From The Jerusalem Post:

With a vision in their hearts of an Israeli state run in accordance with Jewish legal tradition, a group of leading religious Zionist rabbis and experts in Jewish law met in Jerusalem Tuesday evening for the official launch of a chain of rabbinic courts that aspires to replace the civil court system.

Now I'm all for using beis din to adjudicate Jewish legal disputes, after all, this is what the Divine Law requires. However, "religious Zionist" rabbis? I'm so hoping that the group of Torah scholars who came up with this wasn't that monolithic.

Gazit men (women cannot be rabbinic judges) aspire to reach all walks of Israeli society. These rabbis and Jewish legal experts want Israelis - religious and secular, male and female, Jewish and gentile - to settle their monetary disputes and torts the Jewish way. Turning to civil courts, they say, shows a lack of Jewish pride...."It is a shame that a nation with such a rich legal tradition turns to English law and Ottoman law instead looking to its own profound culture," said Be'eri in a telephone interview before the conference.

Be'eri agreed that Gazit was part of a much larger cultural war being waged by religious Israelis to strengthen the state's Jewish character.

A larger "cultural war"? Stay tuned for that. But regardless, finally there is another Torah alternative to the secular courts in Israel. Baruch Hashem v'ken yirbu.