Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu
Rabbi Shmuel EliyahuCourtesy of his office

More than 150 municipal rabbis and heads of yeshivas have signed a letter in support of Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the Chief Rabbi of the city of Tzfat, following a ruling of the Supreme Court that disciplinary action should be taken against him for statements he has made in the past.

In their letter, the rabbis write: “It is the right and duty of every rabbi to proclaim his Torah-based opinions without fear and without prejudice. This is the way of the Torah; this was the practice of the rabbis of the Jewish People in every generation; this is the practice of the Chief Rabbis of Israel; and this is the manner in which every rabbi should conduct himself.”

The signatories noted that: “Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu has repeatedly called for the strengthening of the Jewish family, the strengthening of the Land of Israel, the prevention of assimilation, and for the Reform movement to be prevented from making further inroads into the Land of Israel. These are all legitimate halakhic positions, and positions with which many Israeli rabbis concur. To prosecute one rabbi is to prosecute the entire Israeli rabbinate,” they conclude.

The rabbis also criticized the Supreme Court for attempting to muzzle the country’s rabbis. “We strongly protest this demand to prosecute Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu for his halakhic Torah statements. Freedom of expression is something that should be accorded to Israel’s rabbis just as it is accorded to any other citizen.”

Among the signatories to the letter are: Rabbi Aryeh Stern, Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem; Rabbi Micha Halevy, Chief Rabbi of Petah Tikva; Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira, head of the Ramat Gan yeshiva; Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, Chief Rabbi of the Samaria Council region; Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, head of the Ateret Kohanim yeshiva in Jerusalem; Rabbi Yechiel Abuhatzeira, Chief Rabbi of Ramla; Rabbi David Druckman, Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Motzkin; Rabbi Eliyahu Bar Shalom, Chief Rabbi of Bat Yam; Rabbi Menachem Perl, head of the Tzomet Institute; and Rabbi Yehuda Amichai, head of the Institute for the Torah and the Land.