Influential members of the Liberal Party, the major partner with Herut in the Likud bloc, were mapping plans today to take public action against “Rabbi Goren’s interference in state affairs.”
According to some of them, the aim is to publicly condemn Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren for his edict to halt all archaeological excavations at the City of David. Goren ruled that digs must be halted at the site because there are ancient Jewish cemeteries there. Archaeologists and academics have disputed this claim and have produced documents to uphold their contention.
The initiative to take public action against Goren came from Liberal Party leader Deputy Premier Simcha Ehrlich, Energy Minister Yitzhak Berman and Knesset members Dror Zeigerman and Dan Tichon. Ehrlich issued a statement yesterday expressing shock at Goren’s threat to excommunicate Education and Culture Minister Zevulun Hammer until he obeys the Chief Rabbi’s edict.
So far, Hammer has complied only to the extent that he issued an order yesterday requiring the dig to be halted for two weeks.(See separate story.)
SAYS GOREN DISREGARDS STATE LAWS
Ehrlich, in his statement, said the threat to excommunicate Hammer was in total disregard for the laws of the State and an effort to subordinate them to the instructions of the Chief Rabbi, a phenomenon which he said reminded him of the Middle Ages. Berman said that it was an intolerable situation for a Chief Rabbi to dictate to a Minister how to run the affairs of the Ministry. “This is a violation of the principles of a proper political system,” he said. Zeigerman called on Ehrlich to introduce legislation to curtail the ability of the rabbinate to interfere in state affairs.
At the same time, MK Ronni Milo, chairman of the Herut Knesset faction, said today that a Chief Rabbi who proposes to excommunicate a Minister in Israel seems to be out of touch with the public. “Perhaps Rabbi Goren should consider turning over his office to a different rabbi, one who represents the public mood better,” Milo suggested.
Goren, meanwhile, warned that an excommunication order will mean that the Torah will not be read in the synagogue that Hammer attends. If that is not effective, Goren said the excommunication could be extended to ban Torah-reading in the entire country — until Hammer obeys his edict.
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