The coalition negotiations are on the last line, and from time to time leaks come out of the negotiation rooms, but it is precisely an issue that may be encountered by any of the citizens - none of the parties seem to care.
The reports about the coalition negotiations leading up to the formation of the government show that the public is no longer entitled to receive professional representation of their interests from their elected representatives in regards to the appointment of judges. The time has come to stop the appointment arrangements according to the sectoral and sectarian key - in favor of professional parameters, regardless of the size, color or texture of the dome .
The leaks from the coalition negotiation rooms receive - absolutely rightly, in view of the compatibility with the understandable public concern - extensive media coverage in matters of religion and state, but precisely in this matter a fundamental and equally important issue is marginalized: the "deals" related to the appointment of judges.
Rabbinical court judges are judges for all matters.
Their judgments can be enforced in enforcement proceedings - and in some cases (mainly in divorce matters) the authority of the Rabbinical Court can be imposed even on those who do not wish it.
Therefore, the appointment of the judges is done through a special statutory committee, similar to the procedure for appointing the judges for the civil courts.
Against the background of the political constraints of the past few years, an arrangement was formed - a "deal", in the vernacular - which helped to reduce the differences of opinion in the committee, according to which in each committee the appointments will be given in an equal distribution: one third to judges of Sephardi origin, one third to judges of Ashkenazi origin and one third to judges associated by sector (in the past year the affiliation of the sectors given to the national religious, the "knitted domes").
Division, as mentioned, perpetuates a sectarian divide that has in any case been greatly reduced in recent years thanks to the Israeli melting pot, and does not help in the least to the deep rift from which Israeli society suffers.
And beyond that, we have to be honest with ourselves: there is no issue or rabbi in the appointment of a judge who belongs to a specific sect or sector.
It would be wrong if it was affirmative action, but the parenting of the "Deal" is a political complaint - and nothing more.
In Israel today, as the year 2023 approaches, the most important criteria for choosing a dayan (or judge) should be purely professional, and questions such as where his ancestors were born and what color is the kippah on his head - have no, and must not have, any importance.
The rabbinical courts are overcrowded.
The lawyers deal with a huge number of cases, and we still encounter every day the supreme efforts of excellent and efficient lawyers, who try to help the litigants in every possible way - despite limited personnel and conditions worse than theirs, the civil courts win: the chambers are very few, and in the rabbinical courts almost completely No interns or paralegals.
The absence of standards requires an efficient and high-quality choice - one that can be made according to professional parameters only, and that leaves no room for selective privilege based on irrelevant criteria such as a certain sectarian affiliation.
It is not impossible that those "deals" may cause talented and worthy candidates to be pushed out, not for professional reasons and without fair justification.
Professional choice is a public interest of the first degree.
This means a firm stand against the aging sectarian demon, and it commits itself to promoting the good of the public that gave its elected officials the mandate to appoint the judges.
If the lawyer who will handle my case will be efficient and professional - I don't care what color the cap is on his head, and I really don't care what country his grandmother was born in.
The time has come to remove the judges from the political game.
The public longs for social stability and is fed up with politics, and its right to have a stable and efficient judicial system also in the Rabbinical Court.
Adv. Ohad Hoffman is a founding partner in the law firm "Hoffman & Friedenberg"
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us