The High Court ruled on Monday that the Haifa religious
council must convene within a week including its Reform and
Conservative members. The decision was protested by the
Israeli religious community, led by MK Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz.
The Torah observant delegates of the council are planning to
boycott the meeting, so that the only ones present at the
Religious Council will be the chairman and the non-religious
delegates.
The Reform and Conservative in Israel, whose numbers are
minuscule, have been waging a battle in Israel's courts for
years to be allowed to sit on the country's Religious
Councils which have the responsibility for disbursing the
State's budgetary support of organized religion. Though their
insignificant numbers give them no basis for asserting the
right to representation on the councils to meet their own
religious needs, they are backed by the anti-religious
community, led by Meretz, which is a significant presence in
many cities and asserts that the Reform and Conservative
represent their "religious needs."
In Haifa they sent several delegates to the council. The
rabbonim and the Ministry of Religions did not convene the
council. Some months ago, the High Court ordered it to
convene. When it did not do so, the Reform went back to
court.
Last week, the chairman of Haifa's Religious Council, Mr.
Yitzchok Getz, sent letters to the members of the council to
convene it. The staff of the Religious Affairs Ministry
claimed that Getz had no authority to convene the council,
since it hadn't been convened during the thirty day period in
which it was originally ordered to do so by the High
Court.
Religious Affairs Minster, Eli Suissa, canceled the meeting,
and sent a letter saying this to the members of the council.
However on Monday the High Court met and canceled Suissa''s
cancellation. The High Court issued an unequivocal order to
the head of the Religious Council of Haifa to convene the
council within seven days. The justices of the High Court
were expressed their dissatisfaction over the delay in the
convening of the religious council, and ordered the Religious
Affairs Minister to pay the petitioners legal expenses of
30,000 shekels.
In the arguments before the High Court, the government
claimed that the chairman of the council did not convene it
within the thirty day was period in which he was ordered to
do so, and therefore the Religious Affairs Minister took over
and he in turn decided to convene the council only after the
Religious Council Law is passed in the Knesset. In their
verdict, justices of the High Court, Mishoel Cheshin,
Yitzchok Zamir and Dorit Beinish criticize the decision of
Religious Affairs Minister Eli Suissa, and the interpretation
that was given to the law by the government.
The judges noted that "until Suissa's announcement, Getz
behaved like a loyal public servant and sought to convene the
religious council, but then he canceled the meeting due to
Suissa's instructions." They determined that Getz has the
authority to convene the council. They also criticized the
Attorney General, Eliakim Rubinstein, for not having issued
an unequivocal directive to the Religious Affairs Minister,
clarifying that the Minister is not authorized to prevent the
religious council from convening.
Officials the Religious Affairs Ministry were upset that Getz
rushed to send the letters to the members of the council
announcing the meeting even though, they said, he had no
obligation to do so. They said that Getz could have refrained
from sending such letters due to his current illness, and
then the authority would have been transferred to the
Religious Affairs Minister.
The chairman of the Finance Committee, Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz
said, that the High Court has once more proved that regarding
religious matters, it is prepared to twist its own laws and
rulings. "It has become clear that Justice Cheshin will soon
launch a one man battle against organized religious life in
Israel," he added
Rabbi Ravitz noted that the amendment to the Religious
Council Law should be passed quickly, so that the High Court
will be neutralized on this matter. "We will do everything we
can to prevent the Reform from gaining a foothold here, and
from undermining the foundations of Judaism," he stressed.
Observers said that it is likely that the Torah observant
representatives will not come to the meeting of the religious
council, and thus only the chairman and a few other members,
including the two controversial representatives, will be in
the meeting room. It will be impossible to reach decisions at
such a limited forum, and the convening of the council will
thus be postponed in practice to a later date.
The Reform yesterday asked Attorney General Elyakim
Rubinstein to order the convening of councils with their
representatives in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Arad and Kiryat
Tivon.
The Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen said that
this isn't only Haifa's problem, and therefore the Council of
the Chief Rabbinate should determine how the chairman of
religious councils and their members must behave.
