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A split from Israeli society By Menachem Ben Sasson Tags: court The Supreme Rabbinic Court's ruling last week, which voided conversions carried out by the rabbinic courts of the Conversion Administration, only speeds up the collapse of rabbinic authority in the state judicial system. The verdict may be framed in legalese, but it should not be misunderstood. Every one of its 49 pages may be headed "The State of Israel," but the pronouncement represents nothing less than a split from Israeli society, the state and the national justice system. The rabbinic courts' opponents should be pleased with this verdict and wait patiently for a few others like it to topple the rabbinic court system altogether. Advertisement Institutional authority in modern society does not derive merely from an institution's official status, nor from its formal power. It is based mainly on public consensus and the understanding that without proper institutions, people would devour each other. The Supreme Rabbinic Court's ruling does not only void a specific decision by the conversion court but stipulates that its judges, rabbis Haim Druckman and Yosef Avior, are unfit and all their conversions are null and void. The Rabbinic Court is invalidating a legal instance that derives its formal authority from the same source as the Rabbinic Court - an official state appointment. By so doing, it leads the way to having its own courts treated in a similar fashion. From now on the demand not only to dismiss rabbinic judges but to declare their verdicts void will come up repeatedly in the Supreme Court. Such a demand is not imaginary. For some time now the claims that rabbinic-court verdicts are not reasonable have been increasing. The Supreme Rabbinic Court's verdict that completely voided a legal instance and its rulings will expose the Supreme Rabbinic Court to the same predicament almost immediately. But this is only the formal-disciplinary aspect of the debate on the argument against the rabbinic courts. The elimination of their basis for authority is more important. Rabbinic courts have authority by law, along with the democratic majority's consensus to accept their authority in family issues. This authority is given by law, but it has been upheld mainly because it was considered important to preserve national unity. It was assumed that this unity could be preserved by the rabbinate and rabbinic courts, which are supposed to set the public standard for marital affairs. The loss of confidence in religious institutions is being accelerated mainly because of the distress of non-Jewish immigrants. They were given a partial remedy in the form of the conversion courts. Now the Supreme Rabbinic Court is obstructing the only two ways some 400,000 Israeli citizens can integrate into Israeli society - marriage and conversion. This obstruction is complete, because the Supreme Rabbinic Court has deprived the state institution dealing with conversion of the authority to carry out its goal not only regarding people waiting to convert, but retroactively, regarding those who have already converted in the legal and agreed procedure. If these two moves gain political support, they will represent an extremely blatant infraction of the status quo in religious affairs. This isn't the whole problem. Such a verdict is greatly damaging not only to the public's confidence in the rabbinic establishment, but also to the unity of the religious right-wing public, to whom the Chief Rabbinate's institutions are of value. These institutions cannot afford to renounce such a multitude of believers. Pulling the rug out from under the feet of yesterday's converts and digging a hole in front of tomorrow's is unacceptable. It will shatter what's left of the public consensus that the Supreme Rabbinic Court is worthy of running family issues in Israel. The court's revoking past and future conversions is tantamount to destroying the house and everyone inside. MK Menachem Ben Sasson (Kadima) is the chairman of the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Grass is greener For the cannabis-growing residents of Lebanon, recent fighting has been a blessing. Piggy bank savings Welfare Minister Herzog unveils a plan to open savings accounts for every Israeli child.   1.   Supreme Rabbinic Court 02:29  |  A M 11/05/08   2.   Internal issues 02:39  |  Joe 11/05/08   3.   get real 08:02  |  - 11/05/08   4.   to #1 and #3 10:43  |  Michael 11/05/08   5.   Comment on # 3 13:35  |  Sherlock Holmes 14/05/08   6.   Its all just politics and power mongering.... 16:17  |  Former Gentile 14/05/08   7.   HAVE YOU NOTICED? 15:24  |  Soggy liberal 15/05/08

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