Broad coalition of American Jews wants to break Israel’s Chief Rabbinate monopoly

c. 2014 Religion News Service

(RNS) A broad coalition of American Jews last month formed the Jewish Religious Equality Coalition—or J-REC—to pressure Israel to diminish the role of Orthodox rabbis who control so much of Jewish life in Israel.

For these Jews, the Chief Rabbinate upholds a strict set of standards governing conversion, marriage and burial that many cannot hope to meet or do not want to embrace.