Fredrika Shavit v. Rishon Lezion Jewish Burial Society

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nations in many lands, this was Jewish Law, and there was no other. This is still Jewish Law in Jewish communities in the Diaspora in the present day. See 1 Menachem Elon, Jewish Law [45] at 547. The case is different here in Israel, as we have been gathered back to our homeland. I can find no good reason – in terms of the laws of state – to impose the ruling of the local rabbinic authority on all – on those who are religiously observant and those who are non-religious – as if it were the law of the state. Thus, we can in no way accept the behavior of the rabbi of the Jewish burial society, who tried to impose his decision on the entire community, on the religiously observant and on the nonreligious. The more we contemplate such an imposition, the more we are shocked. Take Rehovot and Ness Ziona, Tel Aviv and Jaffa, Ramat Gan and Givatayim, Holon and Bat Yam, Haifa and its bayside suburbs – gravestones erected in all of these localities may be inscribed with the Gregorian birth and death dates; it’s OK in all those places, but in Rishon Lezion, it is strictly forbidden. Since we know that the city limits of these places are set by the state and not by Jewish Law, as are the geographical areas of authority of their local rabbis, we must ask: what is the difference between Minsk and Pinsk [as the saying goes – trans.], such that in one city something is permissible, and in another, it is forbidden? Some may answer that the Jewish burial society may impose the decision of the local rabbinic authority on the residents of Rishon Lezion simply because that is how Jewish Law works. However, we find it neither legal nor just to force citizens to abide by prohibitions of the local rabbinic authority. The Gideon-Kestenbaum ruling lives on, as far as we are concerned, and has lost none of its force – neither its legal nor moral power. Before me lies Talmud Tractate Yevamot, a large and weighty tome which commands respect. This edition was published by Rabbi Nachman Avraham Goldenberg in the year 5622 – “in Berlin, 1863.”
Shavit v. Rishon Letzion Jewish Burial Society CA 6024/97 Next to it is Tractate Nedarim which was published by the Widow and Brothers Ram Press, and its publication date – as printed on the front’s piece: 5657-1897. Similar is the Mishna Torah, the monumental work of the “great eagle, the illustrious rabbi, our teacher Moshe son of Maimon, blessed be the memory of the righteous.” This enormous and heavy volume “was meticulously proofread and brought to print” by Rabbi Nachman Avraham Goldenberg, and its year of publication is marked as 5622, “Berlin, 1862.” Also on my table, in its permanent place, is a Bible published by the Rabbi Kook Institute (proofread by Mordechai Breuer), and it dates to the year 1989. The Mishna with commentary by Rabbi Pinchas Kehati is from 1991; Volume 1 of the Talmudic Encyclopedia was printed in 5712-1951; the Rinat Yisrael prayer book edited by Shlomo Tal (fourth edition) is from 1983; and the eighth printing of the Complete Writings and Sayings of Moshe Sabar, published by the Rabbi Kook Institute, is from “5747 (1987).” It would seem, therefore, that the prohibition against using the Gregorian calendar is not sweeping and comprehensive. In these circumstances, the Gideon-Kestenbaum ruling applies in every sense. In the future, we might encounter a case of someone who wishes to carve a symbol of a cross on a gravestone, for example, but this is a different case and there is no need to elaborate on it further. The stringent ruling that we examine in the case at bar has already been addressed in Gideon [1] and Kestenbaum [6], and there is no need to repeat what has already been said. 19. The Jewish burial society made itself the “guardian” of the deceased who are buried in the Rishon Lezion cemetery – of them and their relatives – and it claims that the dignity of the dead and the sensibilities of their family members will be offended if there are gravestones inscribed with non-Hebrew letters and Gregorian dates in the cemetery. This claim is extremely surprising, all the more so because in other cemeteries in Israel, this prohibition has not been adopted. Are the people of Rishon Lezion different from other people in Israel? What
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Fredrika Shavit v. Rishon Lezion Jewish Burial Society

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