It's been a turbulent week for the rabbinical world. A new court called "Gyur Kahalacha" was launched, and was seen as an alternative court to the Chief Rabbinate's conversion system.
The scope is too short to enter into a deep halakhic examination, and I am not at all qualified to do so. What is clear is that the current storm comes against the backdrop of an ongoing dispute that can be divided into aspects of halakhic, political, and even social dispute in the sense of the Jewish character of the entire State of Israel.
These disputes, by the way, are not a story of this period in particular. They have existed since before the establishment of the state - between the Haredi world and the secular establishment, and of course between supporters of Aguda and supporters of Mizrahi.
Understand the double standard
When the national religious public begins to understand that the loss to the Chief Rabbinate is final, it actually realizes that there is a double loss.
Not only because the institution of the Rabbinate is a center of power and influence, but in a much deeper way, the Datal understood that with this loss, an important element of the vision of "the beginning of the growth of our redemption" died from their perspective. It is difficult for the Haredi public to grasp the depth of the rift, but this is one of the main reasons for the growing rebellion in the Rabbinate, which this week came into being for the first time in practice and openly.
The Haredi press had mixed reactions. Betad Ne'eman, as usual, dropped the title "Rabbi," not only from Rabbi Stav, who is considered the sworn enemy of the Haredi rabbis, but also from Rabbi Nachum Rabinovich, president of the new Beit Din, who is considered a very serious Torah figure.
This is not a new issue. For years, the official press has not recognized the rabbis of religious Zionism as a significant factor in the world of Torah. Also on the Haredi radio station Kol Chai (which operates under a state license) there was an incident between Rabbi Stav and senior broadcaster Avi Mimran, when the latter slammed a rabbi who is not a rabbi in Israel - following his attempt - according to Mimran) - to make the state rabbinate irrelevant. To Mimran's credit, it should be said that he apologized for the personal insult.
Even a community newspaper did not refrain from declaring on its front page that Rabbi Stav is dangerous to Judaism, dangerous to the rabbinate, and dangerous to the Torah. Not to mention, ultra-Orthodox journalists call the front page an unnecessary provocation, even if the quote is from Maran Ovadia Yosef, zt"l.
I would like to focus on the analysis of the editor of a family newspaper, journalist Yossi Elitov, who provides a broader perspective on the process of change in the rabbinate and religious services in Israel.
Long-term strategy
Let's start at the end. Referring to the Haredi control of the religious services system in Israel, Elitov marks the next goal – the position of Director General of the Chief Rabbinate. As soon as there is a Haredi Director General, or someone who has rebelled against the authority of the Chief Rabbinate, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the process of conquest that began twenty years ago in 1995 will be completed.
According to this argument, there is an organized strategic plan for controlling all key positions in the Chief Rabbinate by Haredim, and shaping the image of the Rabbinate to the image and spirit of the Haredim generation's great leaders.
Needless to say, the coalition agreements and proposed legislative changes since the current government was formed indicate a continuation of the strategy. Other political parties do not have a structured plan. This also includes the Jewish Home, which has made quite a complete concession to the ultra-Orthodox parties, and especially to Shas, on all matters related to religion and state.
Similarly, one of Minister Aryeh Deri's next goals is to appoint judges on his behalf, including exerting considerable influence over judges who come from within religious Zionism. There are also detailed political agreements between him and the Prime Minister on this matter.
Elitov explains that the victory of the Haredim two years ago in the elections for chief rabbis - for the third time in a row - symbolizes a victory that will not be possible to reverse in the future - a kind of hold.
I believe that some of the Tatal rabbis have also reached Elitov's conclusion. This is why they are interested in change within the rabbinate, and this is what gave them the pretext or catalyst to publicly examine for the first time moves that compete with and even bypass the rabbinate, with the first choice being conversion.
Return to previous state
Why conversion? In my opinion, for two reasons. There is a sincere concern among many in religious Zionism and parts of Israeli society about a ticking time bomb of internal assimilation between Jews according to Halacha and thousands who see themselves as Jews, who are not recognized: either because they are clearly required to convert, or because of the difficulty of proving their Jewishness. In this state-based view, ways are being sought within Halacha to improve the chances of larger numbers of Halacha converts.
