On Sunday, The
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LARRY DERFNER ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT
■
t.
411
erusalem — Not in
modern memory has
there been so much
public sniggering in
Israel over the sexual exploits
of a man of the cloth. It began
with anonymous. charges
from several women in the Tel
Aviv weekly, Ha' ir; that Rab-
bi Yisrael Meir Lau, the city's
chief rabbi and one of three
candidates for Ashkenazi
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chief rabbi of Israel, had
tried to force his affections on
them.
Someone then dredged up
a decade-old tale that Rabbi
Lau had been seen in an
Eilat hotel with ex-model,
Hanit Bankobaski. And just
as Ms. Bankobaski denied
that snide snippet, astrol-
oger Talila Sten told
Hadashot that Lau had tried
to kiss her while they rode
around in his car 20 years
ago. She also passed a lie-
detector test.
Rabbi Lau sued Ms. Sten
and the paper for libel.
The gossip about Rabbi
Lau was not the only
outrageous feature of what
has been called the most
vicious campaign for a rab-
binical post in Israel's histo-
ry. During the race, Shear
Yishuv Cohen, Haifa's chief
rabbi, was charged with fl:
nancial irregularities, and a
candidate for Sephardi chief
rabbi, Eliyahu Bakshi-
Doron, was charged with ac-
cepting bribes.
Despite the campaign,
which the two incumbent
chief rabbis denounced as
"not befitting rabbis or the
rabbinate," Rabbi Lau, 56,
and Rabbi Bakshi-Doron, 52,
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7:30-8:30 p.m.
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of marriage, divorce, and
other critical aspects of
"personal status." An er-
ratic and lethargic bureau-
cracy, the biases of the rab-
binical judges, and their
removal from — if not
outright aversion to —
modern egalitarian values
has spawned an enormous
degree of resentment toward
the rabbinate among Israel's
secular Jews.
Tales of arbitrary, even
hostile treatment by rabbis
and rabbinical courts in
Israel would fill a whole
shelf of books. If a woman is
caught cheating on her hus-
band, for example, even if
they have long led separate
lives under separate roofs,
the rabbis can grant him a
divorce while prohibiting
her from ever marrying her
lover. No similar treatment
has ever been given a man
caught cheating on his wife.
Once such a ruling has been
passed, appeal is impossi-
ble in civil courts because
Israeli citizens don't have
"civil" rights in matters
that fall under religious
jurisdiction.
It is for this reason, rather
than just the standard
demands of propriety, that
rumors about the rabbis
were front-page news. But
when it came to balloting,
the personal conduct of the
candidates seemed to matter
little. Instead, as in so many
other spheres of Israeli life,
all that counted was politics.
It's no secret, for instance,
that Rabbi Bakshi-Doron
was elected Sephardi chief
rabbi because of a deal to
trade Labor's votes for him
for Shas's support for Labor
candidate Ezer Weizman in
won the election recently.
Their first duty is to
restore the dignity and
prestige of their shared
post, which is in question-
able condition, anyway.
this month's Knesset vote
for the presidency.
Rabbi Lau's victory is
The post of chief rabbi was
established during the
British Mandate as a
holdover from the Turkish
system. (It wasn't known in
eastern Europe, just as it
doesn't exist in the United
States). Divergent traditions
required that chief rabbis be
appointed for both
Ashkenazi and Sephardi
communities. The tradition
has stuck over the years.
The system over which the
two rabbis preside has far-
reaching powers over the
personal lives of Israel's
citizens, especially as it is
the sole authority in matters
largely explained by the fact
that he received the backing
of Shas patron, Rabbi
Ovadiah Yosef. Shas, in fact,
emerged as the real winner
of the election, having won
the chief rabbinate away
from the more moderate
Zionist National Religious
Party, which dominated the
institution (as well as the
Ministry of Religion) for th
past four decades.
The two chief rabbis ar
expected to compleme
each other.
But for now, many Isra
wonder about the linger
effects of the campaign.