A headline on yesterday’s Times of Israel might have made you blink. In the midst of everything going on in Israel, the Knesset is pursuing legislation that would criminalize “interference” with “Orthodox religious practices”?
What constitutes “interference”? Which public practices?
And most importantly, why? What’s the agenda here?
Times of Israel screenshot (Dec 18 2025, edited)
The issue had already hit the Israeli press in Hebrew a few weeks earlier. Two weekends ago, Makor Rishon published an interview with Rabbi Seth Farber, who has been on the IFTI podcast before, about precisely this issue.
The headline below reads:
“The chairman of the ITIM organization warns: The wave of religion-and-state legislation is harming the Jewish awakening”
“Most of us want tradition, but not with the state shoving it into our faces with a punch.” Rabbi Dr. Shaul Farber in an interview ahead of the ITIM–Makor Rishon conference that will take place next week.”
We invited Rabbi Farber to explain to us what’s at stake, and why, in a Jewish country, the Parliament feels it has to work to preserve Jewish practice.
Makor Rishon screen shot
We have been fortunate to have Rabbi Farber as a guest on the podcast, on different subjects, in the past. If you’re interested in those conversations, take a look at:
“The Chief Rabbinate’s policies have no precedent in Jewish law” (Jan 2023)
Israel’s unique socialized medical system — what happens when what you need isn’t covered? How does Israel decide what’s “in”? (April 2023)
Israel is going to feel a different kind of responsibility for Jews around the world (Nov 2023)
Will Israel finally get a Zionist Chief Rabbi? Despite a deal, it’s not so clear, explains Rabbi Seth Farber (Jun 2024)
“What this country needs is a vision of who we want to be” (Jan 2025)
We’re marking Hanukkah this year with four podcast conversations, each related to one dimension of what the holiday is about. Here is our schedule:
Monday: Kalanit Turgeman is the sister of Dalia Emanuelof. Dalia’s son, Dvir, was the first Israeli solder killed in Operation Cast Lead, in January 2009. Kalanit shared the story of her nephew Dvir, the tragedy of his falling, and a miracle of sorts that followed. You can see that post here.
Wednesday: Israel is a land of modern day Maccabees. Our younger generation showed that they are made of the very best that the Jewish people has ever produced. My colleague at Shalem College, Dr. Ido Hevroni, shares how teaching war-saturated classics like the Iliad and the Odyssey to young people who have just returned from battle is different from teaching it to anyone else. Only in Israel can these conversations unfold. You can see that post here.
Today: We are used to thinking about Hanukkah as being about a battle for the religious freedoms that foreign powers had sought to steal from us. But what about when we have to battle our own leaders for religious freedom? Rabbi Shaul Farber, founder and CEO of Itim, speaks about the surge of interest in Jewish expression in post-October-7 Israel, and the irony that it risks being snuffed out by our own religious authorities.
Sunday: Jews have fought bravely not only in Israel’s wars, but in armies across the world. Far too often, Jewish soldiers were buried with nothing to indicate that they were Jews. Shalom Lamm, who heads Operation Benjamin, speaks about the sacred search for those graves and the delicate work with local governments to honor these men as Jews. Contrary to what we might expect, there are such graves in Israel, too. Lamm explains how that could possibly be.
Rabbi Seth Farber is the founder and director of ITIM: The Jewish Life Information Center, an organization which seeks to help individuals navigate Jewish life in Israel. He serves as the founding rabbi of Kehilat Netivot in Raanana where he lives with his wife Michelle and their five children. Rabbi Farber received his PhD from the Hebrew University and his rabbinic ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He is the author of An Amercian Orthodox Dreamer: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Boston’s Maimonides School.
The link at the top of this posting will take free subscribers to an excerpted portion of today’s podcast conversation.
For paid subscribers, the link at the top will take you to the full recording of our conversation; below, paid subscribers will also find a transcript for those who prefer to read, as always.