Only once coalition's reforms fell apart, Lau started signing documents, according to religious rights group Itim; chief rabbi confirms faster pace but denies political motivations

After a year in the Religious Services Ministry, Yamina MK gets a middling grade from liberal figures for shaking up Haredi hegemony but failing to advance core issues

On International Women's Day, activists and observers lament the tight rabbinate control over marriage and divorce in Israel, with few changes in the system expected anytime soon

For Shavuot, an in-depth conversation with Rabbi Seth Farber on the history of conversion -- and how it all went awry in the Jewish state

After AG tells High Court state will form parallel track to men-only ordination exams, Chief Rabbinate protests that it is not an 'institute for higher education'

Decision comes to counter lingering discrimination, doubts of Jewishness, that have continued four decades after then-chief rabbi ruled Ethiopia's Beta Israel community are Jews

$77 million project incorporates tunnels beneath existing cemetery, with plots carved into rock several stories high; app to enable mourners to easily find loved ones in the works

Controversial method began in Moscow, spread to Jerusalem and Sydney, as a private bid to confirm ex-Soviets as Jews. Now it faces a High Court challenge and a thunderous outcry

Number of converts in Israel declines as budget for the process rises in recent years in 'increasingly inefficient and unsuccessful' program