c. 1998 Religion News Service

JERUSALEM _ Controversial legislation granting Israel’s Orthodox leadership exclusive say over determining”who is a Jew”has resurfaced again in Israel’s parliament and could be approved in the coming weeks, liberal Jewish leaders are warning.

On Monday (Dec. 28) Orthodox members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, gained preliminary approval for a bill that would bypass recent court rulings backing non-Orthodox representation on local religious councils.

The councils have exclusive jurisdiction over marriage, burial and other areas of daily Jewish life. The vote was 51-46, with two abstentions. Two additional votes are required for the bill’s final approval.

However, Monday’s vote was seen as a”trial balloon”for even more controversial legislation that would cement into a law Israel’s de facto Orthodox monopoly over conversions to Judaism _ the so-called”who is a Jew?”bill.

In response, leaders of Israel’s fledgling Reform and Conservative movements have urged non-Orthodox Jews in the United States and elsewhere outside Israel to flood Israeli embassies, government offices and politicians with protests. Although few Israeli Jews identify with Reform and Conservative Judaism, the two movements predominate in the Jewish diaspora, where they have considerable influence in community affairs.”We’re telling people to write letters, to bomb embassies and consulates abroad with faxes and with e-mails, to warn of the terrible things that will happen”if the Knesset give final approval to the Orthodox-backed bills, said Rabbi Ehud Bandel, president of Israel’s Masorti (Conservative) Movement.

Conservative and Reform leaders see the controversy as an issue of religious pluralism and respect for their movements, even though the proposed Israeli laws would have no direct impact on Jews living elsewhere. Orthodox leaders view it as a matter of protecting traditional Judaism from liberal influences they see as violating Jewish law.

Bandel said he believes Orthodox politicians will try to push their bills through the Knesset before the nation’s general election scheduled for May 17, when Israelis will vote for a new prime minister.

An expected Supreme Court hearing Feb. 23 on an appeal by non-Orthodox converts seeking state recognition as Jews also has put pressure on the religious parties to act now, he said.

But Knesset member Alex Lubotzky, who has pushed for a compromise on the divisive issue, said that Knesset action, as well as the final court decision, are likely to be delayed until well after the May election date.”I don’t think the Knesset will deal with such a meaningful issue (before the election) _ they’ll only deal with urgent things,”said Lubotzky.

He also said he is still pressing the lame-duck government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu government to move ahead quickly on the creation of a proposed conversion institute. The institute proposal calls for Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jewish religious leaders to jointly prepare candidates for conversion _ a notion already rejected by the Orthodox leadership.

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An initial version of the proposed”who is a Jew?”legislation preliminarily passed the Knesset in April 1997. The proposed bill sought to grant Israel’s chief rabbinate, a state-supported body composed exclusively of Orthodox rabbis, hegemony over decisions on conversions to Judaism in Israel.

A much-trumpeted government commission later sought a compromise _ now being pushed by Lubotzky _ whereby Israel’s chief rabbis would cooperate with Reform and Conservative leaders in the creation of a joint”conversion institute”for prospective converts. The actual conversions, however, would be performed by the Orthodox leadership.

The compromise stalled and liberal Jewish leaders renewed their efforts to gain state recognition through the courts after Israel’s two Orthodox chief rabbis said that they would not work with non-Orthodox leaders. An amended version of the commission’s original recommendation, however, was later included in the proposed conversion legislation likely to come before the Knesset in the coming weeks.

As it stands now, the proposed law would still preserve the hegemony of the Orthodox rabbis over the actual conversion process, while authorizing the involvement of Reform and Conservative rabbis in the preparatory institute _ despite the chief rabbis’ objections.

Lubotzky said he believed the plan might still work if both liberal and Orthodox groups give it time to function.”The creation of the joint conversion institute is proceeding very smoothly. They have agreed on a curriculum and are almost ready to accept the first candidates,”said Lubotzky.

While the state-supported chief rabbis won’t work with the institute directly, other Orthodox leaders have come forward to participate, he added.”Conservative and Reform groups have to give this process a chance,”said Lubotzky, a centrist Orthodox.

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Bandel, however, said liberal Jewish leaders will continue to press their case in Israel’s courts as long as official rabbinical recognition of their movements is not forthcoming.”We are skeptical about the creation of this institute,”said Bandel.”And as long as the Orthodox rabbis have officially said that they won’t cooperate with us, we can’t be expected to agree to withdraw our court appeals.” Bandel called Monday’s vote on the religious councils’ bill”a trial balloon for the conversion issue. If it passes quietly, then the Orthodox parties will say, `OK, see nothing happened.'” The religious councils’ bill would require all members of the panels to operate according to the rulings of the Orthodox rabbinate, which Reform and Conservative Jews do not recognize as their religious authorities.

Bandel said the Reform and Conservative leaders object to the bill’s inclusion of a pledge of allegiance to the chief rabbinate, and will continue to demand seats on the councils.”There was never a pope in Judaism,”Bandel said.

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