Israel’s chief rabbis, Kalman Ber and David Yosef, issued a sharp statement accusing the High Court of Justice of overstepping its authority in matters of Jewish law. The comments came after a series of rulings in which the court rejected positions taken by the Chief Rabbinate, including a decision requiring that rabbinical exams be open to women.
The rabbis argue that testing and ordination processes fall strictly under the Rabbinate’s jurisdiction and are rooted in centuries of halachic tradition. They maintain that even if women demonstrate high levels of Torah scholarship, ordination criteria involve additional halachic considerations beyond academic knowledge.
Recent court rulings have also challenged the Rabbinate’s exclusive authority over kashrut certification and child support adjudication, intensifying tensions between state legal institutions and religious leadership.
A new committee will be created to set updated standards for both rabbinic testing and ordination, though the Rabbinate did not explicitly reject the requirement to allow women to take the exams. The debate reflects a broader public struggle over the future of religious authority in Israel.
