Governed by halacha?

Can Israel be both Jewish and Democratic (Friday's Post)



Can Israel be both Jewish and Democratic?



Reuven Hammer



The controversy over Minister Yaakov Neeman's recent statement concerning the place of Torah law in
Israeli life has once again sparked a debate over the role of religious law in Israeli society.
There have been two interpretations of Neeman's statement. The first, that he would like to see
Torah law become the law of the land, he has denied. The other, which he offers as his explanation,
is that there should be a greater input of Jewish Law into Israeli law. Let us hope that the latter
is correct and that no member of our government envisions the time when Israeli law would be
determined by rabbis rather than by the democratic process. Many others, including Justice Menachem
Alon, have long advocated the use of Jewish Law as precedents in our civil law, no less than other
systems such as British common law. There can be no objection to this since Hamishpat Haivri -
Jewish law in matters of damages and torts- indeed has much about it that is laudable. As long as it
is subject to the interpretation of our civil judges and does not supplant the power of the civil
legislature, the Knesset, that would be a positive development. However if Neeman really hopes to
see Jewish Law enforced through rabbinical authority replace our current system of justice, that
would be a catastrophe.



As a Masorti rabbi I am certainly in favor of Jewish law, but not in place of civil law and not as
coercive legislation. Furthermore Jewish law can be interpreted in many ways, and the way that many
rabbinic authorities interpret it here is not acceptable to me. Which interpretation and which
rabbinic authorities would be put in charge? The revolution that the Western world underwent in the
last few centuries was a revolution in which religion and state were separated, in which power was
given to the people and not to religious authorities, in which individualism and pluralism were
recognized as legitimate. Israel was founded on those principles as well, but unfortunately they
were not carried out fully regarding the religious establishment and religious freedom.



Unfortunately, the current situation in Israel is that Torah law as interpreted by State appointed
rabbinic authorities already controls certain vital aspects of our lives. In matters of marriage and
divorce the civil authorities from the beginning have ceded these areas to the Chief Rabbinate in a
great compromise that avoided conflict with the Orthodox elements in Israel, but created an
intolerable situation for a modern, democratic, secular state. I know of no other nation in the
Western, democratic, world in which such a situation exists. The results are well known. Large
segments of the Israeli population have no way of marrying within the country. The scandalous
situation of Agunot - women unable to obtain a divorce - is too well known to require any
elaboration here.



In addition, the existence of such a Chief Rabbinate discriminates against other rabbis and Jewish
religious organizations, denying them governmental funding and recognition. Tax payers' monies are
distributed in a way that does not reflect the wishes or the beliefs of the tax payers themselves.



The solution to these problems is well known but has been successfully avoided by all the
governments of Israel because of political pressures and lack of resolve. It requires as a first
step the enactment of civil partnership legislation which would then permit people to be registered
as a partnership with all the civil privileges thereof, while any religious marriage would become a
private decision, a religious ceremony to be conducted by whatever religious authority the couple
would choose. Such legislation has already been prepared, but has always been put aside at the
critical moment. It is time for it to be tabled and passed. The second step is the abolishment of
the monopoly of the current Chief Rabbinate - not the abolishment of the Chief Rabbinate but the
change of its status from a governmental monopoly into a privatized NGO which would exist along side
other rabbinates. These would be funded in part by tax money on the basis of the size of those who
adhere to them. Individuals would have the right to chose their own religious affiliation.



What does it mean to say we are a Jewish and democratic country? What does it mean to say that
Israel is a Jewish State? Certainly not that it is a state in which Jewish religious law is the law
of the land. That would be no different from the Islamic nations that enforce Moslem law. Rather it
means that it is a state that will provide a home for Jews and that will support Judaism, its
culture and its religion by making it possible for Jews to live according to their beliefs and help
and encouragement for all elements of Jewish civilization. All of that can be done without
compromising the basic tenets of democracy. It is time for Israel to become truly Jewish and truly
democratic. Establishing a state ruled by rabbinic authorities is exactly the opposite.