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Friday November 6, 1998

High Court issues pro-pluralism ruling in Israel

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- In a decision advancing the cause of religious pluralism in Israel, the High Court of Justice has ordered thr
Along with this week's ruling regarding Tel Aviv, Haifa and Arad, the court called on a government committee that oversees the c

The participation of non-Orthodox representatives on the councils has been hotly debated in the courts for more than two years.

The local religious councils, supervised by the Religious Affairs Ministry, have exclusive jurisdiction over marriage, kashrut, burial and other religious matters for all Jews living in Israel. Members of each council are appointed by the local municipal council, the religious affairs minister and the local chief rabbi.

Reform Rabbi Uri Regev, head of the Movement for Progressive Judaism in Israel, termed the latest ruling an "important stepping stone." It builds, he noted, on a ruling last year that opened the way for the appointment of a Reform representative to the Netanya religious council.

But Orthodox representatives challenged the ruling, questioning how it would be possible for a religious council to operate if its members possessed varying degrees of religious observance.

"Regarding Haifa, the question was not whether Conservative, Reform and Orthodox could sit together on a council. We consider such categorizing artificial," Haifa's chief rabbi, Rabbi Sha'ar Yishuv Cohen, told Israel Radio.

"If the council includes members who openly say they do not observe" kashrut and keep the Sabbath, "then the religious councils, whose function is to provide religious services, such as kashrut certification, cannot accomplish their tasks."

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