Yesterday evening at 5:45, Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit walked down a narrow alley in
Jerusalem's Mea She'arim neighborhood, and reached the door of Rabbi Yosef
Shalom Eliashiv, the halakhic sage who has lately solidified his position as
the undisputed leader of the Lithuanian Haredi world. The rare meeting stemmed
from a war that has been waged in recent days by the ultra-Orthodox community
concerning the appointment of dayanim (religious judges) to the rabbinic
courts.
The Haredi leader's meeting with the head of the "hostile" state
judicial system - who also happens to be a member of the committee that
appoints the religious judges - reflects the importance which Eliashiv accords
to his war of prestige against the leader of the Sephardi-Haredi world, Rabbi
Ovadia Yosef.
The dayanim appointments committee was originally scheduled to meet today, to
appoint three religious judges. But yesterday Religious Affairs Minister Asher
Ohana (Shas), who chairs the committee, announced that the meeting is being
postponed indefinitely. Ohana's announcement suggested that Shas has been
unable to guarantee that its preferred candidates will be picked.
Some 105 would-be candidates had vied in recent weeks for the three vacant
dayan slots, and numerous family relations and backers had lobbied the
committee's 10 members heavily.
A file of documents containing information about the various candidates for the
dayan posts was stolen last Thursday from the offices of the chief rabbinate,
just four days before the appointments committee was supposed to meet, and
select the religious judges.
The dayanim dispute erupted due to Eliashiv and his camp's objection to Rabbi
Ovadia's choice for one of the religious judge slots, Rabbi Yaakov Elia'azrov.
According to Eliashiv's followers, Rabbi Yosef has backed Elia'azrov for
inappropriate reasons - among other things, they charge that that Elia'azrov's
brother-in-law, Jerusalem contractor Mati Lipshitz, has been selected to build
a compound in Har Nof which will serve as an institutional base for Rabbi Yosef
and his son Moshe.
The Lithuanians also charge that in an effort to enlist Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi
Yisrael Meir Lau's support for Shas' favored candidates, Ministers Eli Yishai
and Asher Ohana hinted at a meeting last Thursday that they would lobby for a
bill which would amend the law limiting the chief rabbi to a 10-year term.
A senior Shas member denied these allegations yesterday. "Rabbi Lau has
been offered nothing," the source said. "And nothing has been decided
in terms of the tender bidding for the Har Nof project, so it's impossible to
talk about who the contractor might be."
The high point in Eliashiv's lobbying on the dayan controversy came yesterday,
when he met with the secular justice minister. After the half-hour meeting,
Sheetrit claimed "I spoke to the rabbi mainly about matters of Jewish law
and Torah."
MK Avraham Ravitz (United Torah Judaism), who was present at the meeting,
denied that there was any discussion of religious judge appointments. Ravitz
said that the meeting was held because "all sorts of laws which trouble
the rabbi have arisen [recently]." Rabbi Eliashiv, Ravitz added,
"didn't get into details ... he said there is a need to ensure that the
people of Israel preserve their Jewish identity."