Ponovezh Yeshiva has submitted a formal request to the Tel Aviv District Court seeking judicial approval of the recent arbitration ruling issued by retired judge Dovid Cheshin. The move sets in motion a 15-day window for Rav Shmuel Markowitz to respond, either consenting to the ruling or filing an objection.
According to last week’s arbitration decision, ownership of the entire Ponovezh Yeshiva was awarded fully to its nosi, Rav Eliezer Kahaneman. The ruling further directs Rav Shmuel Markowitz and the Masores HaTorah Yeshiva to vacate the yeshiva’s hilltop campus by the end of the academic year, in the month of Av. In addition, Rav Markowitz and his yeshiva were ordered to pay 10 million shekels in damages to the Ponovezh corporation owned by Rav Kahaneman.
Today, Ponovezh Yeshiva filed its request for confirmation of the arbitration award through attorneys Ehud Artzi, Ran Feldman, and Rivka Ariel. Under Israel’s Arbitration Law, submitting such a request is a standard legal step intended to grant the ruling the enforceability of a formal court judgment.
Rav Markowitz and Masores HaTorah now have 15 days to respond. Their options include opposing the confirmation, submitting a formal motion to annul the arbitration ruling, or informing the court that they accept it.
The coming two weeks will therefore clarify Rav Shmuel Markowitz’s position and whether he intends to challenge the decision. Legally, courts rarely overturn arbitration awards; annulment is considered an exceptional measure, granted only when a severe and fundamental flaw is demonstrated in the arbitration process.
Don’t bet on it. The secular Israeli courts would do anything to keep machlokes going in the religious sects. I hope I’m wrong.