MK (Yesh Atid) Elazar Stern in his latest attack against religious institutions, directed his critic at the state’s batei din. Stern’s statements are prompted by the passage of bill that permits the Chief Rabbinate Batei Din to adjudicate monetary disputes if both parties agree.

Stern begins by explaining “Before Moshe Rabbeinu assumed the mantle of leadership, he became involved on behalf of the women, not the men”. He feels that based on past performance, this is never so in the nation’s rabbinical courts and therefore, permitting them to adjudicate monetary cases will not work in favor of women, hence he remains strongly opposed.

In his Knesset plenum address, Stern directed comments to Moshe Gafne and Aryeh Deri asking “Do you think we are retarded? You speak to us about free access to the courts? Judicial pluralism? Permit couples getting divorced judicial pluralism too! why only you have free access? Why don’t women in Israel have judicial pluralism to, as you seek?”

“If you are really seeking judicial pluralism then grant it to everyone. I am willing to back the law but I ask you to do the same for the husband and wife who wish to get divorced outside the framework of the batei din. Just this week the Jerusalem Beis Din refused to grant a ‘get’ to a woman whose husband beat her ‘only three times’. So, if you want jurisdiction of these courts then we will expand the law”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)