Israel's Election Results: Do they Endanger Relations with American Jews?

3921 Fabian Way,Palo Alto CA 94303

02 March, 2023

Description

The results of Israel's recent elections created many echoes in the world and, as expected, also in world Jewry. The judicial reforms recently proposed by the new Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, raise many questions and provoke an important discussion about issues of religion and state in Israel and the relationship between it and world Jewry. Join us for a fascinating and educational conversation with Orli Erez Likhovski, CEO of Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) of the Reform Movement, and Dr. Mashua Shagiv, Koret Visiting Assistant Professor, UC Berkeley School of Law Scholar in Residence for the Bay Area, Shalom Hartman Institute. Orli Erez Likhovski is the CEO of Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) of the Reform Movement. She has served as IRAC's Legal Department Director from 2014-2021. Orly has brought about significant legal achievements such as making gender segregation on Israel's public transportation illegal, inclusion of liberal rabbis as eligible for state-funded rabbinical salaries, filing (and winning) the first ever class action suit regarding exclusion of women, and disqualifying racist candidates from running to Israel's parliament. She holds a bachelor's degree in law from Tel Aviv University. After interning in the Supreme Court, she got a master's degree in law with a focus on human rights law at Columbia University in New York. Orly is a member of the Bar Association in Israel and New York. Dr. Masua Sagiv is Scholar in Residence of the Shalom Hartman Institute based in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Koret Visiting Assistant Professor of Jewish and Israel Studies at U.C. Berkeley School of Law. She teaches and writes about diverse issues concerning Israel and North American Jewry, including law and social change, shared society, religion and gender, religion and state, and Jewish peoplehood. Prior to moving to the Bay Area, Masua was the Academic Director of the Menomadin Center for Jewish and Democratic Law at Bar-Ilan University and taught at the Schools of Law at Bar-Ilan and Tel-Aviv Universities. Her book, Radical Conservativism (in Hebrew), on the Halachic Feminist struggle in Israel, will be published by the end of the year by Carmel publishing House.