Former Supreme Court chief justice Miriam Naor passed away on Monday at the age of 74.
The retired jurist first became a permanent member of the Supreme Court in 2003 and went on to serve as head of Israel’s top court from 2015 to 2017 upon reaching the mandatory judicial retirement age of 70.
In recent months, she was heading a state commission of inquiry into the Meron disaster, in which 45 people perished in a crush at the religious festival of Lag B'Omer, in the worst civilian disaster in Israel's history. It was not immediately clear how the panel will move forward, but preliminary reports suggest Supreme Court Chief Esther Hayut would name a replacement in the coming days.
Naor was born in Jerusalem in 1947 and received her law degree from the Hebrew University in the capital.
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.
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Naor visits Mount Meron as part of a state commission of inquiry she headed into a crush on the site that killed 45 people at a religious festival, August 2, 2021
(Photo: Gil Eliyahu)
In 1980 she won her first judicial appointment to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court. Later in the 1990s, she served as one of the judges who eventually convicted Shas chairman Arye Deri on bribery charges.
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.
Prominent politicians and former colleagues grieved the deceased jurist's passing.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in her rulings, Naor was "careful to maintain the required balance between the various values of Israeli society, and strengthened the national and Zionist character of the State of Israel."
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Naor and then-president Reuven Rivlin seen smiling during her swearing-in ceremony as Supreme Court chief justice, January 15, 2015
(Photo: GPO)
President Isaac Herzog said that Justice Naor will "go down in Israeli history as the queen of justice and one of the titans of Israeli jurisprudence — a wise, knowledgeable and sensitive, strong and independent woman who remained modest even as she sat in the highest courts in the land."
Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Naor had "a deep commitment to the State of Israel and the world of law, to which she contributed greatly in her life."
Naor is survived by her husband, Prof. Aryeh Naor, and her sons, Michael and Naftali.