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The status quo letter (Hebrew: מכתב הסטטוס קוו), also known as the status quo document (Hebrew: מסמך הסטטוט קוו) or the Status Quo Agreement, was a letter sent in 1947 by David Ben Gurion, then head of the Jewish Agency, to Agudat Israel in which the 'status quo was set for the relationship between religion and state in the emerging Jewish state, Israel.

The letter was sent due to fears that Agudat Israel would oppose the establishment of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel in its testimony before the UNSCOP, the UN Commission which ultimately recommended the partition of Palestine (For details see: Religious anti-Zionism). The letter indicated that the state soon to be established would guarantee freedom of conscience for all citizens and would not be a theocracy. It did not contain any information regarding a constitution for the state, but outlined the position of the Jewish Agency on the four issues related to religion and state:

• Sabbath - The Sabbath would be the weekly day of rest.
• Kashrut - All government offices would abide by the laws of Kashrut.
• Family law - Maintaining a single legal framework for matters of marriage and divorce.
• Education - Full autonomy for all streams of education, while establishing a minimum mandatory study period for subjects such as Hebrew, History and the Sciences.

The letter was signed on the 19th of July by Ben-Gurion, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Fishman and Rabbi Yitzhak Greenboim, which were, at the time, members of the Jewish Agency leadership.

[edit] Consequences of the Letter

The letter had numerous political and legal ramifications for the State of Israel. On the legal plane:

• The Hours of Work and Rest Law was legislated with defined the Sabbath as the weekly day of rest for the Jews.
• It was decided that all kitchens in government offices, the Israeli Defense Force, and other state institutions, would abide by the laws of Kashrut.
• The Rabbinical Courts Judgment Law was legislated, granting the Rabbinical courts a complete monopoly on defining the personal and marital status of Jews. No parallel institutions were created for those whom the Rabbinical Courts could not cater to (such as marriage between a Jew and non-Jew, or marriage between a non-religious couple).
• The Independent Education of the Ashkenazi Haredi parties was allowed to retain its autonomy even after the abolishment of the streams system in education in 1953. The demand for a minimum mandatory study periods for general education in the Haredi education system was never enforced.

On the political plane, the letter led to Agudat Israel joining the coalition, supporting the establishment of the state, and taking part in its first few governments. In September 1952 Agudat Israel left the government due to the introduction of Uniform Education, drafting of women to the Israeli Defense Force, and other issues. It did not return to the coallition until Menachem Begin's rise to power in 1977.

Although the letter dealt with only a few issues and bears no legal significance in itself, it was widely understood as an informal agreement on all issues pertaining to the relationship between religion and state. New laws which were legislated and changed the relationship between the two were attacked as "a violation of the status quo" by the negatively affected side.