Difficult Week For New York Orthodox Rabbi As Politics of U.S. and Israel Cause Him Problems

It has been a difficult week for respected Modern Orthodox Rabbi Haskel Lookstein.  Lookstein is the Rabbi Emeritus of Manhattan's Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, the synagogue attended by Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law. Lookstein is also the rabbi who sponsored Ivanka Trump's conversion to Judaism.  So this week he was tapped to offer an invocation at the Republican National Convention. However a petition (full text) signed by over 800 Orthodox Jews took Lookstein to task, saying in part:

We, the undersigned, are outraged that Rabbi Haskel Lookstein – rabbi emeritus of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and the Ramaz School – has decided to lend his blessing to Donald Trump and speak at the Republican National Convention.

Donald Trump openly spouts racist, misogynistic rhetoric; he advocates torture, the expulsion of millions of families, some long settled in America, and insinuates that some citizens of this great country are somehow less than others.

So Lookstein decided not to speak at the Convention after all, saying: " The whole matter turned from rabbinic to political, something which was never intended."  The Forward reports on these developments.

Meanwhile, as reported by the Times of Israel, Israel's Supreme Rabbinical Court, the court which hears appeals in personal status matters, ruled on Wednesday that it will not recognize religious conversions performed by Rabbi Lookstein in the United States. It required an American woman who had converted to Judaism under Lookstein's auspices to convert again in Israel in order to get married there.  The ruling, of course, calls into question the Israeli rabbinate's willingness to recognize Ivanka Trump's conversion as well.  Israel's Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau says he recognizes Lookstein's conversions, but the Chief Rabbinate is separate from the Supreme Rabbinical Court. Israeli officials such as Jewish Agency head Natan Sharanksy also back Lookstein.

Israel Finally Appoints Rabbinical Appellate Judges

After months of controversy, nine new judges have finally been appointed to Israel's Supreme Rabbinical Court, the court which hears appeals in Jewish divorce and certain other personal status matters.  Jerusalem Post reports that nine judges were appointed on Tuesday, bringing the court up to its required complement of ten. Facing a large backlog of cases, the court was operating with temporary appointments which were about to expire. (Haaretz. June 16).  The new appointees for the first time include 5 judges who have served in the IDF.  However women's groups strongly criticized one of the new appointees.

Israeli Court Says Shouting Allahu Akbar Can Amount To Breach of Peace

In Israel last week, a Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ruled that shouting Allahu akbar (God is great) at a group of Jews on the Temple Mount can be the basis for a conviction for disturbing the peace. According to The Algemeiner, the court wrote in part:

[chanting] Allahu akbar during prayer, at a site of prayer and in the spot in the prayer [book] where it is called for does not constitute a breach of the peace, but a fundamental right. However, when those calls are used as a form of demonstration or protest, or as a way of creating a riot or unrest, they do not constitute prayers and are therefore a clear disturbance of the peace.

British Court Rejects Challenge To Local Anti-Israel BDS Resolutions

In Britain today, a 2-judge panel of the England and Wales High Court rejected a challenge by a Jewish human rights group to anti-Israel resolutions passed by three local councils.  In Jewish Rights Watch (t/a Jewish Human Rights Watch), R (on the application of) v Leicester City Council, [2016] EWHC 1512 (Admin), June 28, 2016, petitioner challenged three resolutions: one by Leicester calling for a boycott of produce from Israeli West Bank settlements; one by Gwynedd calling for a trade embargo with Israel; and one by Swansea expressing concern that a company involved in building a light railway in Israel was also involved in contracts with Swansea. The court summarized Jewish Human Rights Watch's claims:

It is JHRW's case that the Councils singled out Israel for different treatment than that adopted in respect of other countries and, in particular, failed properly or sufficiently to consider the effect of the resolutions on the Jewish community. JHRW contends that the Councils failed to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and harassment of Jewish people, and the need to foster good relations between those who are Jewish and those who are not; and that in doing so they failed to have any regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty, set out in s.149 of the Equality Act 2010, and their legal duties as public authorities, as set out in s.17 of the Local Government Act 1988.

