c. 1997 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ U.S. Conservative and Reform Jewish leaders _ angered by the Israeli parliament’s preliminary OK of a bill giving Orthodox rabbis legal power over conversions to Judaism _ have threatened to boycott visits by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he supports final passage of the measure.

The boycott threat came in a statement issued Wednesday (April 2) by 10 leading Conservative and Reform institutions, which denounced Tuesday’s vote by the Israeli Knesset (parliament).

The statement urged the 1,800 Conservative and Reform synagogues in North America not to welcome as guests those members of the Knesset _ which includes the prime minister _ who support the final bill. The statement also urged a boycott of all Jewish community events attended by Netanyahu or other Knesset supporters of the final bill.”We adopt this policy with great regret,”said the statement, signed by virtually every Conservative and Reform rabbinic, congregational, educational and other institution connected to the two movements.”However, we cannot in good conscience include among our honored guests those who choose to exclude us from the religious community of our people.” Ironically, Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with Reform leaders during a visit to Washington Monday (April 7) to discuss the deteriorating Middle East peace process with President Clinton. The prime minister refused to be photographed with Conservative and Reform representatives when he met with them during his last visit to the United States a few weeks ago.

The conversion bill _ which has precipitated a growing and vociferous rift between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews worldwide _ would enshrine in law Israel’s practice of denying state recognition to Conservative and Reform conversions.

Although the bill would not affect conversions done outside Israel, U.S. Conservative and Reform leaders regard the measure as a deep insult and a rejection of their more liberal brands of Jewish observance.

Netanyahu’s support of the bill has outraged the non-Orthodox leaders, who have called for financial and other pressures to get the prime minister to change his position. Netanyahu, who is not Orthodox, has backed the bill to satisfy Orthodox religious parties that belong to his ruling coalition.

While accounting for the majority of the 5.8 million Jews in the United States, the Conservative and Reform movements are small in Israel, where more than half the Jewish population is considered secular and the rest is, to varying degrees, Orthodox.

Following its preliminary approval, the conversion measure was sent to a Knesset committee for further action. Two more votes by the full Knesset are required for final approval, a process that could take months.

However, reports from Israel have said a compromise on the measure may be in the works _ although Wednesday’s Conservative and Reform statement pointedly rejected”any compromise that will affirm the Orthodox stranglehold over conversions in Israel.” The reports say the compromise would result in the bill languishing indefinitely in committee in return for Conservative and Reform leaders ending attempts to use Israeli courts to gain equal legal status in the Jewish state with Orthodoxy.

Emily Grotta, a spokeswoman for Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, said Thursday the Reform leader would be open to a compromise.

But she added any compromise would have to alter the Israeli status quo giving Orthodox rabbis defacto _ if not legal _ power over conversions and other aspects of Jewish religious life.

In an interview, Rabbi Joel Meyers, executive vice president of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, suggested a compromise in which individual conversions in Israel would follow the same procedure regardless of whether the supervising rabbis was Orthodox, Conservative or Reform. Current conversion practices vary according to movement.

However, a compromise of that sort would be problematic for Orthodox leaders because it would imply their recognition of Conservative and Reform rabbis _ something they are loath to do.

Just this week, the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, an organization of right-wing American Orthodox rabbis, issued a non-binding religious ruling saying, in effect, that the teachings of the Conservative and Reform movements constitute a faith distinct from Judaism.

MJP END RNS