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Israel News for July 18, 2016

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Breaking News
Two Israeli soldiers were stabbed and wounded by a Palestinian on Route 60 between Hebron and Gush Etzion outside of El Arub Palestinian refugee camp. One soldier was stabbed in the head and the other in the head. Both were conscious was treated by paramedics. Soldiers in the area shot and neutralized the terrorist.

For further reading click here.

Terror Averted
A Palestinian man in his twenties was arrested yesterday morning at a light rail station on Jaffa Rd near Ben Yehuda Street in the heart of Jerusalem. After the man raised the suspicion of the rail guards and was questioned, he admitted that he was carrying explosives. The area was immediately evacuated and closed off, and a police bomb squad proceeded to find three pipe bombs in the man’s bag along with knives.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said, “At large attack was prevented this morning thanks to the vigilance of Jerusalem’s light rail guards. Our message to the public is to continue as normal, be alert and never give in to terror. We must hunt down terrorists everywhere without compromise and without restraint.”

For further reading and to watch a video of the arrest, click here.

Fight Against Terror
Shin Bet Chief Nadav Argaman reported to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees that, between January and May of this year, the Shin Bet and security forces have prevented 240 major terror attacks including 11 suicide bombers, 10 kidnappings and over 60 shooting attacks, like the one at the Sarona Market in Tel Aviv.

He said that although the number of terror attacks have decreased recently due to preventative measures, the terror threats coming out of the West Bank are increasing. Argaman also highlighted the importance of giving Israeli work permits to Palestinians in the West Bank, and said that these permits help calm the situation and prevent attacks.

For further reading click here.

Drone Escapes
A drone from Syria penetrated four kilometers into Israeli airspace in the Golan yesterday. The IDF launched two patriot missiles at the drone. Both missed. Then a fighter jet fired a missile at the drone. It missed too. The drone made it safely back into Syria. Shrapnel from the Patriot missiles landed in a kibbutz, lightly injuring a girl and causing brush fires.

What happened there?

For further reading click here.

Divorce Mediation
A new law went into effect yesterday that’s meant to remove some of the contentiousness that often accompanies divorce proceedings. The law is called The Resolution of Family Disputes Law or the “divorce revolution”, and it mandates that couples seeking a divorce first attend four mediation sessions before proceeding with the process via legal channels. That means the lawyers stay out of the picture until after the mediation sessions are done. The hope is that couple can work out amicable arraignments, particularly regarding custody issues, through mediation instead of fighting it out through lawyers and in a courtroom.

Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked, who sponsored the law, said, “The new situation will offer an efficient alternative to litigation meetings over such sensitive and complex matters as family disputes. The new proceedings will benefit both the citizens and the system by encouraging mutually agreed upon compromises to be reached. Parental conflict can mainly harm the children, and it is our obligation to protect them. I am confident that this is what parents want most. At the end of the day, they continue to be their parents, even if they are no longer a couple.”

I wonder how the divorce lawyers feel about this?

For further reading click here.

Conversion Ruling Explained
According to a reliable rabbinic source, the recent Supreme Rabbinical Court ruling that did not recognize a conversion by prominent US Orthodox Rabbi Haskel Lookstein had nothing to do with disparaging the rabbi.

The source explained that about ten years ago the Chief Rabbinate reached an agreement with the Rabbinical Council of America, the main Modern Orthodox rabbinic umbrella, that all conversion would have to be done by the RCA bet din (rabbinical court) in order to be accepted by the Chief Rabbinate. The RCA set up a system of regional conversion courts to perform conversions throughout the country. According to the agreement, the conversions of individual rabbis would no longer be accepted, unless they were done through one of the these courts.

Apparently, the woman whose conversion was questioned by the Israeli court was not converted through one of the RCA bet dins. So even though the Chief Rabbis verified the “kosherness” of Rabbi Lookstein, the court followed the technicalities of the agreement and did not accept the conversion since it was done outside of the RCA bet din system.

Could the court have made an exception, given Rabbi Lookstein’s prominence and sterling reputation? Sure, but then what about other rabbis who might also fall into that category. Would the court then be required to evaluate and rule on the personal reliability of individual rabbis? No, that solution wouldn’t scale well. So the court stuck to rules of the agreement and nullified a conversion that was performed outside of the bounds of that agreement. It wasn’t an attack against a rabbi, but rather a defense of a rabbinic system.

Does the Israeli Rabbinate accept the reliability of Rabbin Lookstein? Absolutely. Will it accept a conversion that he performs outside of the RCA Bet Din? No.

BTW, Ivanka Trump’s conversion was done via the RCA Bet Din. End of story.

