President Reuven Rivlin spoke today, Monday 15 October / 6 Cheshvan, at a swearing-in ceremony at the President’s Residence for judges of the regional rabbinical courts. 24 judges were sworn in at the ceremony before the president of the higher rabbinical court, Chief Rabbi David Lau, Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, minister of justice Ayelet Shaked and minister of national infrastructures, energy and water, Yuval Steinitz, who heads the judicial appointments committee.
President Rivlin presented the judges with their letters of appointment, shook their hands and then spoke.
In his remarks, the president emphasized the important role of the judges: “Dear judges, your role is to render true judgement, fairly and according to halacha (Jewish law). This is no easy task, but there is an additional requirement that is even more demanding – that your judgments do not desecrate either God or man. It is not enough that your judgment be correct, it must also sanctify the Lord. This makes the responsibility on you even greater, and even more perilous. With such a weight of responsibility, the price of failure is also likely to be higher. In every ruling, desecration and sanctification are in the balance. Your responsibility and your duty is to judge fairly and to be free of any influence. Justice must be done and be seen to be done, as lawyers say.”