The draft of a law to extend the jurisdiction of the country's rabbinic courts is to be submitted to the Ministerial Committee on Legislation today by Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann. The bill calls for expanding the scope of the Jewish religious courts to include not only family law but also other civil and financial matters.

Last July, the cabinet voted to oppose the bill, which has drawn fire from women's and human rights organizations such as the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and the Reform Movement's Israel Religious Action Center.

They say it violates the status quo between religion and the state and could be used as a tool for obtaining divorce settlements that are unfair to women.

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The bill is the product of collaboration between the Justice Ministry and the rabbinic courts. It was prompted by a April 2006 ruling by the High Court of Justice that stated rabbinic courts cannot arbitrate in financial disagreements and other matters not within their specific mandate.

If the bill passes, it would not only render the ruling moot but would also effectively revoke several precedents set by the High Court over the past 20 years, most importantly Bavli vs. the Rabbinic Court of Appeals 1994, which established that the religious courts must follow state rather than religious law when dividing property in divorce cases.

The draft law would give the rabbinic court judicial authority to rule on all aspects of a divorce agreement, subject to the approval of both parties. Religious courts would also be empowered to adjudicate in civil matters, defined as 'any matter that is not criminal, administrative or within the jurisdiction of the [state] courts.' The bill would permit rabbinic courts to rule in accordance with religious law in any matter brought before them.

The law's opponents fear that despite the stipulation that both parties must agree to using a rabbinic court to adjudicate their divorce agreement, in reality women will be forced by their husbands or the court to empower it to rule on economic matters.