It's a long road to a model society

For many years, the religious public denied that there were problems of sexual harassment or assault in its midst. When such problems were revealed, the rabbis - generally with the public's consent - turned a blind eye toward colleagues who had behaved improperly. Then the Takana forum came into being, took the bull by the horns and, "in view of the many cases of sexual harassment and assault in every segment of the population," began introducing rules aimed at "heads of institutions, principals, educators, rabbis with educational positions and community rabbis in their personal relations with students, pupils, girls doing national service and men and women who belong to the community of the person with authority."

The men and, particularly, the women behind the initiative, who pushed to set up the forum, deserve esteem. Appreciation should also go to those rabbis on the forum who were among the deniers in the past: They understood that they made a mistake, and now their work with Takana grants the organization a significant part of its authority, without which it would not be obeyed.

Now that Takana has shaken up the national religious public and led to a profound self-examination among its members, the time is ripe to expand the rules and set appropriate norms of conduct for rabbis in additional spheres. The regulations must stipulate, for example, that a rabbi who has not been authorized to provide family counseling must not do so, even if he is asked to do so. Nor should he give advice on prenuptial affairs, except with regard to issues of Jewish law (halakha). Among many heads of yeshivas and girls' schools, this boundary is blurred.

Rabbis should be even more stringently forbidden to give advice in the very sensitive area of sexual identity, unless this is actually their profession. The members of Takana must make it clear to the rabbinical community that only people with professional training can deal with this - not spiritual or religious leaders who lack the necessary training. That has to be the rule even when a rabbi who lacks the required professional training is trying to help with the best of intentions - as is usually the case.

There are many reasons why religious Zionist rabbis intervene in areas that are not their affair. One is that a specific public, which does not have other leadership, is constantly knocking at their doors and asking them for guidance about both private and public affairs, just like the ultra-Orthodox do. Most rabbis restrict their guidance to the sphere of halakha alone. But the feeling of power that a self-abnegating public has given these rabbis causes some to cross the line into spheres that are none of their business - especially with regard to public affairs.

Therefore, even if these deviations do not approach criminal acts, clear and binding regulations must be issued about what is permitted and what is forbidden (and in particular, what is desirable and what is not) for rabbis to do. There is a reason why Takana's regulations do not say anything against nepotism, for example, which quite a few rabbis view as the norm rather than a fault. It is not unusual for heads of yeshivas and religious academies to employ family members in their institutions, and in some cases, they even "bequeath" these institutions to their offspring. Indeed, some members of Takana ought to do some personal soul-searching on this issue.

Disregard for the norms of a civilized society is leading to a process of stagnation in quite a few of religious Zionism's religious, communal and educational institutions. Many yeshiva heads and community rabbis have held their positions for decades. The result is that magnificent institutions, including some of the incubators of the religious Zionist revolution, are atrophying and are even on the brink of closure. It is easy to imagine what the situation would be like today in the Israel Defense Forces, the security services, the universities, the hospitals, commercial enterprises - the entire state of Israel - were those who head them ("who are irreplaceable") glued to their posts like the rabbis are. It is also possible to point to other areas in which it is essential for religious Zionist rabbis to extricate themselves from the inappropriate norms they have adopted.

Codes regarding sexual harassment and assault are therefore just the start of the process. If they are followed by additional corrections in other areas, they may prevent atrophy and stagnation among religious Zionism's spiritual leadership (it barely has any political leadership).

Slowing down the rush toward an ultra-Orthodox way of life and bringing the wagon back to the main road that religious Zionists have historically traveled are essential to cure this public of the defects that have taken hold of it, and to which it clings. Only if it is able to shake off their grasp and free itself will it regain the fortitude that characterized it until recently. Then, when its identity and balance have been restored, it will be able to march with its head held high along the path that leads to the objective it so badly wants - and deserves - to reach: a model society that fulfills Jewish, Zionist and universal ideals.