Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein in his response to the Supreme Court informed the court he feels the Chief Rabbinate Supreme Court exceeded its authority in a ruling compelling a mother to have a bris done on her 1-year-old son. This refers to a case reported by YWN-ISRAEL in December 2013 involving a divorce dispute between a couple. The father wants to use giving a get to compel the wife to have a bris performed on their now one-year-old son. She remains opposed, and she was most recently backed by a decision of the Supreme Court permitting her to hold off having a bris until a ruling in the case is made. The beis din also levied a 500 NIS daily fine on the mother until a bris is performed, but that was all placed on hold by the secular Supreme Court.

Weinstein feels the beis din exceeded its authority and questioned its decision to compel the bris and if it is actually in the best interest of the child. He feels such a decision cannot be made by a beis din, but it must involve medical experts, social workers and an array of people looking out for the child. Sadly for the child, Weinstein hasn’t the faintest clue of the child’s neshama and the ramifications of his current status R”L. Weinstein recommends the court accept the mother’s position, opposing the bris, and the matter he feels will at some point be adjudicated by the experts in a secular court when the court addresses medical care and similar issues for the child.

Attorney Shimon Yaakobi about a month ago presented the court with the Rabbinate’s position, that the beis din’s authority includes any dispute between divorcing couples, but the attorney general feels otherwise. Yaakobi added “The Rabbinical Court did not purport to and does not purport to assume legal authority to order a bris when both parents are not of the same opinion. The court however adjudicated the dispute between the parents entrusted in their guardianship, as is the case with many other matters wrapped in a divorce proceeding”.

Yaakobi added “Given the sensitivity of the issue, and in particular amid a realization a bris should be performed on the child as soon as possible for as long as there are no medical reasons not to, and from all perspectives this is in the child’s interests and rights, it is appropriate that the court should render a decision in an expeditious fashion.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)