Rishon L’Tzion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita was among those voices heard on Sunday night 2 Rosh Chodesh Tammuz condemning the High Court of Justice decision regarding bris milah. The court ruled on Sunday that the Netanya area Beis Din and the Supreme Rabbinical Court exceeded their authority with their ruling in the case, compelling the mother to have a bris done on her son.

In essence, the six of the seven Supreme Court justices ruled the rabbinical courts exceeded their authority in their ruling compelling the mother to have a bris done on her son despite her objections. The ruling pertaining to an ongoing case in which a couple is getting divorced and the father wants the son to have a bris and the mother refuses. The ruling on Sunday was not the High Court’s first in the case.

Rav Yitzchak Yosef lamented the ruling is just another blow in the ongoing anti-religious trend which exists in Israel today. He explained that in this case, the secular court decided to overrule the Supreme Religious Court despite the fact the matter at hand is a halachic one. Rav Yosef stated that in recent years the High Court continues doing what it can to curtail the authority of the nation’s batei din.

“As Av Beis Din of the Supreme Rabbinical Court I call on the president of the Supreme Court to hold another hearing to cancel the ruling and to bring an end to the erosion of the status of the rabbinical courts” stated Rav Yosef.

Needless to say chareidi MKs responded with pain and outrage over the ruling as the unfortunately child still has not had a bris milah.

The Justice Ministry, which assisted the mother free of charge, praised the High Court’s ruling. The ministry feels that in this case, in which the mother objects to the bris, social workers, physicians and other professionals will have to be consulted and render an opinion as to what is in the child’s best interests.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)