Orthodox in Israel warn of revolt because of decisions on religion

JERUSALEM, Feb. 11 (JTA) — Israel’s Supreme Court has ordered stepped-up security for its justices after several fervently Orthodox leaders lashed out at recent court rulings, calling the judges anti-religious. One of those leaders, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the fervently Orthodox Shas Party, called the justices “oppressors of Jews” during a televised interview Wednesday. A day later, President Ezer Weizman visited Yosef in an attempt to head off a planned rally Sunday in Jerusalem at which some 300,000 followers are expected to protest the court rulings. Weizman also met with Chief Sephardi Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, saying afterward that he was trying to “prevent bloodshed.” Weizman made the appeal after fervently Orthodox leaders lashed out at the Supreme Court earlier in the week 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.” After talks with the Israel’s two chief rabbis Wednesday night, Netanyahu announced the establishment of a national forum for dialogue between religious and secular Jews. Netanyahu said the forum would include retired judges and spiritual leaders. Meanwhile, the Knesset is due to convene for a special session next week to discuss the attacks on the high court. House Speaker Dan Tichon said that while it was legitimate to criticize court decisions, “It is unacceptable to incite against those serving on the court.” Israeli police are investigating whether to bring up some of the haredi leaders on incitement charges. 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.” According to their advertisements, haredi leaders are planning to use Sunday’s rally and prayer vigil to ask their 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.