Chief Rabbi Defends Colleague: 'Standing for the Sanctity of Shabbat Is a Basic Public Duty'

Chief Rabbi Kalman Ber sent a sharp letter to the Commissioner for Complaints Against Judges, Asher Kola, following a decision that found a complaint against Rabbi David Yosef justified. Ber defends his colleague and emphasizes that standing for the sanctity of Shabbat is a basic public duty, not a private matter. He reviews a tradition of chief rabbis who warned about preserving Shabbat in the public sphere.

The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Kalman Meir Ber, sent a sharp and reasoned letter to the Commissioner for Complaints Against Judges, retired Judge Asher Kola, following the commission's decision that found a complaint against the Rishon LeZion, Rabbi David Yosef, justified. The complaint was filed after Rabbi Yosef publicly criticized Supreme Court judges for issuing a ruling on Shabbat. In his letter, Rabbi Ber clarifies that the commission itself criticized the judges' conduct in that case, but erred in determining that expressing an opinion on the matter is not within the chief rabbi's responsibility. He emphasizes that Shabbat in the public sphere is not a private matter, but an expression of the state's Jewish identity. Rabbi Ber reviews a long tradition of chief rabbis—Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, Rabbi Yitzchak Herzog, Rabbi Ben-Zion Uziel, and Rabbi Yitzchak Nissim—who stood guard over the sanctity of Shabbat and saw it as a basic public duty. The letter highlights the historical responsibility of the Chief Rabbinate to preserve the Jewish character of the state, even before its establishment.