Writ of Refusal won’t work in Israel
An article headed City rabbis ostracize woman who dared petition civilian court in Israel HaYom ( http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=9427) may foretell the “beginning of the end” of the rabbinical court system in Israel.
The rabbis, in order to keep us in line, ruled that Jews could only use rabbinical courts in disputes with other Jews. This ruling came at times when Jews lacked their own national government. While the extreme haredim may deny it, we now have a national government – dysfunctional as it may be – in Israel.
There IS a legitimate reason for a Jew to turn to a rabbinical court in a dispute with a fellow Jew; the issue may be covered by Torah or talmudic law.
The Israel HaYom article covered a case that might have been a legitimate case for the rabbis, but knowing the way the rabbinical courts have operated in the past, the plaintiff elected to seek relief from Israel’s civil court.
According to the plaintiff’s legal team, Hiddush for Religious Freedom and Equality, the ordeal began when the petitioner's upstairs neighbors in Elad, near Petach Tikva, began to build a balcony illegally, blocking out the sun and preventing the petitioner from building a sukkah. According to Jewish law, a sukkah cannot be built in the shade. “
The upstairs neighbor turned to the rabbinical court and the rabbis ordered the petitioner to appear in their court, though the court’s order lacks any legal weight. The petitioner refused, and so the rabbis sent her a warning, along with a news piece that relayed a story about a man who failed to follow the beit din's orders and died prematurely
It would seem that the plaintiff probablywould have prevailed in the rabbinical court, but the article obviously failed to provide all the details and the plaintiff’s reasoning.
IN ANY EVENT, the rabbinical court issued a writ of refusal against the petitioner and her family (for failing to appear before the rabbis), ostracizing them from the community. Placards were hung on the streets, and residents were told to treat her as if she had rebelled against the Torah of Moses, because she had opted to turn to the state court system instead of the rabbis, according to Hiddush. A writ of refusal in haredi society can lead to boycotts and sanctions, including on a place of business or on marrying the children of those bearing the brunt of the writ.”
According to the complaint before Israel’s High Court, The rabbinical court illegally acted outside its jurisdiction, in a manner that constitutes an obstruction of justice and extortion by the beit din and the rabbis operating it.
These practices do not only impend on the rights and dignity of the members of these communities but are in direct breach of and threaten the Israeli Rule of Law as well, Hiddush wrote.
The rabbis-in-power seem determined to make life as difficult as possible for the average Israeli, most of whom are heloni or moderately observant. They are losing ground in their control of marriages; they have ired many by revoking legitimate, halachaic conversions; they find themselves for the first time since 1948 in the Knesset opposition. Some of the extreme haredim, at their rabbi’s urging, are harassing and physically attacking haredi men who have the chutzpah to join the army or perform national service.
More than the people turning against the rabbis, the rabbis are turning the people against them.
Israel is not Europe or Iran, and rabbinical rule can only be based on a willingness on the part of the people the rabbis believe they should rule. There are no (forced) mellahs or ghettos in Israel controlled by a rabbi a la Iran and its ayatollahs.
There ARE rabbis who even the heloni respect – R. Israel Meir Lau quickly comes to mind. With perhaps the exclusion of Mea Sharim, R. Lau has the respect of most Israeli Jews – Ashkenazim, Sefardim, and Mizrachim.
We – Jews everywhere – need more religious leaders in R. Lau’s mould.
Rabbis whose sole purpose in life is to protect their turf should retire or be retired if the rabbinate hopes to retain any respect.
