Fredrika Shavit v. Rishon Lezion Jewish Burial Society

Jewish tradition. The question is if the law has an “overturning effect”
which negates Gideon-Kestenbaum and frees the Jewish burial society
from the yoke of these rulings. The lower court ruled thus – that the
Alternative Burial Law does indeed overturn Gideon-Kestenbaum – but
we find it difficult to accept this stance.
12. First of all, it must be said – though this is not main point –
that the stance of the lower court troubles us deeply, and not only because
the Alternative Burial Law is currently a mere “skeleton” of a law. The
statement that “a person has the right to be buried according to his
ideology in an alternative civilian cemetery if he so chooses” – as per
section 2 of the law – is at present just empty words far from the reality.
Alternative civilian cemeteries have not been established – it has not even
been announced when they will be established – and I have difficulty
accepting that the mere existence of a law is capable of overturning a
court ruling.
“Alternative relief” must fulfill two conditions to be considered
in effect: First, there must be relief, and second, this relief must be
current, effective, and available to those who seek it. In this case, the
appellant does not currently have access to relief and there is certainly no
effective relief. In other words: in the present situation, alternative burial
does not exist. In light of this, we have trouble understanding how the
Rishon Lezion Jewish Burial Society can shed its obligations to the
general public – to the residents of the city that it is supposed to serve –
which it has borne at least since Gideon-Kestenbaum. It makes a mockery
of a person's dignity to tell the appellant that she must go to the Minister
and complain about the delay in the implementation of the law. Can one
postpone the day of one’s death until the alternative cemeteries are ready?
However, we will not rest with this reason alone. We will now discuss the
law as though the alternative civilian cemeteries had been established,
thus reaching the heart of the matter.
13. The whole truth is that every statutory arrangement has an
“overturning effect,” that is the “flip side of the coin,” as the lower court