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Benjamin Porat

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Apr 3, 2026, 3:03 PM

Moses vs. Pharaoh: The binds of leadership

Moses and Aaron before the Pharaoh, c.1585. (Johan Wierix, 1549 - 1618)

A king's pardon is possible when he rules by fiat, but a Jewish ruler is subject to the law

Sep 21, 2025, 4:55 PM

How polarized are Israelis? A call for nuance

On the moderate left and right, judicial views don’t dictate war positions. There is a path forward that can break our suffocating deadlock

Jan 21, 2025, 4:33 PM

Don’t knock the Levin-Sa’ar plan, it’s a surrender in disguise

Justice Minister Yariv Levin (R) and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar attend a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset on January 21, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The revised reform proposal caves in on the overhaul's key feature: total government control over judicial selection

May 29, 2024, 12:50 PM

The missing side of the triangle: The danger religious Zionism faces

Religious Zionism (the sector, not the political party that appropriated the name) is one of the most influential population groups in Israel. This does not only stem from the fact that its sons and daughters are fully integrated into...

Mar 4, 2024, 2:03 PM

Not by might or power, but by defunding the draft dodgers

Draft deferrals have not been issued since June 2023. Ultra-Orthodox students seen at the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, February 27, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

There is no legal basis for sending tax shekels to yeshivas filled with students who are required by law to report for army duty

Jan 1, 2024, 4:52 PM

Where was God on October 7? A different perspective

Menorah found in a home on Kibbutz Nir Oz that was destroyed in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. (Screenshot from Times of Israel video, 'All that is left')

There is a path out of hopelessness and it does not go through notions of divine punishment, divine plan or divine mystery

Jun 7, 2023, 1:55 PM

When all Haredi boys default to yeshiva study, what we lose is excellence

Illustrative. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men study at the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak on May 11, 2010. (Yaakov Naumi/ Flash90/ File)

With mediocre students packing the study halls, the gifted few have little chance to delve deeply and leave their mark

Mar 3, 2023, 8:53 AM

Making ministry legal advisers political appointees goes against Jewish law

The question of how much power the government should wield was one that generations of halakhic decisors (poskim) worked to curtail. A bill was recently published that would change the role of legal advisers in government ministries (the Basic Law:...

Sep 21, 2022, 7:49 AM

Time for a historic deal on religion and state

Though the State of Israel faces pressing problems in numerous critical areas including defense, foreign affairs, the economy, and government corruption, one of the main issues on which governments rise and fall in Israel is that of religion and...

Jan 9, 2022, 3:55 PM

Israel’s Rabbinate should welcome these kashrut and conversion reforms

Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana (left) and Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch attend a ceremony on Hanukkah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, on November 29, 2021. (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)

They do reduce the Rabbinate's centralized power, but in very different ways, which fundamentally upholds the rabbis' authority, rather than undermining it

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About Me

Prof. Benjamin Porat is an Associate Professor at the Hebrew University Faculty of Law and a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute