Should Israel Have a Rabbinate?

[xkatz]

This is aimed primarily at Israeli and Jewish RF members (though anyone with knowledge of Israeli politics is more than welcome to give their 2¢'s)

I myself, believe that it is in the best interest of the Israeli and the Jewish people to do away with such a system. My main problem is that while the Rabbinate tries to represent all Jews in Israel (or heck, even around the world to extent), it really only represents the Haredi/Orthodox communities in terms of most of it's rulings, and there is no representation of the progressive sects. Also, I believe Israel would be better off as a secular republic anyways, as secularism (IMO) is an integral part of peace occurring in the region; additionally Israel shouldn't attempt to represent Jewry worldwide.
[/rant]

My 2 cents.

 

[Levite]

Should Israel Have a Rabbinate?

HELL NO.

The State Rabbinate is an awful, awful idea. It provides Ultra-Orthodox monopoly on public religion, and is regularly used as a Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) tool to oppress and disenfranchise non-Haredi (especially non-Orthodox) Judaism, and not infrequently is used to propagate senseless anti-Arab rhetoric that solves nothing, serves only to inflame Israeli Arabs and Palestinians, and is more often than not insupportable according to any sane understanding of halakhah (Jewish law).

I see no problem with Israel having a ministry of religions, in order to provide aid and support to all Jewish endeavors-- that is quite in line with having a Jewish State. And I certainly think such a ministry should also provide aid and support to any non-Jewish religious organizations (so long as they do not embrace anti-Israeli and/or anti-Semitic aims, and so long as they do not proselytize amongst the Jewish populace).

But a ministry of religions is different than a State Rabbinate. The State Rabbinate, as far as I can tell, does no good for Judaism, and does extensive and extreme harm to it. It is oppressive, theocratic, fundamentalist, and un-halakhic. It should be dismantled immediately. If Jewish communties want to establish different groups for hashgachah (kosher certification), deciding halakhic issues, and suchlike, they can do so as they please. But that sort of thing should be communal, not governmental.

And, for that matter, the Haredim need to stop getting special political treatment. No more permanent army exemptions for boys in yeshivah or kollel (Orthodox religious schools and learning academies). No more separate buses. No more freedom to abuse people going through their neighborhoods who observe Judaism differently, or are secular, or are not dressed like it's 18th Century Poland. And no more Haredi monopolies on Jewish administration of holy sites. They get away with all this crap largely because of the Rabbinate. Once the Rabbinate goes, the rest should be dismantled also.

Israel is the Jewish State. That means that all Jewish interpretations and observances need to be freely tolerated there.

And we also don't need a bunch of fire-breathing fundamentalist wackos in black hats with State sanction trying to undermine such meager efforts as there may be to get Jews and Arabs in Israel to live in peace, and to get governmental enforcement of the civil rights of Israeli Arabs. Let alone what the Haredim would do with the Palestinian issue....

 

[erelsgl]

"I believe Israel would be better off as a secular republic anyways, as secularism (IMO) is an integral part of peace occurring in the region"

It seems that the ME is becoming more religious, so I don't see how a secular Israel will promote peace?