High Court freezes Rabbinical Court’s fine on woman who refuses to have son circumcised
Beit Din had fined mother NIS 500 a day until she consented; last month Supreme Rabbinical Court of Appeals upheld the ruling.
By JEREMY SHARONBaby undergoes circumcision R 370(photo credit: REUTERS)
The High Court of Justice issued an interim injunction on Thursday freezing an order by the Rabbinical Court of Netanya that a mother pay NIS 500 a day until she consents to have her infant son circumcised.In October, the rabbinical court ruled that the father of the child was permitted to have the boy circumcised despite the mother’s objections and stipulated that she pay the fine for every day she continued to refuse to complete the religious ceremony.Last month, the Supreme Rabbinical Court of Appeals upheld the ruling whereupon the mother appealed to the High Court of Justice to intervene, claiming that the rabbinical court could not force her to circumcise her son.On Thursday afternoon, Supreme Court Justice Yoram Danziger issued the interim injunction freezing the fine, and also demanded that the Netanya Rabbinical Court and the Supreme Rabbinical Court provide a response to the mother’s petition by January 9, 2014.The child is now one year old and was not originally circumcised eight days after being born due to medical problems. The couple have since separated.The Supreme Rabbinical Court upheld the original ruling of the Netanya court writing that it appeared that the mother was refusing to have the boy circumcised as a tactic in her desire to reconcile with her husband.“It seems that the will of the woman in preventing the circumcision is connected to trying to force [her] husband to [agree to] her claim for reconciliation,” the rabbinical judges wrote, saying however that this “will certainly distance the husband from wanting reconciliation.”The mother said, however, that after looking into the matter she decided she did not want the boy to be circumcised on ethical grounds.
