Ministry of Religious Services
236 Jaffa Road, P.O.B. 13059
91130 Jerusalem
Tel. (02) 5388605
Website: http://www.religinfoserv.gov.il
Functions and Structure
The Ministry provides religious services to the population of Israel and
deals with all matters related to the provision of religious services. It
carries out its function through central and local units, in cooperation
with the local authorities.
The Ministry discharges the following functions:
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Appointment of religious councils, pursuant to the law; covering 40%
of the shortfall (expenditures in excess of revenues) in the approved
budgets for religious facilities and services, monitoring budget
implementation, specification of uniform operating plans and procedures;
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Financial assistance to yeshivas to support Torah study, renovation and
construction of physical facilities, and support of Torah institutions;
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Planning and financial assistance for the construction and renovation of
synagogues and ritual baths;
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Maintaining public order, supervising, protecting, and guarding Jewish
holy places;
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Planning activities to teach Torah to the general public, promoting
religious outreach activities, and supporting organizations engaged in
disseminating religious information;
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Organizing, implementing, and participating in religious celebrations
and fostering the tradition of the Jewish religious way of life;
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Fostering religious ties with Diaspora Jewry;
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Certifying the observance of kashruth in public and government
institutions;
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Helping to maintain the religious services of the various non-Jewish
groups in Israel and dealing with their concerns;
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Supplementary religious education for underprivileged youth in depressed
neighborhoods;
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Providing ritual articles to new immigrants, educational institutions,
and indigent students;
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Supporting the Chief Rabbinate;
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Managing the rabbinical courts.
Chief Rabbinate
The Chief Rabbinate is recognized by law as the supreme halakhic and
spiritual authority for the Jewish people in the State of Israel. The Chief
Rabbinate Council assists the two chief rabbis, who alternate in its
presidency. It has legal and administrative authority to organize religious
arrangements for Israel's Jews. It also responds to halakhic questions
submitted by Jewish public bodies in the Diaspora. The Council sets, guides,
and instructs those agencies subject to its authority concerning their
activities and scope.
Religious Councils
The Religious Council in each community is the principal agency representing
the Ministry in providing religious services to the public. They are
assisted by the local and neighborhood rabbis. The councils supervise
kashruth observance in their jurisdiction and maintain departments for
marriages, synagogues, ritual baths, Torah classes, etc. Except in the large
cities, they also provide burial services. There are currently more than 170
religious councils in Israel.
Religious councils operate pursuant to the Religious Services Law, which
defines the manner of establishing religious councils, their authority, and
their budgetary sources. A religious council has the same number of members
as the local-authority council, with representatives of all segments of the
population who are interested in the provision of religious needs.
Religious council candidates are nominated 45% by the Minister of Religious
Affairs, 45% by the local authority, and 10% by the local rabbinate.
Religious Courts
The Rabbinical Courts are part of the State judicial system. They have
exclusive jurisdiction over marriage and divorce by Jews and have parallel
competence with district courts in matters of personal status, alimony,
child support, custody, and inheritance. Religious court verdicts are
implemented and enforced - as for the civil court system - by the police,
bailiff's office, and other agencies.
Rabbinical Department
The Rabbinical Department has administrative authority over local rabbis. It
is charged with seeing that every city, town, and moshav has one or more
rabbis to provide guidance and spiritual leadership and perform various
religious rites. To this end, the Department maintains links with the local
and religious authorities throughout the country, helps them approve the
budgets required for choosing and employing rabbis, and guides them in
election protocols in accordance with the law. All this is done in
coordination with the Chief Rabbinate, which passes on the competence of
candidates. The Ministry also provides administrative guidance and
supervision of rabbis' activities, especially in the registration of
marriages, and holds rabbinic conventions to consider problems that arise
from time to time.
Ritual Baths Department
The Ritual Baths Department sees to the existence of this religious facility
in every settlement and neighborhood that need one, working through the
local authorities and the religious councils or committees. The Ministry
helps arrange funding for ongoing maintenance of ritual baths throughout the
country.
Yeshiva and Torah Institutions Department
The Department promotes study and research of Torah and halakha (Jewish
religious law) by supporting various types of Torah institutions, such as
yeshivas and Torah research institutes, awarding scholarships to needy
students, and paying monthly stipends to indigent young scholars who have no
outside income, in the framework of the Income Assurance Law.
The term yeshivot embraces many different types of educational
institutions:
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The kolel is a Torah institute for young married men, who
devote themselves entirely to Torah study.
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The metivta is for boys in grades 7-9, who study until early
evening with a curriculum concentrating heavily on religious studies.
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The high school/vocational yeshiva is for boys 14-18, and
integrates religious studies in a yeshiva format with secular studies;
graduates receive a matriculation certificate or diploma in academic and
technical subjects.
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The yeshiva gevoha, for boys 18 and up, offers religious
subjects only, some as preparation for service as rabbis, religious-court
judges, and teachers.
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The hesder yeshiva enrolls graduates of high-school yeshivas
and religious high schools who wish to integrate Torah study with their
compulsory military service in IDF combat units. The service-and-study
program, recognized and coordinated with the IDF authorities, lasts five
years.
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The yeshiva for the newly observant is for men and women past
17 who have chosen to spend a year learning about and practicing the
religious way of life.
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The ulpana is a girls' school whose curriculum parallels that
of the yeshiva high school. Some of them are residential facilities, with
classes from morning to evening and at least 16 hours of religious studies a
week.
Computer and Information Systems Unit
The Unit was set up to deal with the broad and varied scope of the religious
services administered and supervised by the Ministry. Its objective is to
create a computerized database of all religious services in Israel, to
facilitate the lives of service-providers and of citizens who require such
services, and permit computerized communications and data transfer among
agencies.
Holy Sites Division
The Division is responsible for guarding and maintaining the sites holy to
Jews, which are concentrated in and around Jerusalem and the Galilee. The
geographical location of the sites requires regular contact with various
agencies and institutions throughout the country, and daily supervision. In
addition to regular maintenance, the Division also carries out work to
develop, renovate, and expand amenities for visitors.
Burial Affairs Department
This department handles and supervises some 500 burial societies throughout
the country. It recommends that the Minister grant or cancel burial society
licenses, deals with the rehabilitation and renovation of cemeteries, and
aids in the construction of ritual purification rooms. Today there are three
types of burial societies: autonomous societies (some 50 throughout the
country), those attached to religious councils (in 62 religious councils),
and burial societies on agricultural settlements (serving around 400
moshavim and kibbutzim).
Department representatives supervise all the burial societies. They
scrutinize the level and quality of the service provided by the different
societies, and inspect cemeteries to supervise the efficient use of
graveyard tracts, proper fencing and gates, ritual purification rooms and
other facilities, and cleanliness. The Department is sometimes called upon
to arbitrate disputes between burial societies concerning ownership of
tracts, trespassing, and the like.
Religious Communities Division
The Religious Communities Division deals with more than two million
individuals, including Muslims, Druze, Christians, Baha'is, Samaritans, and
Karaites.
Sources: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs |