'There is no place for such a law at this time'

Likud MKs slam revival of bill expanding Chief Rabbinate’s influence

MK charges Religious Zionism party reintroduced bill ‘like thieves in the night’; it would create hundreds of publicly funded jobs for Orthodox rabbis, erode women’s role

Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

MK Eli Dallal leads a joint meeting of the Special Committee for the Rights of the Child and the Special Committee for Combating Drug and Alcohol Abuse at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on April 19, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
MK Eli Dallal leads a joint meeting of the Special Committee for the Rights of the Child and the Special Committee for Combating Drug and Alcohol Abuse at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on April 19, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud lawmakers and the umbrella group representing local authorities sought on Monday to head off the reintroduction of a bill in the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee that would dramatically change how municipal rabbis are chosen.

Addressing the committee Monday morning, Likud MK Moshe Saada accused the Religious Zionism party of acting “like thieves in the night” by bringing back the controversial bill.

If passed, the bill would greatly expand the influence of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and Religious Services Ministry in the appointment of municipal rabbis, at the expense of local authorities — while at the same time also eroding the role of women in the process.

“This is a law that we opposed in Likud and with the consent of the prime minister, the law was dropped from the agenda,” Saada told chairman Simcha Rothman, of the Religious Zionism party, arguing that it is not the time to deal with “jobs or the interests of any specific party.”

MK Moshe Saada of Likud (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

“The rabbis law will go before the Constitution Committee tomorrow. This is what Simcha Rothman, the chairman of the committee, decided,” wrote Likud MK Tally Gotliv on X.

“If my position and the position of other members of the Knesset to remove the law from the agenda will not be accepted, then there is a legal way to force the removal of the law from the agenda,” she said, without giving further details.

MK Tally Gotliv attends an Israel Hayom conference in Ashkelon, April 16, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

If passed, the bill would create hundreds of publicly funded jobs for Orthodox rabbis, while giving the Chief Rabbinate of Israel considerable say in the appointment of all new municipal rabbis, reversing changes instituted in 2022 by former religious services minister Matan Kahana of the National Unity party.

It would also remove restrictions on holding a vote for a municipal rabbi in the immediate lead-up to municipal or parliamentary elections – a stipulation meant to ensure that rabbinical appointments do not become currency in political trading — and lower the minimum number of women on the rabbinical appointment boards from 40 percent to one-third.

Critics of the bill charge it would benefit Haredi party Shas by creating jobs for its apparatchiks and increasing the Chief Rabbinate’s say both in appointing rabbis and in how they operate.

Likud MKs Dan Illouz and Eli Dallal also objected to the bill’s reintroduction.

The law “weakens local authorities by appointing rabbis instead of strengthening them,” wrote Illouz on X, adding that “local authorities should be much stronger, not less” and that “rabbis should be attentive to the public they serve and know their community in depth.”

“There is no place for such a law at this time that causes division in the people,” wrote Dallal, arguing that passing such a law must be done in coordination with the Federation of Local Authorities.

Writing to Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli on Sunday, Federation of Local Authorities chief Haim Bibas, a senior member of Likud, objected to the bill, the Walla news site reported.

Adding more staff requiring additional money “will further burden the coffers of local authorities” struggling to support residents during wartime, he wrote.

Benny Gantz (L) and Gideon Sa’ar at the Knesset on December 6, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

It is the second time that the bill, which was originally introduced in June 2023 by Rothman and Shas MK Shas’s Erez Malul, has been reintroduced following its freeze upon the outbreak of war with Hamas.

In March, the coalition jettisoned the proposed legislation, which was slated to be taken up once more. Both the National Unity and New Hope coalition parties had objected to the bill being reintroduced, saying it violated terms of an agreement requiring that all parties agree on any legislation advanced during wartime.

Both those parties have since left the coalition, however, with National Unity leader Benny Gantz and New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar both accusing the prime minister of mismanaging the war effort.

Canaan Lidor contributed to this report. 

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