Minister of religious services threatens to quit over Reform rabbi funding

Minister of Religious Services Ya’akov Margi (Shas) threatened on Tuesday night to resign if the state forces him to employ non-Orthodox rabbis in the civil service.

Margi said that if the High Court of Justice decides to recognize Reform or Conservative clergy as community rabbis, he will ask permission from Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef to resign from the government.

Earlier on Tuesday, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein adopted a recommendation that would for the first time allow non-Orthodox rabbis to receive state funding.

Although the judges have not yet handed down their verdict, which is expected in the next few days, Weinstein’s approval marks the first time a non-Orthodox rabbi has been deemed deserving of a government salary by the State of Israel, which heretofore has only recognized Orthodox Judaism.

MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) responded to Margi’s announcement, saying a discriminatory minister of religious services should resign. He added that his ministry should be closed, saving the state hundreds of millions of shekels that he claimed finance jobs for ultra-Orthodox party patrons.

Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz blasted Weinstein’s decision, saying that matters regarding the state’s Jewish identity should not be handled by attorney generals.

Although the Supreme Court ruled in the 1990s that there should be no barrier for Reform or Conservative rabbis who were elected to serve on local religious councils, Orthodox members of the councils were not amenable to sitting with non-Orthodox representatives, according to JTA.