NEWS STORY: Netanyahu to back legislation barring non-Orthodox conversions

c. 1998 Religion News Service JERUSALEM _ Reversing his previous stand, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to press for legislation to bar state recognition of non-Orthodox conversions to Judaism performed in Israel. The decision has aroused fierce opposition from Conservative and Reform movement leaders, as well as from moderate Israeli parliamentarians who had said […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

JERUSALEM _ Reversing his previous stand, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to press for legislation to bar state recognition of non-Orthodox conversions to Judaism performed in Israel.

The decision has aroused fierce opposition from Conservative and Reform movement leaders, as well as from moderate Israeli parliamentarians who had said earlier they believed the controversial bill, introduced in Israel’s parliament more than a year ago, was effectively dead.”We’ll oppose the attempts to pass the present bill _ even if there is a debate in committee. I believe that there will be no majority to bring it to the floor in this Knesset session,”said Motti Zandberg, a member of the secular-nationalist Tsommet party, which is a member of Netanyahu’s political coalition.


The bill seeks to bar the state from recognizing as Jewish those who undergo conversions performed by Reform and Conservative rabbis rather than Orthodox rabbis.

A government-appointed commission of Conservative, Reform and Orthodox leaders headed by Finance Minister Ya’acov Ne’eman earlier this year had authored a compromise solution, whereby preparation for conversion would be performed jointly by rabbis from all three Jewish religious streams but Israel’s Chief Rabbis, who are Orthodox, vetoed the idea.

The deadlock over the compromise prompted Conservative and Reform leaders to press ahead with Supreme Court appeals designed to challenge the state’s refusal to recognize the non-Orthodox conversions in the judicial system.

Religious parties, meeting with Netanyahu on Wednesday (June 3), then demanded the prime minister work for legislation to explicitly bar state recognition of such conversions so as to avoid a possible court precedent on the issue that might recognize non-Orthodox converts.

Netanyahu agreed and asked for the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee to convene an impromptu meeting to discuss the dormant bill.

However, Netanyahu’s decision stirred fears his governing coalition could be shaken by the deadlock over the conversion issue since several members of the coalition have pledged to vote against a bill granting the Orthodox a monopoly over conversions.”I’ll oppose it and I’ll vote against it (the conversion bill),”said Alex Lubotzky, a moderate religious figure who is a member of Netanyahu’s government and who has led the fight for a compromise on the volatile issue.

In the United States, where feelings on the issue run deep, Reform Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, immediately denounced Netanyahu’s action, saying the prime minister”demonstrates a shocking insensitivity to the religious concerns of the majority of world Jewry.”At this moment of concern over the (Middle East) peace process, and of tensions between the governments of Israel and the United States, it is incomprehensible that Israel’s leadership has initiated legislative action which is certain to cause anger and deep distress among”non-Israeli Jews.


DEA END FLETCHER

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!