The High Court of Justice has issued a temporary order stopping the planned elections for a new Chief Rabbi of Beit Shemesh. The order was signed by Justice Amit, citing there is no urgency in holding elections this week as planned, and the Rabbinate may request the lifting of the temporary order until Tisha B’Av. If such a request is not submitted, the matter will be adjudicated by the court in a future session.

The petition to stop the elections was filed by Tzion Sultan, an activist in the city. the petition was filed against the Ministry of Religious Services, Beit Shemesh City Hall and the 32-member committee that elects the rabbi.

In the petition, they were asked to give a reason why they should not cancel the representatives of the Minister of Religious Affairs to the committee that chooses the rabbi of the city, why not cancel the selection of shuls and their representatives to the committee, and why not cancel the appointment of the asifa that the petitioner claimed was chosen in violation of the regulations governing the process.

The argument of the same activist who petitioned the High Court of Justice is that the composition of the body of the committee that elects the city’s rabbi is too chareidi and is influenced by the identity of the positions in the ministry, while one cannot ignore the local identity of the community. Another matter mentioned is that a woman on the committee is the wife of a member of the local religious council who has a clear political identity.

High Court intervention and stopping the election of a city’s rabbi also occurred recently in Lod.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)