|
|
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.
|
