Sephardi Chief Rabbi Eliahu Bakshi-Doron announced this week he wants to disband religious councils and create a new system to cover religious needs through the local city councils. His announcement follows last week's Supreme Court decision permitting Reform and Conservative Jews to sit on the religious councils. Meanwhile, United Torah Judaism threatened to quit the coalition if a religious council convenes with a Reform or Conservative member in attendance. Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau also spoke against members of the Reform movement sitting on the religious councils, and he does not object to the councils being abolished or taking on a different form. The Knesset Interior Committee is due to discuss several bills on the matter next week.
Politicians apparently favor disbanding the religious councils for different reasons.
At a later meeting with Labor Party leader Ehud Barak, both Lau and Bakshi-Doron spoke of the need to revamp the religious councils. Deputy Education Minister Eliezer Zandberg of the Tsomet Party asked the prime minister not to give in to threats that would prevent non-Orthodox members from sitting on the religious councils. Meretz Party leader Yossi Sarid said he favors abolishing the religious councils, but in reality he does not believe that they would cease to exist. They will just exist under a different name. All rights reserved.