Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar intervened in the political process this week when he tried to scupper a law that would have ensured women get equal parts of a couple's assets in divorce proceedings.
Rabbi Amar personally called up religious Knesset members to try and persuade them not to vote in favour of the new law.
The law, brought by Knesset members Menahem Ben-Sasson (Kadima) and Michael Melchior (Labour), both religious MKs, would have allowed an early division of a couple's assets in cases in of protracted divorce proceedings or domestic violence. This would have replaced the current law which allows husbands to force their wives to agree to a disadvantageous division in return for a get. The ultra-Orthodox Knesset members and the Chief Rabbinate opposed the law on the grounds that it would mean a curtailment of the powers of the rabbinical court.
Rabbi Amar, who is also president of the Grand Rabbinical Court, personally made telephone calls to religious MKs, including those of the National Religious Party - National Union (NRP-NU), trying to dissuade them from supporting the law.