Rabbi Riskin Demands Religious Zionist Rabbinical Courts – YeshivaWorld: MO Judges Not "Frum"

The Jerusalem Post reports:

The rabbinic court system must offer alternate judicial services not under the auspices of the haredi establishment, Efrat Chief Rabbi Shlomo Riskin said Thursday in response to the appointment Tuesday of 15 new judges to the rabbinic courts, 12 of whom were haredi.

"After this week's selection of an inordinate number of haredi judges, many of whose chief qualifications were family relationships, I call for an alternative court of religious-Zionist, modern Orthodox judges who will include love of Israel together with concern for the purity of Israel and will express the principle of 'for the sake of preventing agunot. [women trapped in a marriage by Jewish law] our law finds leniencies,'" Riskin told a conference dealing with the Israeli constitution in Jerusalem on Thursday.

"The situation is horrific," Riskin told The Jerusalem Post Thursday regarding the problems rabbinic court judges face, including the fate of agunot and conversions for the hundreds of thousands of non-Jewish olim in Israel.

"The question is what you are mostly concerned about," he maintained. "Are you mostly concerned about the purity of Israel, afraid of a forced get [divorce certificate given by the husband] that may not be legitimate? Or are you equally concerned about the aguna herself, who is being held up by a husband with an unfair advantage in Jewish law?"

The problem, Riskin believes, is not one of halacha. "The Talmud again and again gives all sorts of leniencies to help women in such a situation," he noted, "but most judges do not implement those leniencies. Very often they don't have the psychological sympathies [needed to do so]. It's a parallel situation with conversion, where very often the judges insist on a haredi - not merely religious - lifestyle [for the aspiring convert]. These are roadblocks at a time when there shouldn't be roadblocks."

Riskin has begun gathering together a group of supportive religious-Zionist rabbis to ask Israel's Chief Rabbinate to recognize a separate religious-Zionist rabbinic court system, as was done in the past with the haredi Badatz system.

If the Chief Rabbinate, loyal to haredi leaders Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Yosef Elyashiv, refuses to sanction the new court system, Riskin said he would "very likely" turn to the High Court of Justice. "But I don't want to think about that," he emphasized, confident that the Chief Rabbinate and the official courts will agree to sanction the new court system.…

The article goes on to cite an expert who believes the Rabbinut will fight Rabbi Riskin tooth and nail to prevent new courts from forming, because their haredi backers – Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef – will not cede power to Modern Orthodoxy, no matter how just MO's cause is.

Personally, I think this is a case of too little, too late. The MO-NRP world wasted its time on land and expanding Jewish 'control' over the West Bank and Gaza. While it did so, haredim hijacked the apparatus of state religion, making life worse for everyone but, perhaps, a few haredim themselves. And, at the same time, secular Israelis and the Israeli center – made up mostly of traditional Jews who at one time valued rabbis and Orthodoxy, if not as a daily way of life then as an ideal –  have  moved farther away from religion and have increasingly hostile views of  Orthodoxy and of rabbis.

Both Netanyahu and Olmert need the haredim to have a chance of forming a government in the next election. Therefore, neither will risk alienating haredi leadership. This means a new MO-NRP religious court system is dead in the water. It also means MO-NRP leadership has again failed, and that is no surprise – they have consistently failed most every test for last 40 years.

Interestingly, YeshivaWorld had this headline over its coverage of the election of rabbinic judges:

Israeli Government appoints 12 new Frum judges [emphasis added]

The headline has been up for more than two days and, despite complaints, YW has not corrected the headline. What's to correct? Fifteen rabbinic judges were appointed. Twelve are haredim. The other three? Modern Orthodox-National Religious. YeshivaWorld is calling those three judges not frum, not religious. His defense? He claims only to have known this, which is the body of his post:

A government committee appointed 15 new dayanim on Monday, including 12 Chareidim, sparking protests by modern Orthodox rabbis and women’s advocacy groups, who said the government and Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann are sacrificing the interests of thousands of agunos - women who have been refused a Jewish divorce - for political reasons. (Jpost)

In other words, no defense. And in more than two days, he has not corrected the headline.

Do haredim respect Modern Orthodoxy and Modern Orthodox rabbis? No they do not, despite what certain MO rabbis – like Hershel Schachter – may lead you to believe. (And this has its impact, as you can see here.)

[Please click the image to enlarge.]

Earlier coverage of the haredi takeover of the religious court system can be found here, here and here.

Comments

[GushDan]

Kol hakavod, very well stated on this important topic

There should be a communal fast for the sheer bigotry exhibited in the charedi world (or The Yeshiva World) for the dati leumi. Simply shameful. At least now all pretense is discarded; semicha from Merkaz haRav Kook and Gush Etzyion does not even qualify the 3 new dayanim to be considered frum jews, let alone qualified dayanim.

[anon]

Let us stop supporting the bigots. I personally know of four agunas.

[anon]

The site has comment moderation. Imagine the shmutz in the others. Many non-frum women are duped into having a kosher wedding. Why? To create agunos and mamzerim. in the US inadvertently but why have a Jewish wedding when there is no benefit if the couples lives will be unhalachik anyway?

