Women’s participation in the Chief Rabbi Election Assembly
The Rackman Center drafted a proposal to amend the Law of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel (Amendment – Composition of the Electoral Assembly). The proposal was submitted by MK Mati Sarfati Harkabi, who was joined by other Knesset members. In the last elections for the Chief Rabbinate Council of Israel that were held in 2018, […]
Collective Expert Academic Response to attempts to undermine the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls report dated 13 April 2023 titled Custody, violence against women and violence against children
To: United Nations Human Rights Council From: International Expert Academic Consortium RE: Report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, Custody, violence against women and violence against children, to be presented at the 53rd Session of […]
Legal achievement – Israel’s High Court of Justice confirmed the Rabbinical Court’s authority to discuss the matter of gett refusal between a Jewish couple from Great Britain in order to free an aguna
In a legal achievement for the Rackman Center, together with the organization, ‘Yad La’Isha’, the High Court of Justice confirmed that matters of gett refusal and agunot between a Jewish couple who are non-Israeli citizens falls within the jurisdiction of the rabbinical courts of Israel (Amendment 4b1). On May 7, 2023, the High Court rejected […]
PROF. RUTH HALPERIN-KADDARI: THE PROPOSED POLICIES WILL HARM WOMEN’S RIGHTS”.
The Rackman Center’s Founding Academic Director, Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, has appeared in many international news outlets covering the expected impact on women’s rights resulting from Israel’s new government’s proposed policies to overhaul the judicial system and to expand the jurisdiction of the rabbinical courts. Links to examples of these articles can be found here: Newsweek, […]
Haaretz Weekly Podcast with Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari: Why Israel’s ‘Handmaids’ Are Fighting Netanyahu’s Far-right Government
Women’s rights in Israel are in danger, warns Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari: “The judicial overhaul led by Netanyahu poses great risk to Israeli women since the weakening of the power of the High Court of Justice will have a devastating impact on the ability of women to fight back against discriminatory laws.” She applauds the use […]
Violation of Women’s Rights as a Result of the Proposed Regime Changes in Israel
The Rackman Center and Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, the head of the center, warn, together with the Forum of Law Lecturers and Lecturers for Democracy, that the regime changes will harm women. The Israeli Law Professors’ Forum for Democracy, an ad hoc voluntary and politically independent group of experts on Israeli law and specifically Israeli public […]
What’s next for women’s advanced halachic study in Israel?
The work of Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari and the Rackman Center were featured in a piece in the Jerusalem Post, “What’s next for women’s advanced halachic study in Israel?”, published on March 18, 2023. The Rackman Center operates a number of projects, including legal services for women in divorce and promoting policy to protect women’s rights […]
What do the law, Megilat Esther and ‘The Giving Tree’ have in common? A comment on domestic abuse in modern times
Dr. Yael Machtinger, a post-doctoral fellow at The Rackman Center writes about the abuse that Jewish women, anchored to unwanted marriages, are subjected to: Understanding the phenomenon is a prerequisite to preventing it. We must define domestic abuse in the broadest, most inclusive manner. In fact, some jurisdictions are very slowly expanding the definition of […]
The proposed judicial system reform will hurt women and exclude them from the decision-making process.
Last week, the legal memoranda detailing the proposed reform was published. The reform contains many sections that harm women, one of the most obvious among them: a significant reduction in the representation of women in the committee for appointing judges. Today women make up 44% of committee members. After the reforms, they will make up […]
Opposition to the expansion of Rabbinic court powers
The Rackman Center, in cooperation with other organizations appealed to the Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, with a request that he oppose the expansion of the powers of the rabbinic courts: We would like to bring to your immediate attention our strong opposition to the expansion of the authority of the rabbinical courts (both for […]