I just wanted to alert all those who still need to pass the Hebrew portion of the Dinei Yisrael Exams that the upcoming exam is scheduled for October 14. 

In my opinion, your Hebrew level should be at a minimum of a level daled ulpan before you start studying for the exam because the exam requires advanced reading comprehension and written answers in Hebrew.  At this level,  I believe you maintain the necessary skills needed to learn and understand the legal Hebrew terminology, as well as to understand the questions you will face on the exam. Once you learn the legal concepts and definitions (and case examples), you are on your way to easily passing the Hebrew exam! Further, if you are at a minimum level of daled, studying for the exam approximately three weeks prior to the exam should be sufficient (although all depends on each one's personal study methods and the pace of one's learning, which of course varies from person to person).  Although, I don't think it's impossible to pass the exam if you have a weaker grasp of the Hebrew language. However, it would definitely be more challenging and I'd recommend in that case a more rigorous course of study. 

For assistance in learning the required materials and for study techniques to beat the exam, please feel free to contact me.  
 

The August exams for all 9 subjects start on August 2, 2015 and run through August 20, 2015. 
To prepare for these exams, I am offering a mini-course in July. Essentially, it will be a workshop focusing on self-study techniques where foreign attorneys can learn how to answer exam questions correctly, using materials that are permissible at the exams.  I will run the workshop in three weekly sessions on July 15, 22, and 29. Please view the Dinei Yisrael Course Page for more information or contact me to register. 

The Workshop covers all exams except Hebrew language. For Hebrew language, I am willing to set up a separate group or private session(s), depending on request and need. 

Some have turned to me over the past two years frustrated with Dinei Yisrael studies and disenchanted with  past review courses either because they were targeted to non-English speaking attorneys, or dissatisfied for other personal reasons.  On this background, I've decided to work on forming the New Course, a course that can meet foreign attorneys' individual study needs. But most importantly, this New Course, is designed for the purpose of learning the material in the most efficient ways and succesfully passing the exams. 

This past August 2014, the Israel Bar Association once again administered the Dinei Yisrael exams.  The review course that took place at the Israel Bar Association premises was taught by Yoel Tsur.  Unfortunately, not many English speaking attorneys signed up for the review, and the course was taught primarily in Hebrew and French. 

The Israel Bar Association ordinarily does not post information as to the dates of the exam or a review course until only a few weeks prior to the exam. Consequently, I cannot share with you the upcoming dates of the next exam or whether a review course in English has been organized. As soon as I know I will try and post that information here. 

 As some are already aware, David Saville, was an attorney who made Aliyah from England and one of his missions was to assist Olim-attorneys to become Israeli attorneys.  This blog in the past has referred to David Saville's review course, a course David arranged and managed, where he brought in experienced attorneys to teach the various dinei yisrael subjects to olim attorneys. David in fact was known to encourage attorneys to take the exams and the review course, even when they didn't feel prepared. He had the greatest knack for boosting one's self-confidence in one's abilities to pass the exams and become a practicing Israeli attorney.  This past year (I do not know the exact date) David passed away. He will be sorely missed by the many attorneys he has helped throughout the years. 

The upcoming January exams will be taking place from 5 January 2014 through 23 January 2014. You may view a schedule of the exam dates per subject here.  A review course headed by Yoel Tsur, a former judge, started on 10 December 2013 and will continue until 9 January 2014, at the Israel Bar Association.  Additional review sessions may have been scheduled and you should check with Yoel Tsur or other students attending the course for these possible additional sessions. 

I suggest those taking the exams to read my earlier posts giving further details about the exams. One more tip I want to add is that these exams are open book. This means that test takers may bring in statutes and a hebrew-english dictionary into the exam room. Personal notes, including handwritten notations on the statutes, however, are prohibited during the exam. The proctors do check whether test takers have brought in notes.  

Good Luck! 

The materials that you need to learn for the exams are quite extensive:

A review course is available where Israeli attorneys and former judges lecture on the materials.  These lectures usually take place a week before all the exams. The lecturers usually return  a day before each exam for a two hour session to review at least one old exam.  The review sessions the day before the exams seemed the most helpful, although the initial lectures are also relevant in that most of the lecturers will point out which sections of the law are more important to study.  

In past years, this review course was organized by David Saville, who for years had encouraged and supported foreign attorneys to make aliyah and obtain their Israeli license to practice law.  When I took my last exams, about a year ago, David Saville was unable to organize the course, and many of the lectures were, instead, organized by Yoel Tzur, a former Israeli judge. Although the course is not officially sponsored by the Israel Bar Association, you can sign up for the course through the Israel Bar (phone number: 02-541-1200).

Note that if you do not attend the course, you can still do very well on the exams.  The key, however, would be to obtain notes from an attorney who participated in a course or attended lectures during the weeks prior to the exam period, or at worst case scenario, in the previous year.  Yet, it's also equally important to study from the laws themselves and definitely do not entirely rely on  notes!  The Israeli laws and regulations are contantly evolving, being amended and updated, which explains why you need to review the current laws (as opposed to relying on old notes).


At one of the very first meetings of the course, an option exists to purchase books containing the laws. However, I do not recommend purchasing any of the books in Hebrew because many of the updated laws can be found in Hebrew online, downloaded, and printed. Nevo's website, is one of the best websites where you can obtain any Israeli law you need.  If you are having trouble maneuvering through the website, simply type the name of the laws into google, and you'll easily locate Nevo's site with the particular laws you are searching. 

