The delegation of American Orthodox rabbis currently visiting Israel protested to Justice Minister Dov Joseph today concerning the widely criticized remarks about Jewish religious doctrine made by Supreme Court Justice Haim Cohen at the American-Israel dialogue here last June.
Declaring the Justice’s remarks were made against “the foundations of Halacha (Jewish religious law),” the six rabbis asked the Justice Minister to persuade Justice Cohen to apologize and “atone for his insult to the Jewish people.” The Justice had compared applications of Jewish religious law in determining Jewishness in Israel with the Nazi racist Nuremberg laws.
In a related development, police authorities rejected an application from Arieh Wagoner, a Jerusalem attorney, for prosecution of Justice Cohen under the criminal code ordinance, “for causing injury to religious feelings.” The attorney had previously sought a Din Torah (Religious Court hearing), but Justice Coben declined to attend such a hearing on grounds that the Israel rabbinate had prejudged the issue by making a public criticism of him.
The police told the attorney that they did not regard his request as being in the public interest, and referred him to the Attorney General’s office. Meanwhile, Deputy Premier Abba Eban declared that he identified himself with Mr. Joseph, who had described the Justice’s remarks as an “error” and said that the discussion of the matter in Parliament last week closed the issue.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
