JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

An additional example of the Israel legislature’s treatment
of the dayyanim as part of the judicial system of the State of
Israel is in the Commissioner for Public Complaints Against
Judges Law, 2002. This law also grants the Commissioner jurisdiction
over matters concerning dayyanim in the rabbinical
courts (see Section 1 (5), the definition of “judge”). It bears
emphasis that following his investigation of a complaint filed
against a person serving in a judicial capacity, the Commissioner
is authorized to act in one of several ways. The most
serious of these is the referral of the matter to the Committee
for the Appointment of Judges, in order for it to decide
whether to terminate the appointment of the judge (Section
22(e) of the aforementioned law). This authority exists with
respect to dayyanim as well, as set forth in Section 33(2) of the
law, which amended the Dayyanim Law in this respect (see
Section 16a(a) of the Dayyanim Law).
When the question arose before the High Court of Justice
regarding whether a dayyan in the Rabbinical Court of
Appeals could concurrently take part in political activity, the
High Court of Justice ruled that a dayyan, as a judge, is obligated
to be impartial and to merit the confidence of the public
at large. Political activity is deleterious to this status and
it is therefore forbidden for one serving in a judicial capacity
(including a dayyan in a rabbinical court) to fulfill a political
position, and to proffer advice to political parties (H. Cdi
732/84 Tzaban v. The Minister of Religious Affairs, 40(4) PD
141, per Justice A. Barak).
PROCEDURAL RULES . Even before the establishment of the
State, during the British Mandatory rule, in 1943, the Council
of the Chief Rabbinate established procedural rules for
the rabbinical courts in Ereẓ Israel. The preparation of these
rules began when Rav *Kook and Rav Jacob *Meir were serving
as chief rabbis. Most of these rules have their source in
the Shulḥan Arukh and the other halakhic authorities, while
others were set forth by the Council of the Chief Rabbinate
for Ereẓ Israel for the purpose of organizing the proceedings
and as takkanat ha-rabbim. These rules were replaced and
amended in 1960. An updated version of the rules, including
amendments and improvements, was enacted in 1993. The
rules cover numerous matters related to procedure, including:
local jurisdiction, the means of filing a claim and submitting
a defense, provisions regarding courtroom procedures and
hearing evidence, temporary orders and appeals.
In 2004, the Knesset enacted a law dealing with the disqualification
of a judge. This law stipulates identical provisions
for judges in the general court system in the State of Israel
and dayyanim in the religious courts, including the rabbinical
courts (see Section 19A of the Dayyanim Law as amended
pursuant to the 2004 law).
The provisions of this law are unusual, inasmuch as until
it was enacted, the starting point of all reference to the rabbinical
courts was the autonomy of the rabbinical courts, both
regarding application of the religious law and the promulgation
of procedural rules. The civil courts also operated accord-
bet din and judges
ing to internal rules or rulings of the court itself with respect
to the disqualification of a judge. However, when the Knesset
decided to enact legislation dealing with the disqualification
of judges in the civil courts, it did so with respect to the religious
courts as well, using the same terms and nearly identical
provisions for all of the judicial forums in Israel, in order
to achieve uniformity regarding the subject of disqualification
of judges.
JUDGMENTS OF THE RABBINICAL COURTS. The rabbinical
courts have handed down many judgments since the period
of the Mandatory government. The early decisions did not include
the reasons for the decision, but gradually the rabbinical
courts, especially the Rabbinical Court of Appeals, began to
provide the reasons for their decisions, even at length.
A collection of the rabbinical judgments during the Mandatory
government was published by Z. Warhaftig in 1950.
After the establishment of the State of Israel, the rabbinical
judgments were published as official publications, under the
auspices of the Ministry for Religious Affairs under the title
Piskei Din Rabbaniyyim (PDR). Twenty volumes of the PDR
have been published thus far. Since 1995, the judgments are
published in Shurat ha-Din with eight volumes published to
2005. During the last year Rabbinical Court decisions have
been published on the website: www.rbc.gov.il/judgment
A number of dayyanim publish their judgments in collections
such as Teḥumim. There are dayyanim who write responsa
including judgments that they gave while serving as
dayyanim in the rabbinical courts (see, e.g., Ẓiẓ Eliezer (Rav.
Eliezer Waldenburg), Binyan Av (Rav Eliyahu Bakshi Doron),
Shema Shelomo (Rav. Shelomo Amar), Mishpateha le-Ya’akov
(Rav Ẓevi Yehudah ben Ya’akov).
CONCLUSION. The dayyanim in the rabbinical courts in the
State of Israel make up the high-quality human cadre that
transmits the Jewish tradition and halakhah from generation
to generation. In this context we will remark that two of the
foremost scholars of the generation (gedolei ha-dor), Rabbi
Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, served for
many years as dayyanim on the Rabbinical Court of Appeals
and their judgments are included in the PDR.
The rabbinical courts constitute an important part of the
judicial system in the State of Israel, and they deal primarily
with issues of family law. As we pointed out, the status of the
dayyanim of the rabbinical courts is very similar to that of Israel’s
judges, both with respect to their independence, as well
as other symbols of their status.
In the framework of the overall picture, it must be remembered
that aside from the rabbinical courts, which operate
according to the law of the State, as explained above, there
are many private rabbinical courts operating in Israel, some
of them under the auspices of political or quasi political parties
(such as the Beit Din Ẓedek of Agudath Israel; the Beit Din
Ẓedek of Ha-Eidah ha-Ḥaredit), some under the auspices of the
religious councils (the rabbinical court for civil matters un-
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