[Yochanan Lavie]

The "modern" Orthodox world has been looking over its right shoulder far too long. They are now closing the barn door after the animals have already escaped. Their kids are being taught by charedi rabbonim. All because they want their nostalgic Fiddler-on-the-roof cousins to accept them as truly Orthodox. If you look towards others for self-validation, you cede your own self respect. They should have declared independence from the get-go.

[chief doofis]

We are all so stupid. Where does the Haredi world get its support from? The City of B'nei B'rak was bankrupt long ago! Sure, a few of the Haredim have made it big in business, but many of them either don't work at all, or have large families and must rely on either government or MO largess to survive.

If a Yeshiva preaches that you aren't good..idiot, support one that teaches you are good!! Don't send your kids to schools that teach them their fathers are Amai Haarets, and "modern". When all the money that is being poured in to the myriads of mom and pop type, "out of town" yeshivot that are popping up all over the U.S. starts going to local Day Schools, we will all gain. Basic Torah Education will be more readily available, and less of our youth will become inculcated with anti PARENT propaganda!!

[rabbidw]

Right on!!! This is a letter that was printed in the 5 Towns Jewish Times, responding to an article that praised the "Gedolim" for their declaring a boycott of El AL. After the letter appeared, the author of the article, Aryeh Zev Ginsburg, who I know since childhood, responded by saying that I should be put into cherem, and that the paper should not print my letters. The paper refused to print my reply. I will not give any money to any Chareidi institution.
Subject: About the EL Al Boycott
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:24 EST
From: Rabbidw
To: editor@5TJT.com

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but no one is entitled to make up their own facts. The fact is that the term, and the concept, of DA'AS TORAH is not found in the gemara, rishonim or the earlier achronim. It originated at the very end of the 19th century, became popular as a political slogan that AGUDAT YISRAEL used when it campaigned in elections in Poland, and was not used on a regular basis until after WW2. For a further discussion on the development of DA'AS Torah, please see the article by Dr. Lawrence Kaplan that appears in the book RABBINIC AUTHORITY and PERSONAL AUTONOMY, commissioned by the Ortodox Forum of Yeshiva University.
Also EMUNAT CHACHAMIM, which does appear in Pirkei Avot, can in no grammatical way be translated as faith IN the Chachamim. It means the faith OF the Chachamim, a sophisticated belief, aware of the problems that are raised by Iyov, and not the childish beliefs of simple people who believe that G-D has a body and limbs.
These are facts. Now for my opinion. Eighty one Gedolim signed the letter to boycott ElAl. What about all those who did not sign. Does tha fact that they did not sign automatically disqualify them from the ranks of gedolim? And how does one become a gadol? It seems to me that you can be born to the right set of parents, marry into the right family, or, like the Israeli Supreme Court, be chosen by those who are already in. Of course, if you step out of line, you can lose your status as a Gadol. Rav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik ZT'L was considered a Gadol in the early 1940's when he was Vice President of Agudah, but when he left Agudah to head the RZA, lost all status and was scoffed at. Of course, now that he is no longer with us, his status and prestige have gone up again, and his words are used in ways that he would not accept were he able to protest.

Was the boycott a Chillul Hashem? If it leads to further antagonism.
between the dati community and the average secular Israeli, then it was a Chillul Hashem. We are not in an era when we can stone people for Chillul Shabat, as much as some people might want to. It is our job to lead people to Torah and mitzvot. Drocheha Darchei Noam, the Torah's ways are ways of pleasantness. We are defeating our own purpose if we bluster and bully. Even if we win in the short term we lose in the long run.

Who am I to stack my opinion against the 81 Gedolim? I am by no means a Gadol. but I have never banned a book written in a language that I cannot read. Remember, when Jabotinsky was travelling all across Europe before WW2, begging the Jews to get out while they could, it was the Gedolim of that generation who insisted that the Jews should stay put. When Rabbi Hildesheimer wanted to relocate his famous seminary to Yerushalayim, he bowed to the opinion of Rav Chaim Ozer Grodinsky, who insisted he stay put. It seems that history has issued a verdict on the wisdom of DA'AS TORAH.
There is a rule in Rabbinic interpretation. CHAS HAKODOSH BARUCH HU AL MOMONOM SHEL YISRAEL. G-d values and worries about the financial status of the Jews. Had the boycott been declared for future purchases, and exempted tickets already paid for, I would have accepted the boycott as a legitamate tool of leadership, even if I disagree with its longterm implications. But to cause the massive financial loss incurred by people who paid for their tickets in advance, who lost their own money and did not cause any loss to EL AL was an act of theft against the Jewish community. They should be ashamed of themselves.
These opinions are my own and in no way are associated with my cousin, who has the same name and is a Rebbi in the Five Towns.
Rabbi David Alan Willig
Bayside Jewish Center

[Paul Freedman]

Shmarya: again, my 2cents: you fall somewhere on the right side of MO. That is, you don't only have people you are against, but you have people with whom you increasingly seem to positively identify. Negative controversy adds pepper to a journalistic meal, but too much spoils it.

