Orthodox in Israel warn of revolt because of decisions on religion

JERUSALEM, Feb. 10 (JTA) — Fervently Orthodox leaders in Israel have lashed out at the Supreme Court for issuing a series of rulings they feel undermine their way of life. Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, the leaders warned of a “revolt” by the haredi, or fervently Orthodox community, if what they perceive as anti-religious court decisions continue. Former Knesset member Moshe Gafni of the United Torah Judaism bloc criticized Chief Justice Aharon Barak for his “judicial dictatorship.” He accused Barak of issuing rulings that systematically “threaten our existence.” Rabbi Meir Porush, head of the Agudat Yisrael Party, said the court rulings contravene “our very Jewishness.” The haredi leaders were reacting to a string of recent high court decisions, including an order to allow Conservative and Reform representatives to serve on local religious councils. That ruling prompted a number of haredi leaders to issue decrees that any high court ruling which runs counter to Orthodox religious law be ignored. The haredi leaders also were stung by a court ruling that canceled a decades-old arrangement under which yeshiva students are entitled to army draft exemptions and a separate decision allowing a kibbutz to maintain business operations on the Sabbath. A day after the news conference, President Ezer Weizman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called separately for an end to attacks on Israel’s legal system. Calling the “president of the Supreme Court an enemy of the Jews is shocking,” Netanyahu told Israel Radio on Wednesday. “I am not willing to accept it.” He later summoned Israel’s Orthodox chief rabbis, the justice minister and the attorney general for consultations on how to defuse the situation. Legislator Amnon Rubinstein of the secularist Meretz Party reacted vehemently to the haredi leaders’ comments. The haredi parties “have gotten used to having the upper hand on all governing institutions in the country,” he said Wednesday. “They come and say something, and the Knesset capitulates, the government capitulates.” Referring to the Supreme Court as the “one institution they cannot extort,” Rubinstein added, “This is the last fortress they want to destroy.” Meanwhile, haredi leaders are planning a prayer vigil Sunday in Jerusalem at which, according to their advertisements, they will ask followers to pray for redemption from the “exile among Jewish haters of religion and Torah.” Ads placed by the council of rabbinic sages for Agudat Yisrael call on the public to come to the vigil to take a stand against the “Reform and Conservative cults, which are receiving assistance from the authorities in order to dig their nails into all that is dear and holy to us.” Some Orthodox officials expressed reservations about attending the prayer vigil. “If the message is that Barak is an enemy of the Jews, I will not participate,” said Education Minister Yitzhak Levy of the National Religious Party.