The proposal is made during the Conference on the Laws of the Torah. The “state, as a Jewish state, must bring the Jewish law into account to a greater degree,” says Rabbi Ratzon Arusi. Consequently, every High Court of Justice should refer to religious law.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Kiryat Ono’s chief rabbi, Ratzon Arusi, said that every law in Israel should be evaluated from the perspective of Jewish law, which is “our duty as the Jewish state,” he said. Arusi, who holds a PhD in law, with his expertise being Jewish law, spoke at the 20th International Conference on the Laws of the Torah that began yesterday. His proposal generated a heated debate in the country.

During the opening session, attended by Israel’s Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger, cabinet ministers and members of the Knesset, Arusi proposed a broader use of Jewish law, which besides the mandatory evaluation of Knesset bills, will determine that every High Court of Justice ruling must relate to Jewish law as well, and that all judges undergo special training in Jewish law.

“We must make up our minds if this is the Jewish state or not,” Arusi said ahead of the conference in a statement. “I won’t force every person at a court to be checked to see if he keeps kosher or is Shabbat observant, but that state, as a Jewish state, must bring the Jewish law into account to a greater degree.”

Last year, at the same event, Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman, who will also be attending Monday’s conference, raised a public outcry when he said, “step by step, Torah law will become the binding law in the State of Israel. We have to reinstate the traditions of our forefathers, the teaching of the rabbis of the Ages because these offer a solution to all the issues we are dealing with today.”

The Foundations of Law Act, passed in 1980, says that every question that comes before the court in which there is no existing law or precedent has to be adjudicated in accordance with Jewish tradition.

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