The cancellation of a rabbinical conference last week called to deal with the distress of women whose husbands have refused to divorce them and ways of solving the problem through halakha (Jewish law) has one clear meaning: this great distress, which is also shared by many Orthodox women, is of no interest to the ultra-Orthodox establishment. That is, at least as long as its position is reflected by the "greatest ajudicator of the generation," Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, who brought about the cancellation of the meeting.

The conference was to take place under optimal conditions from the perspective of the Orthodox establishment: It had been initiated by Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar; all its participants were Orthodox rabbis and religious court judges; and women and feminist organizations were not allowed to participate (a shameful stand in and of itself). If, even under such conditions, the Orthodox establishment is unable to meet and discuss the subject, it is clear that salvation must not be sought in that quarter. Organizations of women whose husbands have refused divorce decided to hold an alternative conference - a step in the right direction.

Studies show clearly the distress of such trapped women do have clear halakhic solutions. This apparently frightens the rabbis who worked to have the conference called off. They prefer to act more strictly for fear pressure on husbands to agree to a divorce would be considered "forcing" them to do so, which would render the divorce invalid.

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Two conclusions can be drawn from this business. One is organizational: if senior officials in the Chief Rabbinate, in this case Rabbi Amar, are unable to withstand outside pressures and to create independent policy, this whole body is unnecessary. The religious services to which Israel's Orthodox citizens are entitled can be provided by local authorities, and discussions on halakhic positions can be held directly with Rabbi Elyashiv's followers.

The second conclusion is more fundamental: The Orthodox public has complained more than once about the "damage to the Jewish image of the state," which it believes in revealed by the increasing numbers of civil marriages and the complete obviation of the need for rabbinic services.

That portion of the public is growing who is unwilling on principle for its most personal matters, such as marriage and divorce, to be handled by the Orthodox establishment, even a moderate and liberal one.

If the Orthodox establishment wants to persuade at least that large portion of the public who has no such position, it must ensure that the Orthodox system can provide solutions for human distress involving issues of personal status, first and foremost in the cases of agunot ("chained" women) and those whose husbands have refused to divorce. If this is not done, it will mean that Orthodox exclusivity in these areas is destined to disappear.

The "victory" of Rabbi Elyashiv in having the conference called off is thus revealed as a Pyrrhic one. It only brings closer the end of Orthodox control over matters of personal status. A de facto separation of religion and state already exists - in most areas people find solutions that detour around the rabbinate. Elyashiv's position brings this process closer to being de jure.