Knesset passes law expanding rabbinical courts’ powers to rule on child support

A government-backed bill temporarily expanding the authority of rabbinical courts was passed by the Knesset on Monday evening, with 53 lawmakers voting in favor and 38 against.

The two-year interim measure will allow rabbinic courts to rule on matters relating to child support payments. Earlier this year, the High Court of Justice issued a ruling reaffirming that they lacked the authority to do so.

Rabbinical courts are part of Israel’s judiciary, handling legal matters such as divorce, wills and inheritances, and conversions. The system comprises 12 nationwide regional courts, with the Great Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem serving as the highest appellate authority. The president of the Great Rabbinical Court, a role held by one of Israel’s chief rabbis, oversees the rabbinical court system. Currently, the position is held by Sephardic Chief Rabbi David Yosef.

The Chief Rabbinate is the only option for Jewish Israelis to officially get married in the country. Israel has no civil marriage due to the objection of religious political parties, but recognizes unions celebrated abroad, an option chosen by a growing number of Israelis.

The new law authorizes the courts to weigh in on “all matters of the financial needs of the children of the couple, including expenses for their upbringing, education and medical care” and is intended to provide a solution for divorce proceedings that had been stalled by the High Court ruling.

Rabbinical courts will be given authority over all pending claims at the time the law comes into force unless a ruling had already been granted by the family court.

The current legal landscape is “very problematic,” with some couples having seen their proceedings “frozen” in the rabbinical courts in the wake of the High Court’s ruling, “while in other cases the judges refused to comply… and continue to hear the cases,” Rabbi Seth Farber, head of the ITIM religious rights organization, told The Times of Israel.

“At the same time, anyone familiar with the field knows that the current reality, regardless of the Supreme Court ruling, in which each panel of rabbinical judges or civil judges issues very different child-support amounts even when the circumstances are similar, is highly problematic,” he continues, noting that while a government committee had been appointed to sort through the issue, it has not yet completed its work.

“It is unacceptable that such significant matters be decided so dramatically based solely on which panel a couple ‘happened’ to appear in front of.”

And while Farber said that he understands “the logic behind the current temporary measure, which will halt these injustices and allow the rabbinical courts to continue handling these matters temporarily,” he expressed concern about “the slippery slope where the rabbinical courts get disproportionate power that extends their reach, when it is clear to everyone that couples are suffering daily injustices in the rabbinical courts.”

A survey released by ITIM earlier this year found that more than half of Israelis who appeared before a rabbinical court in the past five years felt they were wronged during the procedure.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition has backed efforts to expand the power of the rabbinic courts, voting earlier this month in favor of the first reading of a bill that would give them power to arbitrate civil disputes, including relating to child custody.

Rabbinical courts were allowed to act as arbitrators in financial disputes until 2006, when a court determined that they had no standing to do so.

While the legislation, sponsored by lawmakers from the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, stipulates that religious courts would only be allowed to rule on such issues with the consent of both parties, critics assert that the bill would create a power imbalance that’s harmful to weaker segments of society.

According to Hebrew media reports, the coalition voted in favor of the measure in exchange for the Haredi parties’ support for Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s push to give the government significant control over broadcast media.

In addition to strengthening the rabbinic courts, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party has also pushed to strengthen Haredi control over local rabbinates across the country.