Dear Uriel,



Your words are not clear. Do you mean that the democratic state must develop and support institutions which follow anti-democratic norms?



Daat Emet

Dear Yaakov,



A democratic country based on the values of the enlightened world must take care of its citizens in a egalitarian manner, based on humanistic base laws. Any institutions which do not meet these criteria will not be serviced.

Now let us see if religious services meet these criteria:

The institution of the Rabbinate and the religious councils, those responsible for religious services, do not permit a woman to serve as rabbi. This lack of equality is enough to serve as clear justification for invalidating this institution. Imagine what an outcry there would be if the HaBima theatre forbade women from serving in any role. One of the areas over which the Rabbinate has authority is giving kashrut certification to food products, and one of the rules is that neither a gentile nor a secular person may work in a winery lest he touch the wine and make it prohibited for drinking. Imagine if a secular institution forbade gentiles or religious Jews from working for them; what an uproar there would be. Another thing, more important than all else: the institute of the Rabbinate derives its rulings from an outdated text, the Talmud. The secular public does not comprehend or internalize that religious conduct is determined according to the Talmud. The Talmudic text was sealed in the fifth century CE and its rulings, interpretations, and values are based on the views of the old world.

See something amazing: the modern society has arisen from a shaking off and rebellion against these old viewpoints. And what does the State of Israel do? Funds and supports these institutions like a stain or blemish they do not want to remove!! For the sake of example: According to the Talmud a Jew who has sex with a gentile woman out of love is given lashes. It is related in the Talmud that Rava was a judge in a rabbinical court which gave lashes to a man for having sex with a gentile woman and the man died (Taanit 24b).

What is the rule for a single Jewish woman who has sex with a single gentile man? According to Halacha she is considered a whore and may not marry a cohen (Maimonides, Laws of Forbidden Sexual relations 18:2). Thus does the State of Israel abandon the laws of personal relations to an outdated institution which acts in contradiction to the modern viewpoint and forbids a woman to marry her beloved cohen.



Sincerely,



Daat Emet

Dear Uriel,



You are ignoring the simple facts mentioned in our answer. The institution of the Rabbinate is responsible for personal laws and has the power, through the authority of Israeli law, not to permit the marriage of a divorced woman to her beloved cohen or of a gentile to his beloved female Jew, etc.

I will ask you more clearly: in your opinion, does an institution which forbids women to serve in specific roles (like rabbis, judges, or heads of religious councils) have the right to exist in a democratic regime?

Are the rabbinical courts, which hand down judgments which contradict the norms of equality, worthy of funding from the public coffers, and should such judges get huge salaries?



Sincerely,



Daat Emet