There has been considerable pressure from the Chief Rabbis of Israel and others, and it now appears that the committee that appoints judges and dayanim will finally be convening to appoint dayanim.

After numerous postponements, a date was set for the convening of the committee to appoint dayanim. According to information received by BeChadrei Chareidim, the chairman of the committee, Minister Yuval Steinitz, announced that the committee will meet on Thursday, February 1, 2018, in order to elect new dayanim following the great distress in the rabbinical batei din and the lack of dozens of dayanim.

As well as the appointment of a new representative to the committee following the resignation of MK Yisrael Eichler will take place. Eichler stepped down in response to the coalition agreement with Shas and the demand to appoint the chairman of the Knesset, Eichler, Chairman of the Shas faction, MK Yoav Ben Tzur.

Pressure being applied to Minister Steinitz seems to have yielded results in this case. Five members of the Committee for the Appointment of Dayanim, headed by the Rishon L’Tzion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita and Chief Rabbi of Israel Dovid Lau Shlita, sent a letter to Steinitz demanding that he convene the committee as soon as possible, in light of the urgent need to immediately appoint more than 15 dayanim.

BeChadrei Chareidim exposed the threat by the Movement for a Jewish Democratic State and its intention to file a class action suit against the ministers, David Azoulai, Yuval Steinitz and Ayelet Shaked, as a result of the failure to appoint new dayanim.

In a letter to Steinitz, Chief Rabbi Yosef and Chief Rabbi Lau and members of the committee, Rabbi Yaakov Zamir, Rabbi Avraham Schindler, (Member of the Supreme Beis Din), MK Yisrael Eichler and Rachel Dotan, wrote that ” To ask the Minister to exercise his legal authority in order to convene the Committee for the Appointment of Dayanim in order to elect additional judges to the Rabbinical Courts. ”

According to what we understood from Rabbi Shimon Yaakobi Shlita, there is a need for more than 15 new dayanim and our hopes that the appointments committee will be held as soon as possible. ”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)