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Part Four - Judaism, Culture and State
Changing the structure of local rabbinates
Independent rabbinic courts instead of funded rabbinates
A local rabbinate has always existed among the Jewish people. The rabbis of Israel have led the Jewish communities throughout the ages, and have given their lives figuratively, and often as a reality, for the physical and spiritual well-being of their communities. It is thanks to the continuous lineage of the rabbis from the days of Moses until today that the People of Israel has survived what it has and has reached this day.
The reality, however, is very different from the idyllic historical picture described here. The institution of the local rabbinate has deteriorated through a great many stages until it has reached the situation we find today, and it justifies fundamental changes in its structure.
Rabbinic courts first
The concept of a local rabbi is not a root concept in Judaism at all. The classic appointed rabbi that Judaism has known over the past two thousand years, with the exception of the recent past, was almost without exception the head of the local rabbinic court, and all the other functions that we generally identify as functions and responsibilities of the rabbinate have accreted around his main role as rabbinic court judge.
This reality is reversed in the State of Israel today, as a result of a creeping process that has been going on for the two hundred and fifty years since the Emancipation, in which the community courts lost their authority. Many rabbis are not qualified at all to sit as rabbinic judges, and the very concepts of rabbinic court law and rabbinic law have been separated to the extent that there are actually rabbis who are not rabbinic judges and rabbinic judges who are not rabbis. In addition, the failure to recognize Jewish law in the State of Israel has led to the fact that the institution of rabbinic judges has no significance other than in the unfortunate cases of divorce.
Zehut believes that the change in the structure of the local rabbinate should begin with this fundamental and backwards point. The anchor of the proposed reform is the recognition of Jewish law detailed in the chapter dealing with it in this part of the platform. The rabbinic courts that will be established in the framework of this conception will replace the existing local rabbinates.
Financing rabbinic courts from voluntary tax
As in the case of culture, the subject of the rabbinate should also be financed solely by local voluntary taxes, which is to say, dependant upon the public's willingness to finance the institution and its services. In a reality where the public will not be obliged to pay for theater and soccer, it will not be obligated to pay for the position of rabbi of the city either.
Electing a city rabbi
The rabbi of the city will be elected by the public who choose to pay the voluntary rabbinic taxes, thereby expressing their desire to take an active part in the religious Jewish life in the city. The rabbi will be elected from a list of candidates that will be compiled only by the neighborhood rabbis in the city, by the general public[47], according to Jewish law, and as was customary in the past. Only rabbis ordained by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel will be able to serve in this capacity.
This rabbi, when elected, will be a member of the state Hebrew court in the city and will formulate, together with the neighborhood rabbis, the composition of the entire court.
Neighborhood rabbis
The neighborhood rabbis will be elected by the residents of the neighborhoods themselves only out of candidates who present themselves, and their salaries will be paid by the voluntary taxes collected in their neighborhood only. The division of neighborhoods for the purpose of these elections will be determined by the municipality, similar to the division of neighborhoods presented in the community section of the platform. Here too, only rabbis who are ordained by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel may serve in this capacity.
Religious services in the city
The constituted rabbinic court will be permitted to engage in the provision of religious services and in the organization of Jewish life in the city, but without guaranteed exclusivity in the field of kashrut and the performing marriages.
Clearly municipal subjects such as an eruv, rules for Sabbath observance by municipal bodies, the Sabbatical Year, and so forth – will be entrusted to the rabbinic court by the municipality.
In a situation where the court is elected by the public, financed by the public, and represents the public in a city which is prepared to finance it, it is reasonable to assume that the public will also choose to use the services of the court in the areas of kashrut and marriage.
[47] This in and of itself is enough to bring about a real revolution in the institution of the local rabbinate. Today, the mechanism for appointing rabbis in cities is complicated, convoluted, and implicated in direct political manipulations by the religious parties, to the point that it is a real "sale" that prevents the selection of suitable candidates at the expense of candidates identified with parties and streams.
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