Section 149 of the Equality Act has been interpreted to require public bodies to give advance consideration to equality issues before making policy decisions.  Section 17 of the Local Government Act bars local governments from considering the country or territory of origin in making contract decisions. The court concluded, however, that qualifying language in, and/or the non-binding nature of, the Resolutions prevented them from being in violation of law:

First, the evidence from each of the Defendant Councils was that the resolutions did not bind the Councils to abide by or act upon them. Leicester, Gwynedd and Swansea each operated through an Executive (which developed and implemented policy); and procurement was a function of the Executive rather than the full Council.

The second point is that two of the resolutions contained qualifying words. In the case of Leicester, the boycott resolution was qualified by the words, 'insofar as legal considerations allow'. In the case of Swansea the exhortation to support the position of the UN in relation to the settlement of East Jerusalem was qualified by the words, 'so long as to do so would not be in breach of any relevant legislation.'

Jewish Chronicle reporting on the decision, quotes JHRW which says it will file an appeal. JHRW's statement reads in part:

The local councils, recognising that such boycotts would be unlawful, insisted that their motions were non-binding and not actually implemented, and that the resolutions were in fact never intended to influence policy. So this was never about investment at all. Instead, it was about councils being able to make offensive and misleading declarations that divide communities for cheap political gain and put Jews in the UK in jeopardy – and all at the ratepayer’s expense.

[Thanks to Paul de Mello, Jnr. for the lead.]

Israeli Court Tells City To Remove Religiously Inspired Signs Directing Women To Wear Modest Clothes

In Israel yesterday, the Jerusalem District Court ordered the mayor of the city of Beit Shemesh to remove signs posted around the city by ultra-Orthodox Jews instructing women to wear long sleeves and long skirts. Other signs tell women to keep off sidewalks near synagogues and yeshivas where men congregate.  According to today's Haaretz, the suit seeking removal of the signs was filed three years ago on behalf of four Orthodox women who live in Beit Shemesh. They argue that the signs encourage violence and harassment against women who ignore them.  A Magistrate's Court ruled in the women's favor last year (see prior posting), but the city has ignored the ruling. So plaintiffs went to a higher court which has now given the city's mayor three weeks to remove the signs, and told the city to act more forcefully in the future to prevent new signs from going up.

In Israel, Sharia Courts Must Now Display Israeli Flag

In Israel, personal status matters, such as marriage and divorce and in some cases custody and inheritance, are handled by religious courts of the various religious communities. These courts-- Jewish religious courts for the Jewish population, Sharia courts for the Muslim population, as well as Druze and Christian courts-- are part of the state judicial system. I24 reported yesterday that Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has ordered that Sharia courts must now display Israeli flags and national symbols. Previously they have not done so. Shaked has also taken steps aimed at appointment of the first female as an Israeli Sharia Court judge and member of the selection committee for Muslim religious judges.

Israel's High Court Upholds Chief Rabbinate's Monopoly On Kosher Certification

In Israel on Monday, a 3-judge panel of the High Court of Justice in a 2-1 ruling upheld the official Chief Rabbinate's monopoly on kosher certification.  As reported by the Times of Israel, at issue was the ability of restaurants to use a alternative private kosher supervision service which issues certificates that do not use the term "kosher" in attesting to compliance with Jewish religious dietary requirements. The restaurants involved only displayed the Private Supervision certificate on their websites.  However, the High Court majority held:

a business is prohibited from presenting its kashrut status in writing, whether by using the word kosher or not, unless it was given a kosher certificate by the body authorized by law to do so.

The majority however said that the Chief Rabbinate would have to make reforms in its certification process within two years to eliminate the requirement that restaurants pay the salaries of inspectors who certify them.  The restaurants say they will seek review of the ruling by an expanded bench of the High Court.

Israel's High Court Recognizes Conversions Performed Outside of the Chief Rabbinate's Jurisdiction

Israel's High Court of Justice yesterday dealt another blow to the monopoly power of the country's Chief Rabbinate.  The Jerusalem Post reports that the Court, in an 8-1 decision, held that non-Israeli nationals who convert to Judaism through private Orthodox rabbinical courts-- rather than through the Chief Rabbinate's State Conversion Authority-- are eligible for citizenship under Israel's Law of Return.  Last year, a group of senior Orthodox rabbis gave up on trying to make the State Conversion Authority more accessible-- particularly to the many Soviet immigrants who are not recognized as Jewish under religious law-- and instead created their own non-state Orthodox conversion system known as Giyur Kahalacha.  It has converted some 150 people so far.  In Israel's complicated religious-political system, recognition under the Law of Return will likely require the Interior Ministry to register these converts as Jewish in the Population Registry. Then the question will be whether the Chief Rabbinate will recognize them as Jewish for purposes of marriage. Two leaders of the United Torah Judaism Party said that they would demand legislation to overturn the Court's decision.

