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3 Cheshvan 5767 - October 25, 2006 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
MK Rabbi Gafni: The Jewish People has an Eternal Constitution

By Eliezer Rauchberger

"The Jewish people has an eternal constitution, Toras Yisroel, which has protected the Jewish people throughout its exiles," said MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni during a Knesset Constitution Committee meeting. He said the chareidi sector is opposed to the idea of a state constitution in principle, but said that if it is carried out with consent it can be done.

"Who are the interpreters of the constitution — the High Court? We do not have representation there. We cannot agree to passing on power to an authority where we are not represented at all," said Rabbi Gafni, laying forth the various problems a constitution would entail.

The second problem, he explained, is that the constitution is secular with a language that differs from that of the Torah. "The word `equality' in the constitution is entirely different from the notion of equality according to Toras Yisroel. When efforts are made in the constitution to protect the rights of minorities these words lead to abandon, breaches, etc."

He also pointed out that when the Knesset legislated the Law of Human Dignity and Freedom "it came to us [the chareidi sector] claiming, `What's the problem with freedom of occupation? After all, this concurs with Jewish values.' However later Mitral petitioned the High Court, demanding permission to import non-kosher meat based on this law. The petition was accepted even though the majority of High Court judges, religious and secular alike, oppose the import of non- kosher meat."

Eventually hard-fought Knesset legislation was needed to keep the treif meat out of the country.

Ever since then, said Rabbi Gafni, we even oppose foundation laws we approve of in principle — the Freedom of Expression Foundation Law, the Social Rights Foundation Law, the Detainees' Rights Foundation Law, etc. — because of the way the High Court is liable to interpret them.

 

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