A rare coalition of women's groups, the National Religious Party (NRP), Orthodox and Reform rabbis united yesterday to call on Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann to prevent today's planned meeting of the rabbinical judges appointments committee, which he heads.

The committee is slated to select rabbinic judges to fill 13 to 15 open positions from a list of candidates that is almost entirely ultra-Orthodox. The resultant strengthening of ultra-Orthodox elements in the rabbinic court system would be a blow to thousands of women who are unable to obtain a divorce, and to tens of thousands of candidates for conversion to Judaism.

The Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), representing the Movement for Progressive Judaism, said in a letter to Friedmann that it would appeal to the High Court of Justice against the appointments if voting takes place today. IRAC said most of the candidates do not meet the minimum requirements for rabbinic court judges, among them 'general or rabbinic education.'

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The ultra-Orthodox factions are insisting on holding the meeting as planned, and are supported by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Sources in the Rabbinic Courts Administration said Shas and United Torah Judaism, which constitute a majority on the nine-member committee, have already compiled a list of candidates acceptable to Rabbis Ovadia Yosef and Shalom Elyashiv, the respective spiritual mentors of the two factions.

Shas denied the existence of a list of only ultra-Orthodox candidates. MK Yitzhak Vaknin (Shas) said yesterday that he had not decided which of the 53 candidates on the list he would support. 'But my position is clear: The selection must reflect all streams, including 'knitted kippot [modern Orthodox and religious Zionists].''

Sources in the National Religious Party, representing the modern Orthodox stream, were pessimistic yesterday about the chances of reaching an agreement with the ultra-Orthodox factions. 'The ultra-Orthodox want it all,' said the committee's NRP representative, MK Nissan Slomiansky, whose views are supported by the two members who represent the Israel Bar Association.

Justice ministers have avoided convening the committee for the past three years in an attempt to circumvent power struggles between the ultra-Orthodox factions among themselves and against the NRP.

With some 15 positions due to become available by summer, thus constituting 15 percent of the 100 rabbinic court judges, Friedmann hopes to be able to maneuver among the demands of all the parties.

'The meeting of the committee is a prime public issue that should also trouble the non-Orthodox public,' a veteran judge affiliated with the religious Zionist and modern Orthodox stream said.

One of the bar association representatives, Sharon Shenhav, is the only woman on the committee. 'I represent 52 percent of the population,' she said. "Rabbi Yosef and Rabbi Elyashiv represent only 15 percent. So why do they want a completely ultra-Orthodox composition? Ultra-Orthodox people don't even come to the rabbinic courts; they use their own courts.'

Shas is insisting that the new appointments reflect the ultra-Orthodox majority on the committee, which came about as a result of Shas joining the coalition last year.

Rabbi David Stav, a member of Tzohar, an association of modern Orthodox rabbis who is one of the 53 candidates, said he does not expect to be elected. "The new justice minister says he wants to make changes in the justice system and the first thing he does is appoint 13 ultra-Orthodox rabbinic judges," he said.

Tzohar has warned against appointing 'judges who were not sensitive to the suffering of women.'

Friedmann opposes bill increasing power of rabbinic courts

Justice Minister Prof. Daniel Friedmann expressed opposition in the weekly cabinet meeting yesterday to a government-sponsored bill that would expand the power of rabbinic courts by granting them the authority to rule on civil and financial disputes not connected to marriage or divorce.

Friedmann views the bill as overly sweeping, saying it would effectively reverse High Court of Justice decisions that limited the power of the rabbinic courts.

The government decided to approve the bill in principle and send it to the ministerial committee for legislation, which will debate it only after receiving a written opinion from Attorney General Menachem Mazuz. Mazuz will determine whether the bill is too sweeping. He is expected to submit his opinion in the next few days, and the committee might discuss the bill as early as next week.

Human rights groups, women's groups and some politicians voiced opposition to the bill yesterday.

'The bill is liable to impinge upon women's rights,' said MK Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor), referring to what many see as the rabbinic courts' tendency to rule in favor of men in cases involving both men and women. 'It constitutes a violation of the status quo and runs contrary to the coalition agreement between Kadima and Labor."

'The bill will significantly worsen the situation of women and children and impinge upon their rights,' said MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz-Yachad).

The bill was prepared by Justice Ministry officials, in collaboration with the leadership of the rabbinic courts. It came in the wake of a High Court decision last year that reduced the rabbinic courts' authority to function as arbitrators.

Center urges PM to create alternative to rabbinical conversion

The heads of a multi-denominational center that prepares non-Jews for conversion have asked Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to consider creating an alternative to rabbinical conversion courts, which they say impede the process.

In a letter sent last week to Olmert, Prof. Benjamin Ish-Shalom, chairman of the Joint Institute for Jewish Studies, suggested appointing new panels of rabbinical judges who are "appropriate to the task." He also called for extending independent statutory and budgetary status to the institution, which is also known as the Joint Conversion Institute, including an independent court network.

About 300,000 non-Jews have immigrated from the former Soviet Union to Israel in the past several years, but the conversion rate does not match the natural increase of their population. Ish-Shalom believes the number of conversions would rise significantly if a more lenient interpretation of religious law were adopted. He claims that all efforts to change the attitude of the existing conversion courts have failed.

Rabbi Gilad Kariv, associate director of the Religious Action Center and the Reform Movement's representative on the institute board, says the letter points to the inability of religious Zionism and state authorities to solve the problems of new immigrants. 'Unless independent rabbinical courts are created, thousands of immigrants who want to convert will be left with no real solution,' Kariv said.

Officials from the conversion courts say the real reason for the low conversion numbers is the immigrants' lack of interest in the process, either because they do not want to change their lifestyle or because they believe they can live in Israel as regular citizens without converting.