A district council is a self-governing body at the district level, elected directly by residents. The law gives it official status and a defined set of powers: infrastructure, public safety, education, the environment, urban renewal (Pinui-Binui), the local budget, and public oversight. A council is established by a direct vote of district residents held alongside the municipal elections, in cities of more than 50,000 where two-thirds of the district's residents support creating one.

What this changes: residents no longer stand alone against city hall. The district gains an institution through which a problem becomes a formal request and a matter for decision.

What the lobby is developing
— A District Councils Law (Bill No. 2243531): legal status, direct election, powers, and a budget for the council.
— Secondary regulations on the council's elections, budget, and powers.

Marriage, divorce, verification of Jewish status, conversion, burial, family status — these are state procedures with direct legal consequences. For a large share of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, they are effectively blocked: by Soviet-era documents, by language, by family history, and by the absence of qualified expertise on the ground. The state service operates as a barrier rather than a service.
The principal instrument is the introduction of a third, Russian-speaking Chief Rabbi: a distinct functional position with its own remit that leaves the structure and balance of the Rabbinate intact. While that amendment moves through its readings, results on the ground come from dedicated rabbinical positions at local religious councils — built on the existing qualifications of the city, regional, and neighborhood rabbi. The third Chief Rabbi sits at the apex; the dedicated positions form the delivery network on the ground.

What the lobby is developing
— An amendment to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel Law (1980) that would introduce a third, Russian-speaking Chief Rabbi.
— A government resolution and a ministerial order on dedicated rabbinical positions at local religious councils (under the Jewish Religious Services Law, 1971).

Derech Eretz offers district councils and communities a tool to finance their own development — not through a bank, but through residents' mutual aid.
Today a district has no funds of its own for development: residents' savings flow out to banks and return as expensive credit, and each person is left alone with their needs. The system runs on reciprocity rather than interest: residents invest in real district projects and share the results — this is development finance, not return-maximizing investment. Backing comes from neighbors' mutual commitment, not collateral. The system builds on the existing network of gemachim — interest-free community loan funds — and requires neither new bureaucracy nor new budget architecture.

This funds what the conventional system chronically underfunds: interest-free lending, cooperative projects, and housing for young families tied to verifiable projects. Joint participation by Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities as guarantors builds horizontal solidarity that cuts across political division. The launch phase is a municipal pilot within a single district council's boundaries, focused on housing for young families and support for small-scale manufacturing.

What the lobby is developing
— An amendment to the Municipalities Ordinance (Section 13): lifting the bar on a local council standing as guarantor.
— An amendment to the Supervision of Financial Services Law (2016): risk-sharing, project-linkage, and mutual offset.
— Pilot regulations and a tax ruling: a regulatory sandbox regime and confirmation that profit-sharing and rent are not treated as interest.