Rabbi Karim and Rabbi Peretz
Rabbi Karim and Rabbi PeretzPhoto by Diana Hananshvili/Ministery of Defense

Dozens of rabbis from the organization Derech Emuna (The Path of Faith) called on the Supreme Court to not intervene in the appointment of the chief military rabbi. They also called on Rabbi Karim not to apologize for the halachic responses that he made a number of years ago.

“We want to support Rabbi Eyal Karim, who is under attack by those who seek to weaken the Jewish identity of the IDF as part of their general campaign against the Jewishness of the state. We support the remarks of Chief Rabbi, Yitzhak Yosef, in support of freedom for God’s Torah and it’s teaching.”

They state that “it is forbidden for a rabbi to retract a halachic ruling or an interpretation of Torah because of external pressure. The Torah is taught based on the Talmud and the chain of halachic authority and requires study of the sources and previous halachic rulings.”

“Any external attempt to determine Halacha or control how the Torah is understood should be rejected by all of Israel’s rabbis from all sectors. The Torah is eternal and Godly, and does not operate under the influence of external forces who are not concerned with its well-being.”

“We call on the courts of the country to refrain from damaging the Jewish character of the state and not to stand in opposition to Israel’s chain of tradition, which is the one element that truly unites us as one nation – past, present, and future.”