It should be taken into account that ultra-Orthodox and non-Orthodox movements have been converting in the State of Israel outside the rabbinate for many, many years, so the mere establishment of a new court for conversion is not an innovation in itself. The innovation is that its founders come from the heart of religious Zionism.
""Until today, the separatist religious establishment has urged people to turn to these channels of conversion. Now there is a new alternative," claims Attorney Elad Kaplan, director of the public and legal policy department at the Itim organization, which operates in the fields of religious services and rabbinate. Incidentally, Attorney Kaplan is also representing converts from Rabbi Karlitz's Badatz in a petition to the High Court of Justice so that the state will recognize their conversion.
The second reason, which makes conversion a more convenient arena, is the constitutional situation. The Rabbinate does not have a built-in monopoly. There is no legal problem with establishing a conversion court in the State of Israel, even by qualified rabbis of the Rabbinate itself. Historically, city rabbis were converting regularly until the 1990s, although not overwhelmingly. For some reason, returning to this situation, as proposed by the previous government, aroused enormous opposition.
It should also be remembered that the Rabbinate is of course not obliged to recognize those converts, as the only authority authorized by law to recognize conversions is the Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who is defined in the Mandatory Decree as the "head of the Jewish religious community.".
What about the Badzim?
And why now? Apparently, the rabbis involved in establishing the court headed by Rabbi Rabinowitz, among whom we can mention Rabbi Midan, Rabbi Ram HaCohen, Rabbi Amsalem and Rabbi Riskin, have reached Alytov's conclusion, as stated. The Haredi control of the rabbinate is complete, and from their perspective there is no hope left of returning it to operate in a 'state' manner, by the way, a concept that is not natural, and even foreign to the Haredi leadership.
This statehood also stood in their way, when Zionist rabbinical elements opposed the move – something that tactically served the Haredim, who could sit on the sidelines and watch the Mazoruhniks fight each other.
In recent days, the community of ultra-Orthodox commentators, some in one style and some in another, have come to defend the State Rabbinate, and explain how important it is to have a single halachic authority in the State of Israel.
If it weren't outrageous, it would be funny. Over the years, Haredi courts have been established on the left and right on various issues (marriage, divorce, conversion kashrut, and more), and now they are shouting, "How dare you harm the vision of Maran Rav Kook?" The same Rav Kook whose name is being removed from every possible book in the Haredi bookcase.
Rabbi Stav is not the problem.
Elitov notices another point. In the current initiative, Rabbi Stav is not the problem. "The headache of Haredi Judaism is much greater. We are talking about the need to deal with Jews whose Torah greatness is difficult to challenge. Anyone who slanders and speaks in cheap, vulgar language towards rabbis such as Rabbi Nachum Eliezer Rabinowitz and Rabbi Ra'am HaCohen is twice as wrong: in addition to using cheap and vulgar language towards scholars of Torah, he is inflicting a loss on the Chief Rabbinate," said Yossi Elitov.
In conclusion, one should protest the use of cheap language towards any person, and certainly a rabbi, whether he is Haredi or not. Those who personally slander those who work – at least from their point of view – for the sake of the people of Israel, even if there are serious differences of opinion between them, are ultimately detrimental to their own cause. For in the long run, when the public in general, and the non-Haredi in particular, will not be willing to lend credibility to a side that belittles its opponents.
The challenge facing rabbis and politicians of all stripes is to think about how best to strengthen the Jewishness of the country, in a way that allows the greatest number of residents to share in the Jewish identity, even if not all of them are Torah and mitzvot-observant. I am not here to advise rabbis who are greater in Torah than I am, but I certainly see in them a calling to magnify and glorify Torah.
As a believing Jew, I must believe that a learned scholar should be a source of inspiration and love for Judaism, and not the other way around. I would humbly suggest that those in power should realize that concentrating power in their hands while eliminating other halachic approaches will ultimately weaken the status and prestige of Judaism, which is clearly the opposite purpose for which the Chief Rabbinate exists.
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