Judicial ombudsman instructs review of chief rabbi’s status as rabbinical judge

25 October 2020, 6:25 pm

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The Selection Committee for Rabbinical Judges must consider whether Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef should continue to serve as a judge at the Great Rabbinical Court of Appeals in Jerusalem, the ombudsman of the Israeli judiciary says.

Supreme Court Justice Uri Shoham issues the ruling in response to a petition against Yosef for his controversial comments on women, Reform Judaism and the High Court of Justice.

Israel’s Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef attends the traditional selling of the the hametz (food containing leavening) of the state of Israel to a non-Jew before the upcoming Passover holiday, on March 29, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

“This is a rabbinical judge who, in the face of all rulings — both by the Supreme Court and of judicial ombudsmen, has not internalized the decisions relating to him, and time and again makes ever bold comments, while continually stating that he will not respect High Court rulings.”