NEWS STORY: Netanyahu spurns Reform, Conservative pleas to oppose conversion law

c. 1997 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a scheduled speech to top leaders of the Reform Jewish movement Monday (April 7) and refused to drop his support of a controversial measure in the Israeli parliament that could cripple non-Orthodox religious Jews in Israel. Netanyahu’s action, the latest in a […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a scheduled speech to top leaders of the Reform Jewish movement Monday (April 7) and refused to drop his support of a controversial measure in the Israeli parliament that could cripple non-Orthodox religious Jews in Israel.

Netanyahu’s action, the latest in a series of incidents that have underscored a deepening rift between non-Orthodox and Orthodox Jews, left the U.S. leaders angered and frustrated.”Reform and Conservative Jews are looking to the prime minister for moral leadership and we hoped he would offer, in a public forum, his plan to avoid a schism between the state of Israel and North American Jews,”said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.


Netanyahu, in the United States for a series of meetings including a session with President Clinton to see if the unraveling Middle East peace process can be stemmed, was scheduled to address the”Consultation on Conscience,”a conference which drew more than 500 rank-and-file leaders of the Reform movement.

Netanyahu said he canceled the conference appearance to meet with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Instead, he met privately for about 45 minutes with a small delegation of Reform and Conservative leaders who pressed him to drop his support of pending legislation that would formalize into law the existing practice of only recognizing conversions performed under the auspices of the Orthodox rabbinate.

If enacted, the law would be a serious blow to Israel’s minority Reform and Conservative denominations, which are seeking legitimacy as religious movements.

Netanyahu, who is not Orthodox, has backed the bill to satisfy Orthodox religious parties that belong to his ruling coalition.

U.S. Reform leaders linked the legislation’s preliminary success _ approval on its first reading in the parliament, or Knesset _ to a March 31 non-binding religious ruling by the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, an organization of right-wing U.S. Orthodox rabbis, that says the teachings of the Conservative and Reform movements constitute a faith distinct from Judaism.”Their (the Union of Orthodox Rabbis) making the statement was the result of a climate that’s been created by Netanyahu and his government that leads to those kinds of anti-Reform and Conservative statements and actions,”said Rabbi Paul Menitoff, executive vice president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the rabbinic arm of the Reform movement.

In a televised news conference Monday (April 7), Netanyahu pointed to the complexity and potential divisiveness of the pluralism issue, saying,”It’s probably easier to make peace with the Palestinians than to resolve this issue.”Somebody should find a way to put the genie back in the bottle,”he added.

At the same time, Netanyahu insisted the legislation would do little than formalize existing practices.


It has been reported that Netanyahu’s government has proposed a deal under which the Reform and Conservative movements would drop pending litigation before the Israeli Supreme Court seeking to recognize conversions performed by non-Orthodox rabbis in return for killing the conversion legislation in the Knesset.”If that litigation is withdrawn, it might be possible to withdraw the legislation,”Netanyahu said.

But U.S. Reform leaders object to the proposal on the grounds it would end any chance for the small but active Reform and Conservative communities to gain religious legitimacy in Israel.

Yoffie called the 45-minute private meeting with Netanyahu”negative.””It’s uncertain at this moment whether or not there is some basis for a solution,”he said.

Another top Reform leader, Rabbi David Saperstein, executive director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, described Netanyahu’s tone as”conciliatory.” Saperstein noted that Netanyahu permitted a photo opportunity with the small group of Reform and Conservative leaders, something he has refused to do in the past because of Orthodox criticism that it lends the movements a certain legitimacy.

But Saperstein, too, was less than optimistic.”Reform and Conservative communities are fighting for their fundamental legitimacy in Israel. They’re not going to easily compromise,”he said.

MJP END LEBOWITZ

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