Knesset committee votes to advance bill expanding authority of rabbinical courts

Defence affairs - time of israel

The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee votes to advance a bill expanding the authority of rabbinical courts to arbitrate between litigants in civil matters for the first of the three readings needed for it to pass into law.

The legislation, sponsored by lawmakers from the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties, would allow religious courts to arbitrate if the parties involved consent. Committee chairman Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionism) argues that expanding the courts’ authority would bring them in line with private rabbinical courts and arbiters.

However, critics assert that the bill would create a power imbalance that’s harmful to weaker segments of society

“We welcome the opportunity for those who choose to resolve civil disputes in rabbinical courts to do so within a clear legal framework. However, the present legislation doesn’t ensure that participation is fully voluntary, that no one — especially employees or vulnerable individuals — is pressured into religious arbitration,” Rabbi Seth Farber, the director of the ITIM nonprofit, which helps Israelis navigate their country’s religious bureaucracy, tells The Times of Israel.

“Safeguards that guarantee equality and fairness are necessary. At a time when rabbinical courts are overwhelmed by their present responsibilities and people are more and more disaffected by the divorce process, we should not be expanding their jurisdiction,” he continues.

Rabbinical courts were allowed to act as arbitrators in financial disputes until 2006, after a court determined that they had no standing to do so. A survey released by ITIM earlier this year found that more than half of Israelis who appeared before a rabbinical court in the past five years feel they have been wronged during the procedure.