Israel's Attorney General Says Bill Restoring Orthodox Control of Mikvehs Is Invalid

As previously reported, last month a 3-judge panel of Israel's High Court of Justice held that state-funded mikvehs  (ritual bath facilities) operated by Orthodox-controlled religious councils must be open for use by the Conservative and Reform Jewish movements for their conversion ceremonies as well as for Orthodox conversions. (See prior posting.)  In response, a bill was introduced into the Knesset (Parliament) by a member of the Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party to reverse the Court's ruling by requiring mikvehs to be run in accordance with Jewish law as interpreted by the ultra-Orthodox Chief Rabbinate.  The bill passed its preliminary reading in the Knesset last week.  Haaretz reports that yesterday Israel's Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit submitted a legal opinion to the government concluding that the bill is invalid because it violates the rights to freedom of religion, human dignity and equality.

Israeli Court Sentences Muslim Preacher For Incitement To Racism

In Israel this week, a Jerusalem Magistrate's court sentenced a Muslim preacher to 11 months in prison (and another 6 months suspended) on three counts of incitement to racism.  According to YNet News, Sheikh Khaled Mughrabi regularly delivered speeches at al-Aqsa Mosque, filmed them and uploaded some of them to YouTube.  In one speech, Mughrabi said that the Holocaust was a result of the Jews’ corruption and took place because Jews prepared "special bread" for Passover by kidnapping children, placing them in a barrel full of needles, and using their blood to make the bread. The indictment referred specifically to 3 speeches in the summer of 2015.

In Israel, Western Wall Compromise May Be Unraveling

In Israel, the much-heralded compromise approved by Prime Minister Netanyahu's cabinet at the end of January to construct a separate prayer space at the Western Wall for egalitarian prayer now seems to possibly be unraveling.  Jerusalem Post reported yesterday that opposition from the Chief Rabbinate and much of the Orthodox religious establishment is growing.  A meeting between the Prime Minister and Israel's two chief rabbis scheduled for yesterday was canceled as the Prime minister asked the chief rabbis along with the current Orthodox administrator of the Western Wall to submit proposals for changes in the agreement. The Orthodox establishment appears to be particularly opposed to the arrangement that would create a committee to regulate the proposed new prayer space, with the Reform and Conservative (Masorti) movements in Judaism given seats on the committee. Several Israeli Orthodox rabbis have made scathing attacks against the Reform movement in recent weeks. On Saturday, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Shlomo Amar, referring to the Reform and Conservative movements, said:

It is not permitted in any way to give it [the Western Wall] over to disgrace and shame in the hands of those who purport to pray and act with immodesty and clownishness, which is a desecration of that which is holy, and the trampling of the inheritance of Israel throughout the generations in a brazen and cruel manner.

El Al Sued In Israel Over Gender-Based Reseating To Accommodate Religious Objections

A widely anticipated test case has been filed in court in Israel against El Al Airlines over its practice of accommodating Orthodox Jewish men who, for religious reasons, refuse to sit beside unrelated female passengers. New York Times reported Friday on the discrimination suit filed by the Israel Religious Action Center on behalf of 81-year old Renee Rabinowitz who was pressured by a flight attendant to change seats on a flight from Newark to Tel Aviv.  Rabinowitz is described by the Times as "a sharp-witted retired lawyer with a Ph.D. in educational psychology, who escaped the Nazis in Europe as a child." Rabinowitz moved to Israel from the United States some ten years ago.  Both her second and first husbands were rabbis. The Religious Action Center had been looking for at test case where it was clear that flight attendants, as opposed to passengers alone, were involved in the seating change.

Israel Supreme Court Says Public-Funded Mikvehs Must Be Open To Reform and Conservative Conversions

According to Haaretz and Times of Israel, last Thursday a 3-justice panel of Israel's Supreme Court held that state-funded mikvehs  (ritual bath facilities) operated by Orthodox-controlled religious councils must be open for use  by the Conservative and Reform Jewish movements for their conversion ceremonies as well as for Orthodox conversions. Israel's Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef called the decision "outrageous."

