Resolution of Langer Case Approved by Majority; Others Embittered

Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren’s swift resolution of the case of Hanoch and Miriam Langer yesterday was approved by a large majority of Israelis today and greeted with expressions of satisfaction from public figures and the press. But conservative elements within the rabbinate and the ultra-Orthodox community were stunned and embittered by Rabbi Goren’s tactics.

Most political factions hailed Rabbi Goren’s action. The Independent Liberal Party, which holds its convention Nov. 29 is expected to agree to Rabbi Goren’s request to defer Gideon Hausner’s limited civil marriage bill for a year. Goren asked for that time to give him a chance to find halachic solutions to problems involving personal status. Postponement of the Hausner bill will relieve Mapam of the burden of deciding whether or not to support it and will remove the spectre of a Cabinet crisis and early elections which has loomed large in recent weeks.

Justice Minister Yaacov Shimshon Shapiro, the Labor Party’s liaison man in relations with the National Religious Party, expressed the hope today that Rabbi Goren’s action heralded “a change in the Chief Rabbinate.” Religious Affairs Minister Zerach Warhaftig of the NRP also recorded his satisfaction with Goren’s move.

The speedy settlement of the Langer case may help heal the breach that has developed between Rabbi Goren and his colleague, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, since their elections last month. Although Rabbi Yosef was not consulted by Rabbi Goren and was out of town when the rabbinical court sat yesterday, he gave his blessing to the court’s decision. But it was one tinged with irony. “Blessed be he who has rid us of the responsibility,” he said.

ORTHODOX CONSIDER ESTABLISHING OWN RABBINATE

Rabbi Yosef was also quoted as having remarked that it was a pity that Rabbi Goren let the case drag on so long if he intended to act as he did. However, he said he regarded the issue as closed and accepted Rabbi Goren’s hand “outstretched in peace.” The dispute between the two rabbis revolved around the nature of the rabbinical tribunal that was to hear the Langer case.

Reactions of a different kind came from ultra-Orthodox circles and from the Rabbinical Supreme Court by-passed by Rabbi Goren. Leaders of the religious communities of Bnei Braq met last night to consider establishing their own rabbinate and marriage registry. They claimed that since Rabbi Goren has permitted the marriage of “mamzerim” they could no longer trust the Chief Rabbinate to handle their own marriages properly.

Some members of the Rabbinical Supreme Court accused Rabbi Goren of undermining the rabbinical court process and expressed doubt of his claim that nine registered dayanim had collaborated in rendering the Langer decision. They said they were suspicious because Rabbi Goren refused to reveal the names of the participants in the court to protect the dayanim from reprisals by religious zealots.

Rabbi Goren himself was the target of a physical assault today by four yeshiva students while attending burial services for Rabbi Yisrael Halevi Beeri, the rabbi of Ness Ziona, at the Mt. of Olives cemetery here. The youths who were arrested, were prevented from reaching Rabbi Goren but injured his driver. Rabbi Beeri died yesterday while conducting prayers at the local synagogue. He was 61 and had served as Ness Ziona’s rabbi since 1947. He had published a number of books on halachic subjects.