Israel News for July 14, 2016

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Rabbinic Court Rules
The Supreme Rabbinic Court of the Chief Rabbinate issued a ruling in the much publicized case of an American immigrant woman who was converted to Judaism by Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, a prominent Modern Orthodox rabbi in the US. When the woman tried to register for her upcoming marriage in the Petach Tikva rabbinate, the local rabbinic court ruled that her conversion was invalid, since Rabbi Lookstein was not on the list of rabbis approved by the Chief Rabbinate to perform conversions.

The case was appealed to the Supreme Rabbinic Court, which upheld the ruling of the lower court and ordered the woman to proclaim her acceptance of the Mitzvoth (commandments). This acceptance would serve as a backup conversion, which is done when the validity of the initial conversion is thought to be questionable. The woman at first refused to make the declaration, but eventually relented in the interest of being allowed to register for her marriage.

The court’s ruling is viewed by many as an attack on all of the conversions of Rabbi Lookstein. But that’s not so clear. The Chief Rabbis praised the courts ruling while also confirming that Rabbi Lookstein’s conversions are absolutely “kosher”. The court also said that their ruling has no bearing on any other of the rabbis conversions.

The entire question came down to whether R. Lookstein was on an approved list of rabbis or not. But the court couldn’t just refer to the official list, because there really isn’t one master list. There apparently are several versions of the list, depending on who you ask for a judgment.

So it seems as though, in the absence of a list, the court had no hard evidence to either confirm or deny R. Lookstein’s conversion. So they took what they considered to be the safe route and made the woman convert again, sort of (she did not have to immerse in a mikvah, which is a primary requirement for conversion, although they did say that the woman’s standard pre-wedding immersion will also serve the purpose of acting as a conversion immersion).

Since the Chief Rabbis have now publicly confirmed that R. Lookstein is on the approved list, there should be no further issues regarding his conversions in Israel. We hope.

However, the fact that the judges of the court didn’t rely on the approval of the Chief Rabbis is disturbing and confusing. Were they trying to make a point of displaying their judicial independence?

Does this mean that other rabbinical courts can decide to deny conversions by rabbis even though those rabbis are approved by the Chief Rabbinate?

The only way to assure that something like this doesn’t happen in the future is for the Chief Rabbinate to publish one official list of approved rabbis and mandate that all rabbinical courts and marriage registrars abide by it.

And btw, shame on all the “journalists” who keep referring to Ivanka Trump in their headlines of how the Israeli Rabbinate is nullifying her conversion. It’s just not true. They’re just trying to get clicks (they call it click bait). One ruling by three judges doesn’t change or effect anything beyond the specific case they’re ruling on.

Another Ruling
Since we’re on the topic, the Supreme Rabbinical Court has handed down a five year prison sentence to man who refuses to give his wife a Get (Jewish divorce document). The court gave the husband 10 days to reconsider before heading to prison.

Yup, the rabbinical court has the power to send people to prison in cases of Get refusal.

For further reading click here.

IDF Chief Rabbi
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot confirmed yesterday that Rabbi Col. Eyal Karim will be appointed as the Chief Rabbi of the IDF, despite the public controversy surrounding some of the rabbi’s past statements, including permitting soldiers to disobey orders they consider to be contrary to Torah and prohibiting women from serving in the IDF.

A statement by the Chief of Staff’s office said, “Col. Karim made clarified during the conversation on all the matters that have come up in recent days, and he clarified beyond any doubt that he and all IDF soldiers are completely subject to IDF orders and the IDF Code of Ethics. The rabbi promised that he personally and the rabbinate headed by him will respect every single person, regardless of religion, sex and sexual preference, and because he sees the IDF as an army of the people absorbing of its recruits, no matter who they are. The chief of staff spoke with Col. Karim about the chief rabbinate’s tasks and how he envisages the rabbinate under his command, and he felt that he and the rabbi see eye to eye on these issues.”

Last night Karim publicized a letter to all IDF soldiers. In it, he stated, “It is inconceivable that any soldier or commander would act contrary to orders.” He also wrote, “I understand the diversity and variety that exists amongst IDF soldiers and the important contribution that every soldier makes without regard to their sexual orientation. We will continue being everybody’s rabbinate.”

For further reading click here.

El Al Pilots
El Al pilots have been involved in legal battles with management, demanding improvements in working conditions. Management is claiming that the average salary of an El AL pilot is high enough to compensate for any hardships. The average salary of a pilot is currently around 96,000 shekels per month. Not too bad. But I guess it’s all relative. Do you want the pilot on your flight to be disgruntled?

For further reading click here.