast base of knowledge on the contentious topic at the core of this issue including marriage and divorce, conversion, burial, prayer, and public Shabbat observance.

Based on her address to a special event in Basel, Switzerland, marking the 125th anniversary of the first Zionist Congress, Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz, calls for today’s generation to view Zionism not only as a vehicle for building a state, but also for enhancing and enriching Israeli society.

Conversion in Israel must follow the example of Ruth so that we can extend our open arms to those seeking to join

People today are largely judged on merits and not their lineage - except when technology preserves an inherited 'illegitimate' status in ways Jewish law never anticipated.

The friction and hostility we witnessed today at one of Judaism's holiest sites is unacceptable and could have been avoided if the previously agreed upon 'Western Wall Compromise' had been honored.