Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi, HaRav David Yosef, sharply criticized a High Court ruling requiring the Chief Rabbinate to allow women to take rabbinical certification exams, vowing that as long as he remains in the system, women will not receive ordination certificates.
The ruling requires the Chief Rabbinate to permit women to sit for the certification exams that lead to rabbinical qualification. In response, Rabbi Yosef made clear that he intends to prevent the move from being implemented.
“The very fact that women turn to the secular court to force the Rabbinate — what do you want from us?” Rabbi Yosef said in remarks reported by Channel 13. “If you recognize the court, then receive your rabbinical certificate from the court.”
He also promised that steps would be taken to ensure the ruling is not carried out, saying, “Soon everyone will know and understand that we will take actions so that they will not receive them. It will not help them.”
According to the report, senior Rabbobim are now working to advance a provision that would contradict the High Court’s directive requiring the Rabbinate to allow women to take the certification exams. The effort has reportedly triggered a dispute between the Rabbinate’s legal advisers and the rabbis themselves.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