Israel Appoints 7 New Muslim Religious Court Judges

In Israel yesterday, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked spoke at a ceremony at the President's residence marking the appointment of seven new judges (Qadis) to Israeli Shariah courts that adjudicate Muslim personal status matters.  (Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release.) As reported by the Jerusalem Post, two new judges were appointed to the Shariah Court of Appeals, and five were appointed to Shariah regional courts.  Both Rivlin and Shaked expressed their hope that future appointment of Qadis would include women. Shaked said that she had asked the the sub-committee that recommends appointments for the names of female candidates. Apparently they did not produce any. A bill proposed in the Knesset last year would have required that at least one woman be on the list of recommended nominees, but the government coalition partner United Torah Judaism party vetoed the bill fearing it might set a precedent for Jewish religious court judges. (See prior posting.)

Reparative Therapy Practitioners, Enjoined In New Jersey, Move Work To Israel

As previously reported, last December a New Jersey state court issued a permanent injunction under the state's Consumer Fraud Act against JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing), prohibiting it from offering gay conversion therapy in the future.  Yesterday, however, AP reported that therapists who had been connected to JONAH have moved their work to Israel. According to AP:

Israel’s Health Ministry advises against so-called “gay conversion” or “reparative” therapy, calling it scientifically dubious and potentially dangerous, but no law limits it. In Israel, practitioners say their services are in demand, mostly by Orthodox Jewish men trying to reduce their same-sex attractions so they can marry women and raise a traditional family according to their conservative religious values.

Clients also include Jewish teenagers from the U.S. and other countries who attend post-high school study programs at Orthodox seminaries in Israel....

Proponents in Israel say therapy does not “convert” clients, but boosts self-esteem and masculinity, which they say can reduce homosexuality. In Israel, therapists say there is greater acceptance of their work than in the U.S.

Israeli Civil Court Orders Chief Rabbinate To Release List of Foreign Rabbis Whose Testimony It Will Accept

In Israel on Wednesday, Jerusalem district court Judge Nava Ben-Or ordered Israel's Chief Rabbinate to release its internal list of rabbis in other countries whose affidavits will be recognized for purposes of proving Jewish identity.  Residents who have moved to Israel from abroad can only have access to a Jewish marriage ceremony or Jewish burial in Israel if they are formally recognized as Jewish by the Rabbinate.  According to the Times of Israel:

In her decision, Judge Nava Ben-Or declared herself “shocked” by the apparent lack of transparency in this matter most central to everyday existence.

“This is a person’s life, we’re talking about very serious matters,” she said, describing a situation in which people wait indeterminately for the rabbinate to decide their fates, saying they hear nothing and are not being answered.

“It is a right to start a family,” Ben-Or said. “I am ashamed that in a functioning state this information cannot be provided. It is an unprecedented scandal. It is not Jewish, and inhumane.”

Israeli Court Avoids Decision on Definition of Prayer on Temple Mount

In Israel on Monday, a Jerusalem district court reversed the order of a Magistrate's Court that had barred right-wing Jewish activist Yehuda Etzion from visiting the Temple Mount compound for 15 days. Haaretz and a press release from Honenu report on developments.  Etzion is founder of Hai VeKayam, a group that advocates allowing Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount where Muslim holy sites are located. Agreements between Israel, the Palestinians and Jordan call for maintaining the "status quo" at the Temple Mount site-- which means no Jewish prayer there.  On Dec. 22, authorities detained Etzion for walking on the Temple Mount with his arms raised, concluding that this violated the status quo.  On appeal, District Court judge Ram Vinograd said he did not need to definitively rule on the definition of an act of prayer since there was not fair warning to Etzion that police had changed their past interpretations to now ban raised arms.  During an earlier visit, police had not stopped Etzion from similar action. The judge commented on the problem of line drawing-- would merely lifting one's eyes upwards, or covering one's head, be enough to violate the prayer ban.

Etzion, obviously pushing the envelope, after the appeals court ruling described his action on the Temple Mount as follows:

With this act I sought to express a connection with the Temple Mount and the One who resides there, and I kept in my memory also the prayer of King Solomon, who spread his palms upwards. 

