They don’t speak publicly about this often, but sometimes it is voiced, especially in the ultra-Orthodox sector’s media outlets. Thus, for instance, MK Uriel Busso (Shas) said during an interview on Kol Chai ultra-Orthodox radio, “I met one of the great Sephardi decisors who expressed shock over the fact that there are people who support a national investigative commission headed by a Supreme Court justice that would oversee the holy place. ‘How can you vote with your hands for an arka’ot judge?’”
He was referring to arka’ot shel goyim (gentile courts), before which, according to this religious conception, Jews are prohibited from adjudicating. This prohibition also applies to Jewish judges in Israeli courts. We pointed this out, for instance, with regard to issuing a “writ of refusal” (i.e. imposing a religious ban with multiple sanctions) against those who dare adjudicate before the state’s civil courts instead of the ultra-Orthodox private courts.
The following was written a few days ago in the editorial of a popular ultra-Orthodox news website Behadrei Haredim.
“The rabbis and the decisors pointed to the specific clause in the Shulhan Aruch... that orders that one may not adjudicate before star-worshiping judges and their courts, even... when they adjudicate according to Jewish law, and even if the two litigants are willing to adjudicate their case before them... anyone who comes for adjudication before them is evil, and it is as if he was cursing and blaspheming and raising his hand against the Torah of Moses our rabbi, may he rest in peace.... This is what the holy Torah is commanding us... we are ultra-Orthodox; we are not nationalistic... we should not be swept up by the propaganda campaign that threatens to wipe out the ultra-Orthodox identity and implant in us nationalistic state values.”
Some even place the blame for the Mount Meron tragedy and the casualties’ shed blood squarely on the shoulders of the Supreme Court itself! How so? Because the Supreme Court, so they claim, did not rush to enforce the expropriation of the site and transfer it to state administration, as was sought back in 2013 by the then finance minister Yair Lapid. Rather, the court made it possible for the “committee of five” to continue running the site (four representatives of the ultra-Orthodox trusts and a representative of the state who served as chairman).
THE TRUTH IS, of course, entirely different from the current assault on the court. It gave its stamp of approval to an agreement between the State and the ultra-Orthodox trusts, which fought against the expropriation. The agreement, which the court permitted, provided for an additional three-year trial and mediation period in order to examine whether the expropriation could be avoided. The ultra-Orthodox leadership blessed the temporary suspension of the expropriation, as could be read last year in an ultra-Orthodox news outlet that wrote, “A dangerous precedent of state expropriation of holy places of all religions was prevented.”
This occurred as a continuation of the hue and cry of the ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi and Sephardi leadership in the preceding years, as we find, for instance, on another ultra-Orthodox website article from 2015: “In the coming month, the Supreme Court is about to hear the petition of the trusts... to void the expropriation order, which was signed by the former minister of finance Yair Lapid, as part of his battle against everything that is dear and sacred to Judaism... the expropriation runs contrary civil human rights, basic liberties and freedom of religion. If the expropriation was conducted by any other country in the world, even the heads of the State of Israel would have voiced a great cry.... Woe to us that the Holy of Holies... will turn into, God forbid, a den of criminals... we... forcefully demand to void the arbitrary expropriation, and anyone involved in this misappropriation will not be absolved.”
Special attention should be paid to the revolt of most of the victims’ families against the attempt of its political representatives to stymie the investigation, as well as the call by some important ultra-Orthodox journalists to launch an independent genuine investigation. As was written by one independent ultra-Orthodox editor, “The concern that some political element will feel uncomfortable is more important than the value of human life – this is simply inconceivable!”
Following the tragedy in which two people were killed and 184 people were injured when bleachers collapsed at the Karlin-Stolin synagogue in Givat Ze’ev, he wrote again, “The silent tombstones of the 47 victims – from Meron to Givat Ze’ev... cry out: Enough with the certificate manufacturing line, enough with the pressure of an MK friendly with the police commissioner, leaning on him to tell a police officer to cut a corner and approve a large-scale event that does not meet safety standards. Enough with the scams, the amateurism, the ‘smokh’ [“Trust me it will be OK”] Israeli culture, which meets the shtetl ultra-Orthodox culture and creates a sure prescription for disaster. Enough with the conception that an uplifting spiritual experience comes before human life.”
Similarly, another journalist wrote, “It’s a week since the shocking Meron tragedy. Forty-five victims, a week, and we have not heard of anyone who has been investigated, [not] one, let alone arrests. It’s not for nothing one feels that someone is trying to whitewash the investigation.”
For many years, criticism regarding the ultra-Orthodox leadership has been voiced, but this time, it is being accompanied by a wide internal awakening and critical independent ultra-Orthodox media that decry the callous disregard for the victims, and the deceitful, relentless cynicism. All these and the examples above demonstrate how great the need is, not only for internal soul-searching and enforcement of the law, but also the recognition that the good of the State of Israel and the ultra-Orthodox population itself demands that this leadership is left outside of Israeli governmental circles.
The writer is a rabbi, an attorney and the head of Hiddush-Freedom of Religion for Israel.