Miriam Naor (Hebrew: מרים נאור) (26 October 1947 – 24 January 2022) was an Israeli judge who was President of the Supreme Court of Israel from January 2015 to October 2017.[1] Naor retired at the end of October 2017 upon reaching the mandatory judicial retirement age of 70.[2] She was succeeded by Esther Hayut.[3]

Miriam Naor
President of the Supreme Court of Israel
In office
2015–2017
DeputyElyakim Rubinstein (2015–17)
Salim Joubran (2017)
Preceded byAsher Grunis
Succeeded byEsther Hayut
Justice of the Supreme Court of Israel
In office
2003–2015
Personal details
Born(1947-10-26)26 October 1947
Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine
Died24 January 2022(2022-01-24) (aged 74)
Jerusalem, Israel
Alma materHebrew University of Jerusalem

Biography edit

Naor was born in Jerusalem. Naor hailed from a family rooted in the Revisionist Zionist tradition. Her father, Naftaly Lerner, emigrated from Odessa to Palestine in 1922 and studied civil engineering at the Technion in Haifa. In 1944, he married her mother Batya (née Karklinsky), who immigrated from Lithuania in 1910. She studied nursing at the Hadassah School of Nursing in Jerusalem.[4]

She graduated from the Hebrew University’s law school in 1971. Her husband, Aryeh Naor, served as Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s cabinet secretary from 1977 to 1982. Her mother-in-law, Esther Raziel-Naor, was a long-serving member of Knesset for Herut (the precursor to Likud) — from 1949 to 1973 and the sister of David Raziel. Her son Naftali — whose godfather was Menachem Begin — ran unsuccessfully in Likud primaries.

Naor died on 24 January 2022, at the age of 74.[5]

Legal and judicial career edit

 
Swearing-in ceremony as Chief Justice, 2015
 
Miriam Naor with husband Arie, 2017

Naor clerked for Supreme Court justice (later Chief Justice) Moshe Landau. She worked on constitutional issues in the State Attorney’s Office under Mishael Cheshin, who would later be appointed Deputy Chief Justice.

In 1980 she won her first judicial appointment to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court. In May 1989, Naor was appointed to the Jerusalem District Court.[6] Later in the 1990s, she served as one of the judges who eventually convicted Shas chairman Aryeh Deri on bribery charges. She became a permanent justice on the Supreme Court in 2003.

Naor spent 38 years on the bench, 17 of them on the Supreme Court. Her final act was ratifying the verdict allowing Tel Aviv supermarkets and recreation centers to remain open on Shabbat.[7]

In October 2018 she was appointed President of the Zionist Supreme Court of the World Zionist Organization.[8]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Miriam Naor officially appointed Israel's 11th Supreme Court President". The Jerusalem Post. 15 January 2015.
  2. ^ "Israel swears in new chief justice Miriam Naor". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  3. ^ Esther Hayut chosen as Israel's new Supreme Court chief justice
  4. ^ The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women
  5. ^ Maanit, Chen (24 January 2022). "Former Israeli Supreme Court President Miriam Naor Dies at 74". Haaretz.
  6. ^ Karpel, Dalia (17 January 2015). "Miriam Naor, New President of the Israel's Supreme Court, Is a Woman With a Mission". Haaretz.
  7. ^ Naor bids tearful farewell to Supreme Court
  8. ^ "השופטת מרים נאור - נשיאת בית הדין הציוני". www.wzo.org.il. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
Legal offices
Preceded by Chairman of the Central Elections Committee
2011–2012
Succeeded by