Michele Chabin
Michele Chabin is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Michele Chabin
Israel’s Chief Rabbinate: Give up acting or we’ll deny your conversion
By Michele Chabin — March 20, 2014
JERUSALEM (RNS) The Chief Rabbinate, which has sole authority to determine who is and isn’t Jewish in Israel, is refusing to allow an actress to convert to Judaism unless she gives up her acting career.
Israeli Christians seek integration, including army service
By Michele Chabin — March 14, 2014
HEBRON HILLS, West Bank (RNS) Christians here say but they want to be considered full citizens not only in the eyes of the law but of the people, as well. Joining in Israel's defense is one way to do that, they say.
Israel’s parliament passes law requiring yeshiva students’ army service
By Michele Chabin — March 12, 2014
JERUSALEM (RNS) The yeshiva student exemptions have created a deep rift in Israel, where nearly all men and women are drafted for up to three years of military service.
Foreign ministry strike may force Pope Francis to postpone Israel trip
By Michele Chabin — March 7, 2014
JERUSALEM (RNS) A strike by employees of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs may force Pope Francis to postpone his visit to Israel, scheduled for May 24-26.
In Jerusalem, Jews, Muslims clash over mosque loudspeakers
By Michele Chabin — March 4, 2014
JERUSALEM (RNS) The call of the muezzin, broadcast by loudspeakers on nearly 200 minarets, can be heard across Jerusalem’s hills and valleys, especially in the middle of the night, when the rest of the city is asleep.
Ultra-Orthodox protest military draft law in Jerusalem
By Michele Chabin — March 3, 2014
(RNS) The rally, part protest, part prayer vigil, was organized by the religious and political leadership of the insular haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community in Israel, which strongly opposes mandatory conscription on the grounds that it would tear yeshiva students from their full-time religious studies.
Israeli-Palestinian youth choir makes peace through song
By Michele Chabin — February 14, 2014
(RNS) The goal of the YMCA Jerusalem Youth Chorus is to create a cohort of thoughtful, tolerant young leaders willing to explore one another’s identities, histories and life experiences through song.
Israel’s High Court orders cuts to yeshiva students’ stipends
By Michele Chabin — February 5, 2014
JERUSALEM (RNS) Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled Tuesday (Feb. 4) that the government must suspend stipends to 18- to 20-year-old yeshiva students whose military conscription has been postponed.
Israeli government offers women aged 20 to 33 free abortions
By Michele Chabin — January 7, 2014
JERUSALEM (RNS) The 2014 “health basket” of medical services and medications approved by Israel’s cabinet Sunday includes free abortions for Israeli women aged 20 to 33, regardless of the circumstances.
Activists welcome Israeli government decision to fund some non-Orthodox rabbis
By Michele Chabin — January 2, 2014
(RNS) The Israeli government began funding the salaries of five non-Orthodox rabbis serving in rural areas, but activists emphasized that the fight for official recognition of non-Orthodox branches of Judaism is far from over.
At Christmas, a rare collaboration to restore an ancient church
By Michele Chabin — December 23, 2013
(RNS) In what some are calling the biggest miracle in Bethlehem since the birth of Jesus, the three churches that share responsibility for the Nativity church put aside centuries of tense relations this past year to ensure the restoration of the ancient site is completed.
Christians lend a hand to West Bank farmers
By Michele Chabin — December 5, 2013
DOLEV, West Bank (RNS) Evangelical Christians are increasingly coming to the disputed West Bank to help Israelis and Palestinians with their harvests. The Christians see it as a religious duty.
‘Lost Faces of the Bible’ reconstructs four skeletal remains using science, forensics
By Michele Chabin — November 22, 2013
(RNS) In a new National Geographic series, an international team of archaeologists, forensic anthropologists and facial reconstruction experts has tried to recreate the faces of three adults and a newborn whose skeletal remains date back to biblical times.
Jewish feminists say they’d accept Western Wall prayer compromise
By Michele Chabin — October 7, 2013
JERUSALEM (RNS) The continued violence, and the government’s long-standing unwillingness to allow Jewish feminists to pray as they want at the Western Wall, has strained relations between the Israeli government and American Jews.
Feminists call temporary Western Wall prayer platform a ‘sundeck’
By Michele Chabin — September 3, 2013
(RNS) While the non-Orthodox leaders welcomed the new platform, which can accommodate 450 worshipers, Women of the Wall called it “a sun deck” designed to marginalize anyone who is not Orthodox from praying at the Wall.
