A prominent Reform rabbi from New York City gave a sermon on Friday – calling it the “most painful” sermon of his entire career – discussing Israel’s controversial judicial reform bill. This plan, according to him, is an initiative taken by the government and which consists of “running into the abyss, head first”.
“In a parliamentary system, and especially in a young democracy like Israel’s where there is no written constitution and where the common law has not prevailed for centuries, the government can run head first into the abyss and if he is determined enough, or if he is not hindered for it, there are very few ways to stop him in his infernal course”, commented Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, head of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan.
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Hirsch added that for many years the country’s struggle for immediate survival had taken precedence over the need to legislate the nation’s fundamental constitutional principles.
“It is legitimate and even necessary to debate certain issues, such as the appropriate balance of power that should exist between the unelected judiciary and the elected parliament,” Hirsch noted.
However, he deplored “the dizzying speed” at which the government is advancing its reform package.
“The government is tearing Israeli society apart and dragging Jews around the world on its dangerous course,” he continued.
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“To put it plainly: This government was elected democratically, legitimately, in a manner consistent with the law. He has the mandate to govern,” Hirsch explained. “Nevertheless, even democratically elected governments are under an obligation to uphold the principles of democracy – not just the will of the majority, but also the preservation and protection of minority rights, such protection being determined through independent courts. enjoying sufficient power”.
“I hope that the good side of this crisis will, in the end, be an opportunity given to put in place the principles that founded Israeli society. While it is the citizens of Israel who must determine these principles, Jews everywhere have a decisive role to play. Jews are bound together by history and by destiny,” he noted.
He paid tribute to the hundreds of thousands of people who take to the streets every week in Israel, saying they are “equivalent, in proportion, to 12 million Americans.”
The Reform rabbi also had harsh words for members of the government – the most right-wing coalition in Israel’s history.
“I will not spare supremacists, extremists and religious fundamentalists. They distort Judaism and they are the shame of the Jewish people,” he said.
Pro-women’s rights protesters, dressed as characters from the TV series ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’ take part in a demonstration against the government’s plans to reform the justice system, in Tel Aviv on March 11, 2023. (Credit: AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Hirsch, who last year launched a program to push back against anti-Zionism within the religious movement even as support for Israel from young American Jews wanes, said that “as long as I’m here , the synagogue will not abandon Israel and certainly not in these hours when the country needs it most”.
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Polls show that the younger generation of American Jews is becoming increasingly estranged from Israel. A firm majority within the community, however, continues to support the Jewish state.
Mounted police block a protester against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the judiciary, preventing him from approaching Tel Aviv’s main highway, March 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Hirsch had been in high school in Israel, he had been the commander of a tank unit in the army, and he was also, in the past, the director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (he also wrote articles on the blogging platform of the Times of Israel).
The Israeli government’s plan, as it currently stands, will allow the Knesset to overrule High Court judgments with the tiniest majority, preemptively shield pieces of legislation from judicial review by the courts , and it will place the appointment of judges under the control of the politicians of the ruling coalition.
Israelis demonstrate against the judicial reform plan outside the US consulate in Tel Aviv on March 16, 2023. (Gideon Markowicz/Flash90)
Opponents of the changes say they will damage Israeli democracy, eliminate a critical checks and balances and leave minorities unprotected. Their supporters talk about a reform necessary to curb a court they consider “too activist”.
The overhaul plan has drawn intense criticism and fierce opposition within the Jewish state, sending Israelis to the streets in droves and prompting warnings from economists, legal professionals, academics and policymakers. security. Protesters began gathering in early January, in multiple days of “disruption” and “resistance”.
The Israeli consul-general, in New York, for his part expressed on Thursday his “deep concern” at the direction taken by the country, a rare criticism from a diplomat in exercise on a government policy.
Luke Tress contributed to this article.
