On the proposed law for appointing municipal rabbis and points raised by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed.
MK Simcha Rothman is Chair of the Knesset's Law Committee.
The law for appointing municipal rabbis now on the agenda of the Knesset Law Committee is meant to make the rabbinate more connected to the public while granting a national quality to its key positions.
The resurrection of the Rabbinate, that is, restoring honor to the Rabbinate, echoes the prophetic promise '…and I will bring back your judges as at first and your councilors as at the beginning…' The rejuvenated Rabbinate will exert influence by ceaseless efforts to bring hearts closer to each other and instill the spirit of peace among all parties and factions, by strengthening Torah and its honor in the Holy Land and in the entire world." This great vision, expressed by Rabbi Avraham Yitschak HaCohen Kook, Israel's first chief rabbi, is the founding concept of the institution of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. But Rabbi Kook's visionary words need tangible and practical tools that allow them to come about.
There is no question that in recent years a large gap has opened between this vision and the way the Rabbinate and its representatives are experienced by the public in general and the religious Zionists in particular. While we can try to blame others for the past, we can, instead, simply go forward and effect changes, as the Religious Zionist party platform includes, first and foremost, the desire to return the office to its original grandeur and to strengthen the Chief Rabbinate.
The Knesset's Constitutional Committee has placed the proposed law regarding the appointment of municipal, local and neighborhood rabbis on its agenda. The law proposed by myself and MK Erez Malul of the Shas party is meant to solve many of the problems such appointments involve, to connect rabbis with the congregations they will serve, and to ensure the possibility of appointing diverse candidates who reflect the public they represent
Let’s talk about the present situation before examining the law's details. When this government was formed, there were 41 positions for city rabbis that had not been filled for years. The resulting problem was not unemployment, but a lack of properly administered religious services for the entire citizenry of those cities. The positions left unfilled created places where the level of kashrut has deteriorated. It brought about a growing distance between local communities and rabbis.
The proposed law simplifies the procedure for appointing rabbis and ensures that all relevant opinions will be heard during the process. Each city's residents will make up at least 75% of the voting body, and at least a third of the voting body for municipal rabbis will be women (in contrast to 25% in the previous bylaws) .
For the first time, the law stipulates an ombudsman for the rabbinate to hear complaints. The law prevents backroom decisions and limits granting rabbinic qualification granted those who have not sat for the official rabbinic examinations to rabbis recognized for their outstanding greatness in Torah so that only they can be non-officially ordained candidates for the municipal rabbinate. (Ed. Note: There have always been outstanding rabbinic scholars who received ordination from Torah luminaries. Scholars of that stature are not expected to sit for government rabbinic exams.)
Much criticism has been leveled at the law, but the main complaint was that it reduced the electoral clout of locally elected public officials in the voting body. This, however, was directed mainly at the first draft of the law before its amendment in committee, and it is not the case at all today.
There is a purposeful fundamental statement in this law that expresses the ethos of religious Zionism. We believe that we need a national Chief Rabbinate whose nationwide status is reflected in the major actions of Israel's municipal rabbis.
For example, we cannot allow a situation where municipal rabbis refuse to grant a kosher certificate to businesses that accept the "heter mechira" (selling the land to a non-Jew for the Shemitta year) which the Chief Rabbinate accepts nationwide.
We cannot allow a municipal rabbi to reject the conversion of someone who has a certificate signed by the Chief Rabbi and refuse to grant them a marriage license.
That is why the idea that each city is to be seen as a separate entity creates a massive problem [so we have created a balance on this delicate issue between a municipal rabbi's range of independence and his adherence to the Chief Rabbinate's nationwide purview].
On the other hand, it is self evident that one does not appoint a public leader unless the public has been consulted. That is why the balance achieved by the law has 75% of the voting body is made up of two groups. 1. People elected by the local public must make up at least half of the voting body - and in most cases they will be more than 50% of that body. 2. The minister and the mayor are to choose another 25% of the voting body from the roster of residents interested in promoting religious services in the city who are active in local religious, cultural or educational affairs. The remaining 25% are members of the Chief Rabbinate Council.
Voting is to be by secret ballot at polling stations, to prevent any untoward pressures. The result is that a municipal rabbi is to be elected by local residents, the municipal authority and the Chief Rabbinate so that the rabbis chosen will reflect a variety of opinions, viewpoints and the ethnic groups of the large public awaiting this moment for years.
The law deals mainly with procedural issues, but reflects the vision of Rabbi Kook regarding the status and functioning of the Chief Rabbinate, as well as the opinion of the entire coalition, thank G-d, which is that we cannot continue a reality where the rabbinate and religious services in Israel are the property of one party alone.
The issue is relevant to everyone, everyone is part of it, and I am confident that at the end of the process of passing the law, the rabbis appointed will be connected with and attached to the general public.
Translated from the Hebrew Besheva weekly by Rochel Sylvetsky
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/375531
2 comments:
Doubt if there will be a real proper Rabbinate because the world has descended not ascended to greater heights. There are very few who can reach the level of the great Rabbanim of even a generation ago, etc.
Today's, whether rabbis or just orthodox Jews, Jews are more liberal, even the very religious, than ever before. These days liberalism has gone too far to the left, r'l and has had a bad effect on the Jews as well as the rest of this chaotic world. Maybe Moshiach will be here first and there will be a real Sanhedrin and everything will be in order and that's when there will be
one Torah the way Hashem means it to be.
Remember that Noach was judged IN HIS GENERATION.
He was a tzadik in his generation.
Not compared to Avraham Avinu.
So, in our lowly generation, we can have those who are considered on a special level to judge between Jews and otherwise.
We do have tzadikim but dont hear enough from them.
One is Rabbi Rietti.
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