Rabbi Yuval Cherlow
Rabbi Yuval CherlowEliran Aharon

Jerusalem Ethics Center Religious and Ethics Director and Amit Yeshiva Orot Shaul Dean Rabbi Yuval Cherlow participated in a conference on the ethics code in academia, which was chaired by Professor Asa Kasher at the request of Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home).

Professor Kasher is currently preparing an ethics code to be implemented in Israeli academic institutions.

"The current ethics code is incorrect and very dangerous," Cherlow said. "I suggest rejecting it completely, both because of the way it was created and because of its contents."

Supporting his statement, Rabbi Cherlow compared academic professors' influence on their students to that of a rabbi in a yeshiva.

"Have we (the rabbis) succeeded in using the power we have, the way the professors have succeeded in doing so?" Rabbi Cherlow asked. "You can make an ethics code in any institution, as long as the person writing it is a member of that institution."

"An ethics code cannot be something handed down from above. The current code is problematic, because it blurs the lines between politics and political topics.

"Our biggest challenge is our ability to prevent professors and rabbis from dangerously abusing their power."