"The First Haredi Supreme Court Justice Will Come From Here": A Quiet Revolution in the Ministry of Justice

"From their point of view, the State Attorney's Office was a place located beyond the mountains of darkness," is how Adv. Eyal Adar, a supervisor and head of a team of prosecutors, describes the starting point of the Haredi students who come to the clinic he has been managing for 13 years at the Tel Aviv District Attorney's Office (Civil).

Precisely at a time when relations between the state and Haredi society are at the center of a stormy public controversy, a much quieter process is taking place in parallel: dozens of Haredi students enter the heart of the law enforcement system every year, drafting legislation, questioning witnesses, and representing the State of Israel in courts.

The clinics for Haredi students in the Department of Counseling and Legislation at the Ministry of Justice and in the Civil Attorney's Office in Tel Aviv are part of a unique practicum program, which integrates outstanding students from the Haredi sector directly into the most powerful legal bodies in the country. The students take an active part in drafting laws and writing legal opinions, and a direct entry path to senior positions in the civil service is created for them.

"We opened the clinic out of a desire to open the ranks of counseling and legislation to the Haredi population," explains Dr. Yuval Roitman, head of the regulation cluster in counseling and legislation, who manages the clinic together with Shlomit Bukia. According to him, many of the clinic's graduates continue to internships in counseling and legislation, in the State Attorney's Office, and in government ministries.

The Rabbi approved WhatsApp

Adar illustrates the sense of belonging that the clinic creates: "Every letter, every court document they issue, it is in the name of the State of Israel. I think it lifts them up and creates feedback for us in return that contributes greatly to us as the State Attorney's Office and to society in general."

Not all integration is simple from a technical point of view. Adar recalls a student whose prosecutor asked to correspond with her on WhatsApp — while the student was forbidden to use the application. Her husband turned to the community rabbi, who approved for her, only for the clinic year, to open WhatsApp and communicate with her prosecutor.

Adv. Elchanan Weiss, a prosecutor at the Tel Aviv District Attorney's Office, grew up in Bnei Brak and studied in Haredi yeshivas. Weiss says that familiarity with Haredi society sometimes helps him in conducting legal proceedings. He describes a case on the subject of personal status in which senior figures in Haredi society were involved: "My angle, as someone who comes from within the sector, and the precise questions I knew how to ask, helped the court a lot to reach the just decision."

A sense of exhaustion in the Kollel

Adv. Yaakov Kleinman, a prosecutor in the same State Attorney's Office, was an avrech until the age of 37, when he felt a "sense of exhaustion" and went out to academic studies. "The natural choice was to study law," he explains, "because there is a feeling that the Torah studies you did can contribute to law studies — decoding legal texts, and it helps you in the world of law practice."

Kleinman does not hide his place of work: "I walk around with great pride." According to him, despite disagreements that sometimes exist between Haredi society and the law enforcement system, the attitude towards the profession itself is very positive in the Haredi public.

With pride and anonymously

Not all Haredi prosecutors are willing to tell their story under their full name. Kalanit (a pseudonym), a prosecutor at the Tel Aviv District Attorney's Office, asked to be interviewed anonymously: "I am in the Haredi mainstream, and it can affect acceptance to institutions of family members, so one needs to keep a low profile." However, she encourages her daughters to study and develop.

Yehuda Sapir and Osnat Asulin, two law students who went through the clinic, describe an experience that goes beyond professional experience alone. Asulin sees in the clinic not an attempt to heal the gap between the worlds, but a way to manage it: "The gap exists, and we live here together and want to live here together. One can find the points of balance."

At the end of each cycle, Adv. Adar asks the students to write summary letters. "I strongly believe that from the graduates of this clinic will yet come the first Haredi judge or judge in the Supreme Court — and I think that day is very close," he says.