At Issue: Choosing Religious Court Judges in Israel: A Case Study

Israeli rabbinical courts have exclusive jurisdiction over marriage and divorce among Jewish residents. In December 2002, the author was elected to the Commission to Appoint Religious Court Judges and was reelected to a second three-year term in December 2005. The commission has traditionally operated as an "old boys' club" and job-placement center for cronies of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) political and religious leaders, with judges being appointed on the basis of their family ties or religious-party alliances. With the support of a coalition of twenty-five women's organizations, the author and the non-haredi members of the commission succeeded in putting a halt to the haredi rabbis' control over the appointment process. Women's organizations and other critics have demanded that candidates be appointed on the basis of merit. Party politics and religious politics have also influenced the commission's work over the past three years, causing a deadlock and an inability to appoint judges to fill the ten open positions on regional rabbinical courts.