The Ne'emanei Torah Va'Avodah Movement is a 40-year-old, a-political religious Zionist movement that seeks to return religious Zionism to its roots. Its orientation aims to promote the values of tolerance, equality and justice in religious society, and to have an impact on the Jewish and democratic character of Israeli society. Committed to Jewish law, the movement works to create a thinking, religious culture that is both open and self-critical, and to encourage a constructive Halachic discourse that deals with the challenges of contemporary times. Its focus is not limited to one area or issue but rather seeks to influence the religious culture of the country and to create a religious discourse that will cover all aspects of life.

The movement is concerned about the trend towards extremism in todays religious community in Israel and the isolation of the religious camp from the mainstream of society.  Many contemporary rabbis and educators tend to ignore difficult educational issues while Halachic authorities avoid important social questions relating to life in a modern world. In current religious Zionist education, and in the colleges for teacher training, the tendency to adopt Haredi educational models is spreading: the values of democracy are pushed aside, and human rights are trampled, all in the name of religious values.

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 Mission statement:

Ne'emanei Torah Va'Avoda is a modern orthodox Zionist movement, promoting a moderate worldview and advocating tolerance and openness

:The need or problem for which we were founded

The NTA movement was founded to challenge the growing extremism and Haredi influence in Orthodox Jewry that threatens the Jewish and democratic identity of Israel, affecting the very fabric of our society.

The organization's history, including major milestones in its development.

NTA was founded in 1978 and has ever since been active in promoting and strengthening religious education in a the spirit combining Torah: the study of Torah and a religious observant way of life with Avodah: representing the general humanistic and scientific disciplines

In 2002 a new leadership for the organization emerged represented by young and energetic leaders with an academic and educational background. Whilst loyal to the original goals of the organization, these new leaders have furthered its vision towards developing a social-educational network and building a national movement committed to strengthening and restoring a solid foundation to religious Zionism, promoting dialogue and innovation within the Halachic framework. It is an apolitical organization with a vision of an open, thinking and evolving religious culture.
The Organisation's activities have been carried out through public events and a significant number of publications, but today, after having widened its ranks, the movement focuses its activities in three main areas: encouraging the development of a public dialogue, changing the educational environment and searching for the proper relationship between State and Religion.
Milestones:
• Enlistment of religious women in the army or alternative national service.
• Torah study by women.
• Putting the situation of agunot on the public agenda.
• Publication of Deoth: 44 page magazine. 5 times a year.
• Publication of Et Lidrosh : shabbath leaflets, 50 000 copies per months.
• Social-educational hotline.
• Social activism concerning giur, agunoth, the rabbinate, discrimination in schools, disobedience in the army.
• Intervention in schools in Beth Shemesh, Petah Tikvah, and 25 other locations.

:The organization's core beliefs, values, philosophy, and worldview

Our goal is to create an orthodox Jewish culture that is open-minded and non-dogmatic, and to promote courageous and creative Halachic thinking, that can revitalize Jewish life. The NTA objectives are to strengthen tolerance, equality and social justice in the orthodox community, and to positively impact on the Jewish and democratic character of Israel.
In order to prevent a further decrease in the Jewish identity of the State of Israel , we also believe in the importance of diminishing/reducing the polarization between the religious and secular populations.

 The movement's aims are:
1. Bringing religious Zionism back to its roots
2. Creating a reflective religious culture that is open-minded and self-critical and encourages a courageous Halachic discourse, dealing with the challenges of the contemporary world.

Strategy:

Spreading the values of NTA within the religious community and creating a dialogue by encouraging the

 expression of a variety of thoughts; this process by itself will cause the slowing down of Haredi extremist influence. This process will be advanced by a variety of means. The raison d'etre of the movement is its ideological character and its ability to carry out tasks that official and established organizations cannot undertake. The ability to think ahead, the dynamism and the speed of reaction are important ingredients in our ability to create social change. Therefore, the strategy of change adopted by the movement in order to deal with the problems described above leads to activity in two directions:
1. Sounding a different voice and creating thought processes
2. Public, social and legal activities

 priorities:

Education and State-Religion relations.

 The organization's primary and secondary clients or participants:

NTA focuses primarily on the religious Zionist sector in Israel. We assume that the influence on this sector will spread to the entire Jewish population of Israel and the world.

  :The organization's geographic focus

NTA aims its activities at the whole of Israel. Most activities are country-wide, e.g. statements to the national media, publications, week-end seminars etc. Activities, such as study evenings, are naturally local, but they deal with national issues and are meant to echo throughout the country.

Lately, English speaking members of NTA have initiated joint activities with American Jews as part of an attempt to create links between our movements and Jews all over the world who share our ideals and values.