Matan Kahana touts 'historic opportunity' to address problem of close to half a million Israeli residents of Jewish ancestry who are not considered Jewish by state

Businesses can now choose to be supervised by any local religious council in the country; Religious Services Minister Kahana says plan will boost competition, improve kashrut

Lau comes under fire after pubic visit with mourning family of late Haredi author, following his apparent suicide

Finance minister tells Lau he must fulfill terms of his job or be ousted; plenum vote on bill pushed off two weeks due to lack of support

David Lau tells PM framework being proposed by religious affairs minister will split the Jewish people

Former justice says Yitzhak Yosef should be prohibited from intervening in sensitive partisan issues, after he organizes a conference against religious reforms

Political reporter Tal Schneider and analyst Haviv Rettig Gur discuss ToI's interview with Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana and his planned reforms for kashrut, conversion

Proposed reforms will see an overhaul of the kosher certification process for businesses and may bring down costs for consumers

Just 22% of respondents say they trust the Chief Rabbinate for kosher certification; 62% support plan to cut daycare subsidies, which mostly affects ultra-Orthodox community

Ronen Vital found sitting in his car in south Tel Aviv; is still refusing to give a religious bill of divorce after 13 years, but advocates are optimistic