16 October 2006
A new national religious Jewish court has been launched in France, French chief rabbi Joseph Sitruk announced last week. The new court, called the United Beth-Din of France, will rule on financial and religious disputes under the auspices of the French Consistoire. It will gather existing regional tribunals from cities including Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Strasbourg and Metz, which will refer to it on various matters. According to Sitruk, who intends to preside it, the new court will be the supreme religious body in France and will handle cases in appeal once they've been debated in regional religious courts.
When Sitruk first announced his intention to create a national court on October 2005 the idea raised worries and critics on several grounds. A national religious court could take control of the kashrut business, which is lucrative and vital for the Paris Consistoire. Losing the food market would be dramatic for the capital's Consistoire. The creation of a national court also raised other questions from secular Jews and gentiles who worried over the growing influence of religious institutions. " A rabbinical court cannot substitute French secular courts" insisted the Jewish umbrella group CRIF in a press release on 29 November 2005.
However, CRIF said it understood that a national religious court "could rule on religious affairs and mediate on other matters". Sitruk addressed both concerns in his new draft presented in an interview to Jewish newspaper "Actualit
