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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: March 31, 2005 |
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Israel's Supreme Court agreed Thursday to recognize non-Orthodox conversions to Judaism performed partially in Israel, giving a limited victory to the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements, which had been marginalized by the religious establishment here.
Orthodox religious leaders slammed the ruling, saying it would cause an irreparable split in the Jewish nation.
Under current practice, Israel recognizes only conversions performed by Orthodox rabbis inside Israel, although people converted by non-Orthodox rabbis outside the country are eligible for citizenship under Israel's "Law of Return."
The court ruled on a case brought in 1999 by 17 foreigners who studied for Reform or Conservative conversions in Israel, but had the ceremonies performed abroad in an attempt to get around the limitations in so-called "bypass conversion." Israeli authorities objected to their conversions, saying the Law of Return does not apply to foreigners already living in Israel.
The ruling Thursday accepted the conversions, granting legal recognition to the bypass conversions. The court did not rule on whether those who complete their conversions in Israel, under Reform or Conservative supervision, would be recognized as Jews.
Rabbi Ehud Bandel, president of the Masorti, or Conservative, movement in Israel, had hoped the court would give blanket recognition to all non-Orthodox conversions performed in Israel, though none of the petitioners had actually converted in Israel.
"It's a partial victory," he said.
The petitioners, however, were thrilled with the decisions and said the court had seriously eroded the Orthodox monopoly on conversions.
"This is a great ruling. On one hand, all the petitioners received the status of new immigrants, a status they have been waiting for over more than 8 years," Nicole Maor, a lawyer for the petitioners, told Israel Radio. "While this is limited to overseas conversions, the court ruled emphatically that the government could not create a monopoly on conversions here. If the they want a monopoly for Orthodox conversions, they have to legislate it."
The conversion battle cuts to the heart of the identity of the Jewish state and was being watched by Jews outside Israel, where the Reform and Conservative movements are more widely accepted than they are here.
The Reform and Conservative leaders said a ruling in their favor would provide an important stamp of approval for their movements.
The Reform and Conservative movements are the two largest streams of Judaism in the United States, but they have been largely sidelined in Israel. The dominant Orthodox establishment has a virtual monopoly over issues as marriages, divorces, and burials, as well as sizable budgets from the government for schools and other programs.
The ruling did not affect those roles, looking only at the right of converts to obtain Israeli citizenship.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders condemned the court's decision.
"This is one of the hardest mornings in the history of the Jewish people," Eli Yishai, leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, told Israel Radio. "This is disaster, ruination for the Jewish people."
Rabbi Yonah Metzger, one of Israel's two chief rabbis, said the ruling ushered in a dangerous erosion of Orthodox control.
"If the court were to recognize Reform conversions, it would be very serious. It would split the nation in two," he told Israel Radio.
John Agudelo, a petitioner who came from Colombia and converted in Argentina in 1997, was thrilled at the ruling.
"Justice has been served," he said.
Orthodox rabbis said the other movements' conversion processes simply don't meet Orthodox standards, and politicians have warned that thousands of foreign laborers in the country might undergo lax conversions just to qualify for citizenship and other social benefits.
Interior Minister Ophir Paz-Pines praised the decision and told Army Radio he intends to implement it as soon as possible, "We are going to implement the decision in a crystal clear way. I think that [the decision] gives an answer to many people who are living among us and are forced to go through a very tough journey, exhausting and tiring, that causes many to lose hope."
Conversions have long been a sensitive issue in Israel. In the late 1990s, then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu established a committee that proposed setting up a joint conversion institute in which Reform, Conservative and Orthodox rabbis would participate, although the actual conversions would be conducted by Orthodox rabbis. However, the chief rabbinate refused to take part in the institute.
Anat Hoffman, executive director of the Reform Movement's Israel Religious Action Center, said she had mixed feelings about the decision since people will still have to leave the country to be converted, leaving it as an option for only the wealthy.
"That saddens me," she said. |
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