The Chief Rabbinate; A Blessing or a Curse? part 11

The Chief Rabbinate elections of 1993 represented a complete change of direction; not only for Israel, but for world Jewry. The Rabin government had been voted in the previous year. Its two major coalition partners were the ultra Left, vehemently anti-religious Ratz party, and, ironically, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's Shas party. As the National Religious Party had taken a solid stand for " Complete Eretz Yisrael" and Settlements, and Ratz had insisted on a very anti-settlement policy, as well as extensive territorial concessions, there was virtually no influence left to the National Religious approach. Shas was more interested in legislation that would enhance religious observance in the country, and provide equal opportunity for Sepharadic Jews. (A study conducted at that time showed that a far larger percentage of Israeli Arabs completed university studies than did Sepharadic Jews). Shas was not terribly interested in the territorial issue, but insisted in coalition talks that any major territorial compromise would be dependent on a national referendum. Rabin acceded to that demand. This was a reversal of the historic relationship between the secular and religious political camps. The National Religious Party had always aligned with every government in power, whether Right or Left, as it put the welfare and unity of the country ahead of its particular concerns. The Hareidi parties were held at arm's distance, with their agenda seen as alien, or even threatening, to most Israelis. Now, the National Religious camp seemed like the enemy. The Hareidim could be bought out with more money for schools and outreach. This was reflected in the 1993 Chief Rabbinate elections. Two Hareidi rabbis were selected by the Knesset committee that was charged with making the decision. The Sepharadic rabbi, Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi Doron, was essentially a Shas appointee. The Ashkenazi rabbi, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, was hand picked by the leadership of the Lithuanian, hareidi Degel HaTorah party. Both were, to say the least, qualified rabbis. But neither was considered a "gadol", a great scholar whom other scholars could contact for in depth analysis of situations in the light of sources. Former Chief Rabbi Goren declared "if these are the Chief Rabbis, it's time to do away with the Chief Rabbinate". Certain rabbis in the settler movement, openly said that they did not recognize them as the Chief Rabbis. The new Chief Rabbis' view of Israel was positive; they saw it as the national home of the Jewish people. But neither saw it as the prophesied Messianic Kingdom, which Rav Kook had declared it to be; a view taken up by the National Religious Party. They were both eloquent and in touch with the Israeli public. On the positive side, they cleaned up much corruption. They took the authority of conversion away from local rabbinates that were found to be extorting money from converts (according to most halachic opinions, it is forbidden to charge for a conversion). They neutralized rabbis who were giving false kashrut certifications in exchange for bribes. On the controversial side, they imposed a uniform conversion standard. Some rabbis were converting candidates with zero requirements. Some were demanding no less than a total commitment to Torah observance. Many were in between. The new Chief Rabbis set the standard to the right. There had long been conversion seminars, in which people attended several months of classes, and were then converted; no questions asked. These were closed down, and the people running them forbidden from further dealings in conversion. This angered some, pleased others. In any case, this was clearly in the realm of the authority of the Chief Rabbinate. But they went further. They examined Batei Din all over the world, recognizing some, and removing recognition of others. Surprisingly, no one on Rabbi Doron's staff was knowledgeable in English. His personal secretary asked me to come in every other week to translate correspondences. Many were anguished letters from Batei Din around the world that had been recognized by previous Chief Rabbis, but no longer were. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel had, for all intents and purposes, made itself the Chief Rabbinate for the world. Nowhere was this more evident than their approach to the American rabbinate. That will be my next post.