An achievement for religious Zionism: The High Court of Justice rejected the request of the United Torah Judaism faction in Jerusalem to freeze the process of appointing representatives of the Minister of Religious Affairs to the Jerusalem Rabbinate's electoral body.
Yesterday (Monday), the United Torah Judaism faction in Jerusalem, through its attorney, Attorney Raanan Bar Zohar, submitted an urgent request to issue a temporary order to freeze the process of appointing representatives of Minister of Religious Services Naftali Bennett, to the electorate of the Jerusalem Rabbinate. This follows the announcement by the State Attorney's Office to the High Court of Justice that the minister intends to appoint his representatives by September 1, 2014.
This morning, Supreme Court Justice Yitzhak Amit, before whom the petition was heard, rejected the request, ruling that the minister would be able to appoint his representatives.
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In his decision, the judge wrote: "The appointment of members of the electoral assembly is separate and the election process is separate, and at this stage, I see no reason to order the respondents to refrain from exercising their authority under the regulations. To the extent that there is an intention to hold the elections before the date of the hearing of the petitions, then according to Regulation 15 of the Jewish Religious Services Regulations (Election of City Rabbis), 5767 - 2007, as amended by the 5774 amendment, the date for holding the elections is at least 30 days after the publication of the notice in the newspaper, so that the petitioner has sufficient time to petition for an interim order against holding the elections.".
Despite this, the judge wrote that the hearing on the petition and the granting of an interim order will be brought forward from November to early September, and the Ministry of Religious Services and Minister Bennett must respond by September 1, 2014.
The chairman of the United Torah Judaism faction in Jerusalem, Eliezer Rauchberger, told the Haredim10 that from their perspective, it is more important that the hearing on the petition be brought forward to early September.
Attorney Ilan Kaminetsky, chairman of the Zionist Synagogue Association, who asked to join as a party to the petition, told Haredim10: "We welcome the court's decision, and are convinced that city rabbis will soon be elected to the Jerusalem Synagogue, as even the High Court of Justice expressed its opinion on the matter.".
Deputy Minister of Religious Services, Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan, welcomed the decision: "The Elections Committee will continue its work to elect a Chief Rabbi for Jerusalem.".
