Battle in Israel over who will be a "Jew"
Knesset to debate verdict on non-Orthodox conversions

By Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/
Fri., April 01, 2005 Adar2 21, 5765

The Knesset will hold a special session next Wednesday, during its recess, to debate Thursday's controversial High Court of Justice ruling allowing some non-Orthodox conversions (see article below), Israel Radio reported Thursday.

The ultra-Orthodox Shas party collected the signatures of 25 MKs so the session could be held. Party chairman Eli Yishai, one of several Orthodox leaders who condemned the verdict Thursday, branded the ruling an "explosives belt that has brought about a suicide attack against the Jewish people."

Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar said parents who want to make sure their children don't marry people who are not considered Jewish by Orthodox standards will have to create their own lists of families that are "not suspected of intermarriage."

In the decision, the culmination of six years of judicial debate, the court ordered the state to recognize "leaping conversions," non-Orthodox conversions in which the study process was conducted in Israel but was finalized overseas. Such individuals will be considered Jews according to the Law of Return.

Leftist and secular-centrist politicians hailed the decision. Shinui MK Etti Livni called it "a historic breakthough," adding that Reform Judaism would now cease to be a stepchild of the Jewish people. Leftist Yahad leader Yossi Beilin said the ruling would "finally break the Orthodox monopoly over conversion."

But Orthodox politicians were seething in denunciation. MK Effi Eitam (Religious Zionism) said the ruling represented "a hostile takeover of the nation by means of an extremist, marginal worldview."

"This is the most difficult day in the history of Israel," Shas chief Yishai said in response to the ruling. "This is disaster, this is destruction and it will lead to a rift in the nation. There will be no escape and the great [sages] will meet and will decide on the matter and will decide on genealogy books.

"Their ruling says there will be no more Jewish people and it is thus our obligation to sit with the great Torah sages and see how we will be able to act to defend the Jewish people."

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger said "it is hard for us to recognize those who turned into Jews in a leap, just as it is difficult to recognize a doctor who became a doctor in just one day."

Metzger, speaking on Israel Radio, mused that the next stage may be conversion by fax.

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Court orders change in status of non-Orthodox conversions

By Yuval Yoaz and Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent
http://www.haaretz.com/
Fri., April 01, 2005 Adar2 21, 5765

In a ruling which drew harsh criticism from Orthodox leaders and may have far-reaching implications, the High Court of Justice on Thursday morning ordered the state to recognize "leaping conversions," non-Orthodox conversions in which the study process was conducted in Israel but was finalized overseas. Such individuals will be considered Jews according to the Law of Return.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak headed the 11-judge panel that issued the ruling backed by a majority of seven to four.

Judges Barak, Eliahu Mazza, Mishael Cheshin, Dorit Beinisch, Eliezer Rivlin, Miriam Naor and Esther Hayut ruled that "due to the nature and importance of conversion, it must be ensured that it is conducted in an accepted fashion in a recognized Jewish community according to the standards and traditions of that community to which the individual wishes to join. This, in an effort to prevent the negative exploitation of the right to immigrate to Israel."

Barak ruled that an individual must not be obliged to join the community in which he or she converted. The fact that a convert returns to Israel rather than joining the community in which he or she converted does not revoke the convert's recognition by the Law of Return, the ruling said.

The majority ruling also said there is room for public supervision of a converts in Israel relating to the Law of Return.

The minority opinion said there must be tight state supervision of the conversion process and was of the opinion that "leaping conversions" not be recognized.

Ruling after six years

The High Court has been debating the petition on the matter for six years, during which the Interior Ministry has changed its position on the matter several times.

In 1999, the High Court issued a precedent-setting decision, enabling converts to register as Jews on their identity cards and in the population register. The ruling was given in response to a petition filed by the Israel Religious Action Center for 17 tourists and foreign workers living as temporary residents in Israel for several years, who sought to convert to Judaism.

Notwithstanding the ruling, the only conversion fully recognized by the state up until now is the Orthodox one, conducted under the Rabbinate's supervision.

This means that only a person who underwent an Orthodox conversion in Israel was eligible for an Israeli citizenship and the status of a new immigrant under the Law of Return.

This situation changed dramatically when the High Court accepted the petition filed by the Religious Action Center. Sources at the center say however that the ruling may have repercussions beyond the recognition of non-Orthodox conversions in the context of the Law of Return.

Before the ruling was announced, attorney Gilad Kariv said that if the court orders the state to recognize non-Orthodox conversion, it would shake up the state's conversion system. "The state would have to treat all conversion courses equally and would not be able to continue giving preference to the Orthodox one," he said.

In this case, the Reform Movement would demand a proportionate share of the state funding for its conversion system, including wages for ulpan teachers and other personnel and information activities.

The petitioners in 1999 studied for their conversion in Israel, but the process itself was conducted in several Jewish communities overseas, some of which were Reform and some Conservative.

The court ruling constituted a landmark change in the concept of "aliyah" - from the physical act of moving to Israel to the theoretical act of joining the Jewish people.

"There is no importance to the question of when an individual who has settled in Israel becomes a Jew, whether prior to or after his arrival in Israel," Barak wrote.

In May 2004, the judges issued an interim ruling stipulating that the Law of Return would apply to those who convert to Judaism after they move to Israel. This ruling applies if the conversion is conducted in Israel and also if the concerned individual undergoes a conversion in a Diaspora Jewish community after he or she is already living in Israel.

Recognition under the Law of Return solves the dilemma of registration by the Interior Ministry. The ministry's population registrar automatically grants citizenship and a package of benefits to Jewish immigrants.

Nevertheless, the interim ruling did not indicate whether such recognition would be granted to non-Orthodox conversions conducted in Israel.

A number of interior ministers have come and gone during the court's deliberations over the petition and the state's official position on the matter has likewise evolved over the years. The High Court therefore asked the state for an update on its position.

The state, which submitted its updated position statement in November 2004 when Avraham Poraz was interior minister, still refused to recognize Conservative and Reform conversions conducted in Israel. This meant that concerned individuals are not granted rights under the Law of Return. According to the state's position, the only conversions that may be recognized by the state are those conducted by the Orthodox Conversion Court.

Nevertheless, the prosecutor announced that then-interior minister Poraz objected to this position.
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