The Judicial Selection Committee elected Chavi Toker to head the Jerusalem Magistrate Court on Thursday, making her Israel's first-ever female haredi judge.
The nine-member committee, headed by the Justice Minister, is responsible for all judicial appointments in Israel. Aside from the Justice Minister, the committee is composed of an additional cabinet minister, two MKs, including one from the opposition, two Bar Association representatives, and three Supreme Court justices, including the Chief Justice.
Toker is the daughter of Rabbi Rafael Volf, a well-known Bnei Brak-based public figure who was considered to be the right-hand man of Rabbi Menachem Shach, the longtime leader of the Lithuanian haredi world until his death in 2001. She is married to the son of the late Rabbi Nahman Toker, dean of the Hevron Yeshiva in Jerusalem’s Givat Mordechai neighborhood.
Toker grew up in Bnei Brak and attended the haredi Beis Yaakov network schools during her school years. After marrying, she moved to Jerusalem and studied law at Hebrew University. Toker graduated with distinction and worked at the Justice Ministry's Police Investigations Unit, before transferring to the Jerusalem District Attorney's office.Toker is a mother of four and her eldest recently enlisted into the Givati Brigade's haredi Tomer Company.
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked had promised in January that she would nominate the first haredi female justice, telling the haredi Kikar Hashabbat newspaper that she viewed the appointment as one of her highest priorities.
Toker will be the first haredi woman to serve as judge in Israel, but not the first female haredi judge in the world. In December 2016, Rachel Freier became the first female haredi judge to serve in the US.