An options also exists to purchase a set of books in English, containing translations of the laws.  However, I also do not recommend purchasing these books.  First, as of last year (I haven't seen them this year yet) most of the books contained outdated translations.  Therefore, if possible, you might as well obtain these books from attorneys who took the exams in prior years.  In addition to getting a hold of used books, or even as an alternative, you can search for updated translations online.  Note, however, many of the online translations are also not updated.  Ideally, utilize the Hebrew latest version of the laws, as mentioned above.  Nevertheless, because of the language difficulty for some, you may choose to use the Hebrew version alongside the outdated English versions.  Just do not neglect to look at the latest Hebrew version of the laws. Please also feel free to contact me if you need any assistance locating the Hebrew versions or English translations and understanding the legal concepts.

B'Hazlacha!

The official Israel Bar Association Regulations ("The Regs") detail the requirements for both the Dinei Yisrael Exams, as well as the Israel Bar Exam, and may be helpful to many of you.  The Regs in English can be viewed here. The Regs in Hebrew can be viewed here. 

I haven't yet discussed the Israel Bar Exam, so I will just briefly touch upon it now, and save more for later. The Israel Bar Exam is taken only after a one year required internship, known as "sta'g," and after all the nine exams in the Laws of Israel have been successfully completed. This exam is administered twice a year, in November and May.  However, attorneys may be exempt from taking the Israel Bar Exam where they can prove they worked in law (as a lawyer or judge) for at least five years from the date they were officially admitted to the bar and licensed to practice law in the country (or state) they actually worked in. Note that this five year rule is quite stringent.  So, even if you are short just a few months, do not expect an exemption.  More about the Israel Bar Exam later, but in the meanwhile, if you have specific questions, please feel free to email me. 

As previously mentioned, one can take the nine exams either in January or August, and one can also split them up between the two months. However, the Israel Bar Association requires one to register, in advance, for the exams. 

In order to register for the exams, one must submit one's law degree, along with the required application, and one must also make a deposit of 160 Shekels per exam into the Israel Bar's bank account at the Israeli Post Office.  One's law degree must be recognized by the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University, unless you have at least two years of legal experience as an attorney (or judge) in your country of origin while holding a license to practice law in that country. Thus, attorneys, should submit a certificate of good standing or any other official document from a competent authority (State Bar for U.S. attorneys) in the country (or state for U.S. attorneys) where he or she practiced, which confirms the attorney's license to practice law.  If one has the two years of experience, one should also submit a letter by one's former employer attesting to the fact that one indeed worked at least two years in the capacity as an attorney or judge.  

The Israel Bar will only accept an Israeli notarized copy of your law degree/diploma by an Israeli attorney, which means that an Israeli attorney should be notarizing the copy of your degree.  I'd like to draw your attention to the fact that in Israel not all attorneys  are notaries. Rather, only attorneys with at least ten years of experience have the ability to become notaries.  Also be aware that if you'd like to get a notarized copy, you ordinarily need to show the notary your original degree/diploma. Those of you abroad, may be able to get your degree/diploma notarized by the Israeli Consulate. Any other official documetns you submit to the Israel Bar should also be notarized by an Israeli attorney if possible.  The Israel Bar may accept some un-notarized copies of some documents, such as letters of employment, but you should double check this with the Israel Bar. 

It has been recommended that one should submit the official documents a couple of months in advance of the exams. The actual application for registration of the exams, however, does not need to be submitted until about two weeks prior to the exams. Nevertheless,  I believe it is still possible to submit documents and the registration application later than the official stated period and be able to take the exams.  In fact, I submitted my documents (diploma, certifcate of good standing, etc.) a week before I took my first exam. You should still always double check the rules (and their flexibility) with representatives at the Israel Bar.  

The Israel Bar has already posted the dates and application for the upcoming August exams. 

Lawyers who obtained their law degrees outside of Israel and who now aspire to become practicing Israeli attorneys, must become members of the Israel Bar Association - לשכת עורכי הדין ("Israel Bar"). (If you are an attorney who simply wants to practice foreign law in Israel, beware of a different set of rules that apply to you - hopefully, to be discussed in another post). 

 Thus, regardless of any prior work experience, even if it's over 20 years worth, be prepared to take a series of exams that the Israel Bar generally requires for foreign attorneys.  In particular, there are nine exams in the laws of Israel, otherwise known as "Dinei Yisrael," including a Hebrew language exam.  These exams cover almost all the law subjects from criminal law, civil procedure, property, tax, family law, to other fun stuff!  They are administered by the Israel Bar in Hebrew and are given twice a year - in January and August. The Hebrew language exam is also given in October. 

Basically, the exams are spread throughout the month. Many people tend to take all of the exams all at once, that is, all in the same month.  However, I took a different path that I highly recommend to others. I took  three exams at one point, and I took the remaining  six exams during a different period the exams were given.  I see no reason one needs to overwhelm oneself with all nine exams within three weeks (in the first week of the month there are review classes/lectures that are usually offered). Even during law school, I don't think I ever had to take that many exams in one short period.  Also, if you choose to take all nine exams during the same month, be ready to exclusively be studying and taking exams (not much room to breathe) ! Should you have specific questions about this method, please feel free to email me. 

More topics to tackle are that of registration for the exams and the review classes -- hopefully in the upcoming posts...