Women Being in the Selection Process for the Chief Rabbi

           

            In Israel the position of Chief Rabbi is recognized as the chief spiritual authority for the Jewish people. The position holds a single ten-year term and once it’s over there is no chance for reelection. This is because they do not want a single rabbi monopolizing power. The process of choosing the Chief Rabbi is an election process that requires a panel of 150. In a new bill that was introduced earlier this month would raise the bar in the process for selecting the Chief Rabbi and ensure that the body would include women. The bill does a couple different things: first it states that the Chief Rabbi must have education and experience as a rabbi and judge in a court of Jewish law, that the election body would expand to 200 people, instead of 150, on the condition that 50 members are women.

Miriam Fierburg the 1 woman of 149 men. 

            According to the article in Haaretz by Jonathan Lis, "Male Habayit Hayehudi MKs balk at move to put women on panel choosing chief rabbi", of the current selection committee of 150 members there is only one woman.

In the proposed bill there is discussion about extending the term of the current Chief Rabbi by four months in order to come up with a new selection committee that includes women. Lis explains that the current committee consists of 80 seats designated to Rabbis and the other 70 are public representatives 17 of which are represented by the Prime Minster. This doesn’t leave much room for women as Rabbis are all men and the majority of public officials are also men closing off opportunities for women. In Lis’s article he is on the side of the petition stating that these 17 seats chosen by the Prime minister should be allocated to women.

           Another article found on Haaretz explains that women's rights organizations are on the move to gather support for women to be selected. The current selection committee is clearly discriminates against women and the petition will help set things on the right path.The selection body for the approaching election has not been chosen yet and there is belief that there will be more women appointed to the committee especially with the support of the prime minister. 

            Jonathan Lis is writing about there needing to be a little bit of change in the selection committee for choosing the Chief Rabbi. He is giving informative information about a process that needs to be updated. Women make up half of the population in Israel and should be given the opportunity to make decisions that represent the best interests of Israel as a whole. Jonathan Lis is giving the point of view on how the selection committee is unequal for women and that the 17 seats that the Prime minister controls should be given to women in order to balance the decision making. Lis gives many reliable figureheads in Israel to back his claim that there needs to be a change. 

             Like many articles published for Haaretz there is little bias or unreliability to be found. The author is giving clear reliable information about a petition that Prime Minister Netanyahu has to consider. The petition has considerable support but male MKs from Habayit Heyehudi have refused to sign the petition.