The struggle over the Jerusalem rabbinate continues: Religious Services Minister Naftali Bennett announced to the High Court of Justice last night that he intends to appoint his representatives to the electorate for the city rabbinate by September 1 - in 21 days.
The announcement was made to the High Court of Justice by the State Attorney's Office, following Judge Yitzhak Amit's decision, in a hearing held about a month ago on a petition filed by the United Torah Judaism faction in Jerusalem.
In the petition, United Torah Judaism claimed that Minister Naftali Bennett and Deputy Minister Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan were acting out of considerations other than their own and changed the regulations for elections to the city rabbinate, with the aim of bringing about the election of the candidate of Religious Zionism, the eminent Rabbi Aryeh Stern.
Judge Amit rejected the request to grant an interim order to delay the election process for the Chief Rabbinate in Jerusalem, and determined that a hearing on the petition will be held before the panel by the end of November.
At the same time, it stipulated that the Ministry of Religious Services would notify the High Court 21 days in advance that it would seek to appoint its representatives to the electorate.
In doing so, he effectively legalized the new regulations for electing city rabbis, and enabled the continuation of the election process for the Jerusalem Rabbinate.
As mentioned, yesterday the State Attorney's Office informed the High Court of Justice that the minister intends to appoint his representatives within 21 days. In response, this morning the attorney for the United Torah Judaism faction, Attorney Raanan Bar Zohar, sent a letter to the High Court containing an urgent request to issue a temporary order to freeze the process of appointing the minister's representatives to the electorate, as well as to order the respondents to respond to the petition within 45 days, and not to hold the hearing as planned only in November.
They claim that Bennett made "a fundamental change in the process for electing city rabbis and introducing politicization and personalization into the process, with the Minister of Religious Services being the one who for the first time granted himself the authority to decide the fate of the elections and appoint the city rabbis.".
In his letter, Attorney Bar Zohar also notes that since 2003 there have been no rabbis for the city of Jerusalem, "a fact that proves that there is no urgency" for appointing rabbis.
The petition details a long list of reasons, including numerous quotes, and seeks to prove that Bennett's goal is one: to bring about the election of the religious Zionist candidate, Rabbi Aryeh Stern.
In addition, Torah Judaism claims that the new regulations are not at all appropriate to the nature and composition of the population in Jerusalem.
Senior figures in religious Zionism tell the Haredim10 that they are determined to bring about the election of Rabbi Stern, and that in their opinion the High Court will not accept United Torah Judaism's petition, as it effectively rejected it the last time.
The same sources added: "To our regret, we see that the representative of United Torah Judaism is making it clear that there is no need for a rabbi in Jerusalem. United Torah Judaism has joined Yesh Atid's trend of uprooting the Torah, which shows that everything is political with them.".
Join the Haredim 10 Facebook page >>
Join the X page of Haredim 10 >>
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