[ira kaufman]

riskins implication is the other (charadi)rabonim don't love israel?a putz a misere.

[Ben Qor'ha (Baldwin)]

Mr Kaufman
"riskins implication is the other (charadi)rabonim don't love israel?a putz a misere."

Oh, they think that they love Israel in the shiur of qiyum mitzve.
But they are out of touch with humanity.
Their way of observance is a shunde and a chillul sheim shomayim.
Gut woch, sir!

[Neo-Conservaguy]

"It's a parallel situation with conversion, where very often the judges insist on a haredi - not merely religious - lifestyle [for the aspiring convert]. These are roadblocks at a time when there shouldn't be roadblocks."

Oh, the delicious irony. Sadly, like the RCA, rabbi Riskin will most likely not learn from this taste of the same bitter medicine that they've dealt to non-Orthodox converts that have undergone otherwise kosher conversions.

[ed]

>Who am I to stack my opinion against the 81 Gedolim? I am by no means a Gadol. but I have never banned a book written in a language that I cannot read.

Would you ban "Mein Kampf" (or whatever Hitlers book was called) even if you couldn't read German? And besides, there were numerous english reading Gedolim who read Slifkin and put their name on the ban.

[ed]

>When Rabbi Hildesheimer wanted to relocate his famous seminary to Yerushalayim, he bowed to the opinion of Rav Chaim Ozer Grodinsky, who insisted he stay put.

The great Rabbi Hildesheimer bowed to one R Grodinsky.

You, won't even bow to 81 Gedolim.

What Yeridas Hadoros........ where anyone with a computer and internet access becomes a posek, dayan and an E-Gadol.

[Shmarya]

there were numerous english reading Gedolim who read Slifkin and put their name on the ban."

Not true. The inital ban was signed exclusively by 'gedolim' who BY THEIR OWN ADMISSIONS did not read the book.

"Would you ban "Mein Kampf" (or whatever Hitlers book was called) even if you couldn't read German?"

Process. Mein Kaumpf was a) an extremely well known antisemitic book written by and extremely well known antisemitie who went on to murder 6 million Jews.

Rabbi Slifkin wrote books that rely on opinions of early rabbis – rabbis most of your so-called gedolim have never seriously studied. They banned RAbbi Slifkin out of ignorance and out of a desire to retain control, and they did so without due process.

[Fact Finder]

While I have never before been on this blog, I received it in a Google alert this morning, and came on over.

I have no affiliation with Yeshivaworld at all, but I felt that he explained himself pretty well. The Haaretz article which he claims he never before had seen is now posted in the comment section there.

He also posts pictures of all frum Jews including Reb Herschel Schachter and many others.

He also has posted Tehillim requests for Rabaonim who are kipot sruga, and called them "prominent roshe yeshivot.

This was a normal accident, and this is just a pure case of jealousy.

[Shmarya]

Foolish.

1. The headline still remains and that is simple to change.

2. YW did not issue a correction.

3. The article he quotes makes it clear the people protesting are MO rabbis, All dayanim (rabbinic judges) are Orthodox. So what are they protesting? The fact that 12 out of 15 are HAREDI Orthodox and that MO has only 3.

[ira kaufman]

mr. ben qor'ha,i'm glad there are those among us who know what others think.

[Nachum Lamm]

Um. R' Hildesheimer died long before there was any attempt to move the seminary. I'm not going to give you the real names- go look it up.

Shmarya, I don't see how you can connect West Bank settlement with loss of control of the Rabbinate. They have nothing to do with each other.

[Shmarya]

They are realted. NRP-MO was busy dealing with LAND, not people. Shas and the haredim deal with people. That is manifested in election results that show that the less strident NRP voters deserted and voted Likud or Labor. NRP lost seats – and influence. NRP also failed to make gains in the traditional population, where Shas made major gains there. And all this brought up haredi chief rabbis completely under the thumb of RAbbi Yosef and Elyashiv.

[abcdefg]

I think in this instance, by dealing with land, they were also dealing with the Jews who lived on the land.

Shmarya, I'm still not sure what it is about the disengagement debate that goes so contrary to your belief system and world view. I'm assuming that in some way, you equate disengagement with taking power away from chareidim, and conversely, dissent to disengagement with strengthening chareidim. Maybe its because hareidim and the religious are against disengagement, and the secular and more left wing Jews are for it, and so any victory for the secular left wing politicians is a defeat of chareidm? I just don't see how kicking jews out of their homes serves any good for anyone but the arabs in gaza and the west bank. Could you please elaborate on your understanding of disengagement?

[AVROHOM]

IN addition: 1)Rabbi Gluck intervened from having an autopsy (whether you like it or not; this is the honour for jewish people (although you belong to another religion), 2) had to intervene to have tahara (whehter you agree with this or not; they needed to intervene for this to happen), 3) Hatzala and shomrim who were not paid for this event were there, you lowlife antisemite!