Ultra-Orthodox Rabbis Escalate Attacks on Israeli Court

In a campaign that has renewed the battle over Israel’s cultural identity, ultra-Orthodox rabbis Thursday assailed the Israeli Supreme Court as a “wicked” institution guilty of making decisions that hurt Jews.

The verbal assault was unleashed by leading ultra-Orthodox rabbis who contend that the Supreme Court, under chief justice Aharon Barak, represents “judicial activism at its most destructive” and poses a threat to the Jewish nature of Israel.

In unusually bitter language, the haredim, as the ultra-Orthodox are known, are calling for a massive demonstration against the high court Sunday. Rabbis are urging religious women and children to join as well.

Outraged secular Jews, who make up the majority of Israel’s population, responded by accusing the rabbis of incitement against the justices in a bid to undermine the foundations of Israeli democracy.

Leftist politicians and youths from Israeli kibbutzim planned counterdemonstrations.

The uproar is seen as the latest skirmish in an ongoing war over the identity of the Jewish state and how to reconcile Jewish law with democratic ideals. It is perhaps the most pressing social question facing the 50-year-old nation: Should Israel be a secular, liberal democracy, or should religion have a major role in determining how citizens live, study and work?

It is a debate that has raged for years, but this week’s acrimony seems unprecedented, coming in the middle of an election season and attracting an unusually large number of rabbis.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, one of Israel’s most prominent Sephardic rabbis and spiritual leader of the top religious party, Shas, branded Supreme Court justices as wicked, wanton and empty-headed. His son, who also is a rabbi, was quoted as having called Barak an “enemy of the Jews.”

Another rabbi and former member of parliament, Menahem Porush, accused the court of anti-Semitic decisions.

“The court and their decisions will cause a revolt,” Porush said.

The ultra-Orthodox were irked by several recent rulings that they believe intrude on their domain.

The court is requiring Orthodox men to serve in the army, ending an exemption they enjoyed for years; allowing stores in kibbutzim to be open on the Jewish Sabbath; and mandating a place be made for Reform and Conservative Jews on councils that govern day-to-day religious affairs.

The haredim are especially alarmed over efforts by the courts to require the state of Israel to recognize conversions to Judaism made here and abroad by Reform and Conservative rabbis.

As far as the ultra-Orthodox are concerned, only conversions performed by Orthodox rabbis count.

“The haredim have gotten enough political power in recent years that now they feel they can take on the enemy,” David Clayman, a Conservative rabbi who represents the American Jewish Congress in Israel, said in an interview.

The enemy is the court, an arena, unlike politics, where the ultra-Orthodox have not been able to penetrate.

Secular Israelis are worried that the tone of the rhetoric will lead to violence. Security for the justices is being increased.

Both the Israeli president, Ezer Weizman, and the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, urged restraint.

“I am trying to prevent bloodshed,” Weizman said Thursday after taking the unusual step of seeking out the older Yosef for a meeting.