First reading: One Chief Rabbi • Deri: "Suddenly now they want to save money""

June 23, 2014   

The Knesset plenum approved on first reading the government bill, according to which only one chief rabbi would serve. The bill, which passed on first reading, was supported by 22 MKs and opposed by 14.

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel Law, which was in effect to this day, stipulated that two Chief Rabbis of Israel would be elected, one Sephardi and the other Ashkenazi, and that they would serve in their positions for ten years.

According to the new law, which was initiated by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, one Chief Rabbi will serve on the Chief Rabbinate Council as head of the council, instead of two rabbis, one of whom serves as president of the Great Rabbinical Court.

According to the proposal, the position of president of the court will be filled by a judge from the Great Rabbinical Court, who will be selected by the committee for selecting judges and appointed by the President of the State in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Another proposed amendment seeks to establish the role of a deputy to the president of the Great Rabbinical Court, to determine the term of office of the president of the court and his deputy, and to determine that the head of the court will be appointed only from among the fathers of the court and not by virtue of being a judge who was elected city rabbi.

Haredi rabbis: What about the Knesset and the Rabbinate?

The initiator of the law, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, said: "This bill, submitted together with Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, seeks to do the obvious... Israel has one president, one Knesset speaker, one chief of staff, and the time has come to have one chief rabbi, no matter what denomination. This separation of two rabbis began almost a century ago and has no justification today. The proposal will be implemented after the term of office of the current chief rabbis ends.".

MK Uri Maklev did not accept the minister's explanations and asked: "Why was this law enacted? Is there a problem with two rabbis serving? It only bothers those who do not understand and do not know what the rabbi's role is.".

MK Israel Eichler also had difficulty accepting the logic behind the new law: "What does the Knesset have to do with chief rabbis? Has anyone checked on a few social workers, National Insurance officials, officers, and others who do nothing? I'm not even sure we need a chief rabbi. If this were a Jewish state, we would have a rabbi in every synagogue. The very fact that the Knesset is dealing with this is deliberately intended to harm Judaism and religion. All these discussions about the Chief Rabbinate are part of this Knesset's evil spirit of how to destroy the Jewish establishment. The Chief Rabbinate is almost as relevant as Channel One, and that's not what will determine it.".

MK Moshe Feiglin, one of the initiators of a private bill similar to Livni and Bennett's proposal, tried to respond to the Haredi lawmakers, saying: "I wanted to tell MK Eichler that the person who initiated this law is your faithful servant, and certainly my goal is not to harm religion. When the Torah becomes a dual source, what could be more exalted than a return to the united nation that has one Torah. This is the direction the law is aiming for.".

Ben Dahan to the Haredim: Learn the Mishnah

MK Aryeh Deri (Shas) sharply attacked the new law, saying: "Israeli unity is not what stands behind this bill. Most members of the House who support this bill would equally support a bill to abolish the Chief Rabbinate. Most citizens of the State of Israel want a Chief Rabbinate, they want tradition, they want Orthodox Judaism. But they are the silent majority and we mainly hear the vociferous minority.".

Deri added: "We waste so much in the state and suddenly now we want to save. There is a feeling that if the results of the elections for the Chief Rabbinate a year ago had been different, the Jewish Home would not have supported this law. Don't you know how to lose with dignity?""

MK Yaakov Asher called on Economy Minister Naftali Bennett: "In this bill, you serve as a disciple who surpasses his masters. Prime Minister Netanyahu did not want Reuven Rivlin as president, and therefore worked to abolish the institution of the presidency, and you, Minister Bennett, when you saw that chief rabbis from among the haredi sector were elected against your will and anger, embarked on a campaign to abolish the position of one chief rabbi. At least you are not showing a great deal of modesty and are content with abolishing one chief rabbi and not closing the entire institution of the Chief Rabbinate.".

Asher continued: "The figure of the Rishon LeZion stood as a model figure for hundreds of years before respected communities in the Diaspora. What have hundreds of thousands of dear Jews who desire the figure of the Chief Rabbi, the figure of the leader of the community who represents faithful Judaism before the entire world, done to you?" he asked. He then stated: ""The loss is all yours, your children will not know what a rabbi is, shame on the State of Israel and the Israeli government, which is trying to turn us into a people like all other peoples.".

Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs MK Eli Ben Dahan also spoke, claiming that things were said in the discussion that had nothing to do with the proposed law: "This law strengthens the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. There has never been a situation in the people of Israel with two chief rabbis, learn from the Mishnah.".

""This was done here, unfortunately, because of a 200-year exile, but after 75 years of the state's existence, there is no reason for two chief rabbis. You are misleading the public. The role of the chief rabbis is to rule on public law, and there is no difference between an Ashkenazi and a Sephardi. With the help of our law, a situation will not happen in which the president of the Great Rabbinical Court has never served as a judge, and does not even know how to open a case. This law has nothing to do with elected rabbis, and the evidence is that it does not apply to the current rabbis at all, but only in ten years. Who knows what will happen in ten years?""

The rabbis "firmly oppose""

The Chief Rabbis and the Chief Rabbinate Council announced this evening that they "firmly oppose the single chief rabbi law. The role of the chief rabbis today provides a response to broad publics in the State of Israel and is not dual as the definition of the role would seem to imply.

"על פי החוק - הרבנים הראשיים מכהנים בשתי מערכות שונות. האחד כנשיא בית הדין הרבני הגדול העומד בראש המערכת המשפטית הדתית של מדינת ישראל ואחראי על מערכת בתי הדין, כאשר הרב הראשי השני מכהן בתפקיד נשיא מועצת הרבנות הראשית ואחראי על כל נושא הנישואין הכשרות ומגוון רחב של נושאי דת וחברה, תפקיד שהוא שונה לחלוטין במהותו. "הראשון לציון ממשיך מסורת מפוארת של 380 שנים בהם כיהנו גדולי הדורות פארי גדוליה של יהדות ספרד,  ואילו הרב הראשי מחזיק במסורת מפוארת של למעלה ממאה שנה של שושלת רבנים. "הניסיון לחוקק חוק שיקטע מסורת מפוארת זו וימנע מציבורים רבים את שירותי הדת אותם הם צורכים הוא המשכו הישיר של גל החקיקה האנטי דתית אליו אנחנו נחשפים בחודשים האחרונים. הרבנים הראשיים ומועצת הרבנות קוראים לראש הממשלה ולחברי הכנסת להתעשת ולמנוע את העברת החוק". יצוין, כי אין כל השלכה בחוק המוצע על הרבנים הנוכחיים והתנגדותם לחוק היא עניינית מתוך ראיה צופת פני עתיד ודאגה  לזהותה היהודית של המדינה. "מצער מאוד שבימים בהם העם מתאחד סביב דאגה לגורל החטופים, הכנסת עסוקה בחקיקה חסרת תכלית הפוגעת במסורת ישראל ובציבור המסורתי בישראל, אשר רואה ברבנים הראשיים את מנהיגיו הרוחניים", כתבו.