Fall Out From the Conversion Bill Reaches Houston

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A bill before the Israeli Knesset that would give full authority for conversions to the Chief Rabbinate is causing a huge controversy in Israel and in the United States.

The Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee approved 5-4 on first reading to plenum on July 12 a bill that would give the Israeli Orthodox rabbinate a monopoly on conversions to Judaism. The bill must go before second and third readings before being brought to a vote in the Knesset and can be revised during the process.

Under current practice, Israel recognizes only conversions performed by Orthodox rabbis inside Israel. But under the Law of Return, people converted by non-Orthodox rabbis outside the country are automatically eligible for Israeli citizenship like other Jews. The proposed legislation would give Israel's chief rabbinate the legal power to decide whether any conversion outside Israel is legitimate.
The groups most likely to affects would be about a half-million immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union and those who converted to Judaism abroad and could now be denied Israeli citizenship.

The bill, supported by various religious and right wing parties, would essentially give the Israeli Orthodox rabbinate the power to decide who is Jewish and who is not. At the same time, it would de-legitimize non-Orthodox rabbis outside Israel. Opponents of the bill say passage of the bill would defeat efforts to promote a more flexible and Halakhic conversion process and would marginalize the non-Orthodox Jewish movements.

The bill has set off a storm in and outside Israel.

“I understand the concern of the Conservative and Reform Movement,” said Rabbi Barry Gelman. “From the perspective of Israel, it is already a fact that the rabbinate controls conversions in Israel. They also have retroactively nullified conversions. They have already been notoriously well-known for deciding which conversions are good and which are not good—that is, not acceptable according to Halakhah.”

Rabbi Barry Gelman is Senior Rabbi of United Orthodox Synagogues and President of the International Rabbinic Fellowship, a worldwide organization of rabbis founded to promote Modern Orthodoxy, serious study of Torah and Halakhah, and to advocate policies and implement actions on behalf of World Jewry and humankind.

“The key here, which is why I’m not so concerned yet, is what this bill does is turn into law what, in fact, is already being done,” said Rabbi Gelman. “So how much is really being lost in that part of the negotiations? That remains to be seen which is why I’m not ready to stand squarely behind the bill.

“On the plus side, the bill would allow city rabbis in Israel to perform conversions without the need to work with the Chief Rabbinate’s rabbinical courts. That could help in two ways. One, which is significant, is it could help liberalize the conversion standards so that the close to half-million Russian immigrants who are of Jewish stock--if not Halakhicly Jewish--can convert. The new bill is taking an approach to conversion that would not necessarily require complete mitzvah observance.

“Second, the bill will generally offer a more realistic, and in many cases a user-friendly process for everybody.  So there is a lot of plus side.

“The American movements are looking at the bill from the American perspective. There are very few Reform or Conservative conversions done in Israel. This bill could be the answer to the problem that many people in Israel have been complaining about. But because it may call into question some conversions done in Israel, it has caused an uproar.”

Because of the possible upsides to the legislation, Rabbi Gelman explained he was not ready to condemn the bill. He was hopeful that Conservative and Reform movement leaders, who have arrived in Israel on Sunday to lobby the bill’s chief sponsor Israeli Beiteinu MK David Rotem, will find a way to alter the language in a way that is more acceptable to American critics.  

One important question raised by Religious Zionists: does the chief rabbinate understand their responsibility towards making conversion a realistic possibility for these half-million Russian Jews?

And a second question raised by the Conservative and Reform movements in the United States: does this bill disenfranchise the majority of American Jews?

Rabbi Gelman argues there are well-established Halakhic ways to make the conversion process doable for these Russian Jews.

“These are not necessarily methods we would use for individual converts”, he cautions. “But because the issue of these Russian Jews and the future of their children as well as the future of the state is affected, the rabbinate should be exercising nationalist or Religion Zionist Halakhic thinking. They should realize their decision would affect the entire country.

“We have handed the keys to the kingdom to anti-Zionists.

“But there are city rabbis who are Zionist. There are city rabbis who understand what needs to be done in regards to converting these Russian Jews. So that’s why I think the bill has an upside for the state. I understand it has a downside for Reform and Conservative Jews.”

Rabbi of the Greenfield Chapel at Beth Yeshurun Danny Horwitz has been a Conservative pulpit rabbi for 30 years.

He views the conversion bill as a move fraught with political peril.

“Sometimes power politics takes precedence over what’s best for the citizens--in this case, members of the Jewish people,” said Rabbi Horwitz. “The bill is designed to place total control over the definition of Jewish identity in the hands of the Chief Rabbinate, probably the most extreme ultra-Orthodox element in Israel with any power. Not only will this be a problem in terms of recognizing conversions, but in its current form, it could affect the status of people who want to make aliyah. The rabbinate has the desire to maintain control over conversions. But they have also retroactively annulled conversions.

“The bill maintains a certain amount of power and employment within the ultra-Orthodox community. But as we know, the current situation of the ultra-Orthodox community is not sustainable. A majority from the ultra-Orthodox community does not work. So where does their money come from? It must come from the government. They currently have a certain amount of votes in the Knesset. But I also foresee a situation in ten to twenty years where you may reach a point where 50% of the people who are 18 years old won’t serve in the army.”

For Conservative and Reform Jews throughout the world, the bill makes no sense, argues Rabbi Horwitz.

“Given Israel’s need to deal with much more existential problems, it doesn’t make sense that Israel would create this kind of slap in the face to the communities of Jews who have stood behind Israel. That’s part of the reason why (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu came out on Sunday against the bill.

“However, I don’t take it for granted just because he came out against the bill that it may fail.”

Rabbi Horwitz also views the conversion bill as harmful to Modern Orthodox interests.

“In general, modern Orthodox have allowed the status quo in Israel to continue,” he said. “They have hoped they would remain legitimized—that their conversions would remain legitimized by the Chief Rabbinate. Now many of them are having their conversions rejected by the Israeli rabbinate. In my judgment, if they don’t stand up for the rights of those who are being undermined, they will also be squeezed out of the business of conversions.”

What should American Jews do? Rabbi Horwitz suggests U.S. Jews must make a separation between those existential issues and the conversion bill.

“We have to stand with Israel,” he said. “But we also have to be willing to say to Israel: this is not the kind of Israel we want to see. You can’t expect young American Jews to support a people whose thinking is the same ilk as the folks in Teheran. When you have women attacked for carrying a Sefer Torah at the Western Wall, that’s not going to warm the hearts of American Jews. It’s not realistic for Israel to expect that every Jew will give them a pass for this behavior and allow Judaism to be defined by its most extreme elements.

“Ben Gurion said in 1939 when the British created the White Paper: We will fight the Nazis as if there was no White Paper and fight the White Paper as if there were no Nazis.

“I think we ought to fight the enemies of Israel as if we didn’t have this internal problem in Israel. And we ought to deal with the internal problem of freedom of religion in Israel as if she did not have external enemies.”

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