(RNS) — It’s not unusual to read about the “monopoly” Israel’s Orthodox Jewish state rabbinate maintains on public life. The rabbinate sets standards for marriage, divorce and conversion, serving ...

The Jews of Jerusalem danced last week in the synagogues and in the streets, bearing in their arms the scrolls of the Torah as they celebrated the end of the thanksgiving period of Sukkot.* The ...

JERUSALEM -- For decades, writers have poetically described the rhythm of the Jewish Sabbath in Israel when virtually all traffic and commerce ground to a halt at sunset Friday. Stores, restaurants ...

My celebration of Shabbat, the traditional Jewish Sabbath, is a rather sedate, internal affair: long Friday night dinners with friends and family, leading worship at my synagogue on Saturday, and ...