Women added to rabbinical judge selection committee

Four spots on the committee that appoints religious judges in Israel will be reserved for women under a new Knesset law.

The bill giving women guaranteed representation on the Selection Committee for Rabbinical Judges passed its second and third reading in the Israeli parliament on Tuesday over strong opposition from Charedi Orthodox parties.

The four female committee members will come from the government, the Knesset and the Israeli Bar Association, and one will be an expert on religious law appointed by the justice minister.

No females are sitting on the current selection committee, which is in place to select the next group of judges. They include Israel’s two chief rabbis, two Rabbinical Supreme Court judges, a government-appointed minister, two members of Knesset and two members of the bar association