As previously reported, in March a petition was filed with Israel's High Court of Justice challenging the appointment of 15 judges-- mostly ultra-Orthodox-- to the country's rabbinic courts. While the petition focused primarily on technical issues, the true dispute is over whether judges will reflect a spectrum of views on Jewish law. According to yesterday's Haaretz, as the date for responding to the petitions in the High Court approaches, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has directed Justice Minister Daniel Friedman to cancel the appointments. Apparently the Justice Ministry will tell the High Court that the procedural issues raised in the petitions can be dealt with, but that this might take longer than merely reopening discussions by the Rabbinic Judges Appointments Committee. Today's Jerusalem Post reports that the legal issue presented is the fact that certificates granting 14 of the 15 elected rabbis the right to serve as religious court judges had expired before the election took place. They need to be renewed every two years, and now have been, so that a new election could take place quickly.
Rabbinic Court judges are supposed to be experts in religious law, but also have "a general or legal education" and "knowledge of languages." Also preference is to be given to candidates "who are involved in Israeli society and who have served in the army or been involved in public affairs." The modern Orthodox rabbis' group, Tzohar, is concerned that these criteria are being ignored.
