Newly elected Rabbinical Court judges inaugurated at President’s Residence
Seven of the judges who will serve in the Rabbinical High Court were voted into office last Thursday, and the 21 regional judges were elected two weeks earlier.
Amid allegations of voting improprieties, the appointments of 28 elected judges of the Rabbinical Courts were solidified on Tuesday in a solemn inauguration ceremony at the President’s Residence.
Seven of the judges who will serve in the Rabbinical High Court were voted into office last Thursday, and the 21 regional judges were elected two weeks earlier.
Of the High Court judges, three are aligned with the religious Zionists, and two of them – Rabbi Meir Freeman, the head of the Jerusalem Rabbinical Court, and Rabbi Moshe Amsalem, the head of the Ashdod Rabbinical Court – served in the IDF. Freeman was a paratrooper, and Amsalem was a member of a tank crew.
The other Rabbinical High Court judges are Rabbi Yigal Lerer (head of the Petah Tikva Rabbinical Court), Rabbi David Bardugo, Rabbi Avraham Shlush, Rabbi Zvi Ben Yaakov, and Rabbi Shneur Pardes.
Although there was some dispute as to the most suitable candidates, in the final analysis, the vote for the seven was unanimous.
Yosef participated in the inauguration ceremony on Monday, as did Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Kalman Ber.
The declaration of allegiance to the State of Israel and the pledge to pursue justice, to judge fairly, not to pervert the law, and to show no favor, is identical to the pledge taken by civil court judges when they are appointed.
President Isaac Herzog noted that this was not the first time that rabbinical judges have had to give rulings in wartime.
Similar challenges had confronted his grandfather, who was the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the State of Israel, he said.
Listing some of the questions that have been renewed or raised during the current war, Herzog mentioned questions of kashrut (dietary laws), morality, prayers and blessings, purifying a corpse and harvesting its sperm, ransom for hostages, and dealing with prisoners. All these and other questions require creative solutions that are in accordance with Halacha, he said.
Addressing the new judges, Rabbi Yosef drew an analogy between the joy and excitement that they are currently experiencing and that of a woman who lights Shabbat candles for the first time, or a boy who dons tefillin for the first time. For some people, such acts eventually become routine and the joy and excitement fade. Yosef exhorted the judges not to allow the excitement to fade with the passage of time but to continue to approach each case with the same degree of emotion.
Herzog asks for day of fasting in honor of hostages
In his own speech, Herzog had asked the two chief rabbis to declare a national day of fasting in the hope of bringing home all the hostages as quickly as possible, and to pray for the safe return of all soldiers from the battlefield. Yosef said that they will do so in the coming days.Ber recalled that the president’s grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchak HaLevi Herzog, more than any other rabbi before or since, had dealt with the intricacies of Jewish law and had established an institution for the training of rabbis even before the establishment of the state.
Israel is the only country in the world that officially practices Jewish law, said Ber. “Religion and law are the foundations of Judaism.”
Quoting biblical examples, he pointed out that one of the key reasons that Moses was a successful and influential leader was because he had empathy. Emphasizing the importance of empathy in securing public confidence, Ber said, “The people want empathy. They want another Moses.”
Although segregated events are rare at the President’s Residence, women sat on the right side of the hall and men on the left. There was no sign or announcement to prompt this. It was just a natural custom of the ultra-Orthodox lifestyle.
