Attorney Shira Ben-Eli has become the first woman ever appointed to serve as a legal clerk in Israel's rabbinical courts.
Clerks in rabbinical courts serve similar roles to clerks in the secular court system.
Ben-Eli was appointed after a long legal battle by the Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women at Bar-Ilan University and the ITIM nonprofit organization, which helps Israelis navigate the religious establishment, against the rabbinate, which has a monopoly on marriage, divorce, conversion and burial.
The two organizations filed a complaint with the Jerusalem District Labor Court demanding an end to gender discrimination in hiring practices for such positions.
"Despite the importance of the appointment, we must remember that for now, we are talking about a legal clerk, not a Halachah [Jewish law] researcher, and the day is still far off when a woman will serve as a judge in the rabbinical court," said attorney Keren Rackman, director of the Rackman Center's Policy and Legislation Department.
"We are hopeful that this appointment is the first sign of women taking a full role in the rabbinical courts and wish the clerk appointed all possible success in her new position, and we are sure that she will be a blessing for the courts," Rackman said.
Attorney Elad Caplan of ITIM said, "We welcome this important step, which sends a real message to the public who use the courts, and are happy that the fight to have a woman appointed as a clerk to the rabbinical judges has succeeded."