Jonathan Pollard Claims Parole Conditions Violate His Rights Under RFRA

Convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard who recently completed a 30-year federal prison term is now seeking to have a New York federal district judge ease three of the conditions imposed as part of his additional one-year of parole.  As reported by today's Jerusalem Post, Pollard objects to required monitoring of his home and work computers; tracking of his location by an electronic GPS ankle bracelet; and a 7 am to 7 pm curfew.  Part of Pollard's argument is that the ankle bracelet and curfew violate his rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The monitoring anklet's batteries will not last 25-hours, and thus Pollard will be required to charge the battery during the Sabbath, a violation of Jewish religious law.  Also the curfew interferes with his ability to attend synagogue services.  The U.S. Attorney's Office concedes that it can accommodate Pollard's concerns with the ankle bracelet by providing one with longer battery life. The court ordered the parole commission to furnish further information, in particular whether it believes Pollard has information that is still confidential.

Bill In Israel's Knesset Encouraging Female Muslim Judges Draws Orthodox Jewish Opposition

While it is well known that Israel has a system of Jewish religious courts, it is sometimes overlooked that the country also has a system of religious courts for over a dozen other religious communities.  These religious courts deal with personal status family law matters of Israelis who are members of those religious groups. (Background.) Times of Israel reported yesterday on a bill proposed by three members of the Knesset (Israel's Parliament) that would require those appointing judges to Muslim religious courts to include at least one woman on the list of nominees and encourage in other ways election of women to Muslim courts. The bill has the backing of the important Ministerial Committee of Legislation.  However under the coalition agreement between the parties in Prime Minister Netanyahu's government, the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party has a veto over legislation on religion-state matters.  A party spokesman said it was planning to exercise the veto here because it fears the bill could set a precedent for Jewish religious judges which, under Orthodox Jewish law, are only male.

Two Popes Impact Delicate International Decisions

Pope Francis yesterday spoke in Narobi, Kenya to a group of  United Nations officials (full text of speech) urging action at two upcoming international conferences. Focusing on COP21, the meeting beginning Nov. 30 in Paris on climate change, the Pope said in part:

In a few days an important meeting on climate change will be held in Paris, where the international community as such will once again confront these issues.  It would be sad, and I dare say even catastrophic, were particular interests to prevail over the common good and lead to manipulating information in order to protect their own plans and projects....

I express my hope that COP21 will achieve a global and “transformational” agreement based on the principles of solidarity, justice, equality and participation; an agreement which targets three complex and interdependent goals: lessening the impact of climate change, fighting poverty and ensuring respect for human dignity.

The Pope also spoke about the upcoming 10th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization scheduled to meet in Narobi in a few days:

It is my hope that the deliberations of the forthcoming Nairobi Conference will not be a simple balancing of conflicting interests, but a genuine service to care of our common home and the integral development of persons, especially those in greatest need.  I would especially like to echo the concern of all those groups engaged in projects of development and health care – including those religious congregations which serve the poor and those most excluded – with regard to agreements on intellectual property and access to medicines and essential health care.  Regional free trade treaties dealing with the protection of intellectual property, particularly in the areas of pharmaceutics and biotechnology, should not only maintain intact the powers already granted to States by multilateral agreements, but should also be a means for ensuring a minimum of health care and access to basic treatment for all.

Meanwhile, Israeli and Arab sources differ on the political importance of a gesture by Egypt's Coptic Pope Tawadros II who yesterday left with a delegation of bishops for Jerusalem to take part in the funeral of Archbishop Anba Abraham, the Archbishop of Jerusalem.  This is the first visit of a Coptic pope to Jerusalem since 1832.  In 1979, the previous Coptic Pope barred Copts from traveling to Jerusalem, insisting they will only enter together with Muslims. The Jerusalem Post speculates that Tawadros' trip will make it increasingly difficult to maintain the ban on other Copts making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Zvi Mazel, a former Israeli ambassador to Egypt said that Tawadros probably got approval from Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who is maintaining close intelligence ties with Israel in the fight against ISIL in Sinai.

However, Gulf News quotes a Coptic Church spokesman who said that Tawadros' visit to Jerusalem, which the Church considers occupied territory, does not change the Church's position:

The Pope’s visit came as an exception. It is for offering condolences and nothing more.  Pope Tawadros II will not make any visits in the Holy Land, and he will return to Cairo immediately following the funeral prayers. Copts will only go to Jerusalem with their Muslim brethren.