|
|
 |
|
HIGH COURT APPROVES CONVERSIONS DONE ABROAD
by Dan Izenberg, Jerusalem Post, March 31, 2005
|
Yosi Ben Moshe hugs his
partner Justina Chipana
Castro. Justina was born
in Peru, started her
conversion to Judaism
in Argentina and came
to Israel in 1983.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski
|
The High Court of Justice on Thursday approved the conversions in Reform and Conservative ceremonies conducted abroad for fifteen non-Israeli residents who asked to be recognized as Jews in accordance with the Law of Return.
However, the court did not address the final question of whether non-Jews who convert in Reform or Conservative ceremonies inside Israel should be considered Jewish.
The court ruled in favor of the petition in a 7-4 decision. The majority of the justices wrote that despite the establishment of the Ne'eman Committee to find a compromise solution between the Orthodox and the Reform and Conservative streams there has still been no formal resolution of the problem and the court cannot rule in accordance with the recommendations of the committee that were never signed.
In order for the court to adopt the recommendations of the Ne'eman Committee, the Knesset must first pass them into law.
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, in an interview with Israel Radio, said it would be hard to recognize Jews who became Jews "overnight."
He compared those who come from abroad with a conversion possibly obtained in a day with someone who comes back with a bogus medical degree from abroad.
Metzger also oppposed recognizing full Reform and Conservative conversions conducted inside Israel.
The petition, submitted by the Israel Religious Action Center and the World Union of Progressive Judaism, is the last of a long series of actions meant to break the state-sanctioned monopoly of the Chief Rabbinate to authorize conversions to Judaism and to force the state to recognize conversions conducted by Reform and Conservative rabbis in Israel.
In 1989, the High Court of Justice ruled that the Interior Ministry must register as a new immigrant in accordance with the Law of Return any foreigner who came to live in Israel after converting to Judaism abroad, whether the conversion was conducted by an Orthodox, Conservative or Reform rabbi.
Six years later, the court rejected the state's argument that according to a British Mandatory law, the Chief Rabbinate had sole authority over conversions. The decision was handed down in response to a request by a Brazilian woman living in Israel who had converted in Israel in a Reform ceremony and wanted to be classified as Jewish in the Population Registry (she was already an Israeli citizen by marriage.)
The court did not order the Interior Ministry to register the woman as a Jew, but indicated that according to the Law of Return, it would have to do so in the future unless the Knesset passed a new law.
In order to avert a coalition crisis with the haredi parties, the government prepared a bill declaring that the Chief Rabbinate had sole authority to recognize conversions. But the bill angered the Reform and Conservative communities abroad and their leaders threatened to severe their ties with Israel if it were approved.
In order to avoid a political crisis in Israel or a rift with the Diaspora, the government decided to establish a committee headed by Ya'acov Ne'eman to seek a compromise between the Orthodox and the Reform and Conservative streams. The committee failed to reach an agreement, although it produced an unsigned decision that was approved by the Knesset.
In the meantime, the Reform and Conservative movements continued to go to the courts to press for more gains. These actions included a demand by the Conservative movement to recognize their conversions of non-Jewish babies from abroad who were adopted by Israeli families, and a request from Israeli residents and citizens, who had been converted in Reform and Conservative ceremonies, to have their status changed to Jewish in the Population Registry.
The petition, submitted by the Israel Religious Action Center and the World Union of Progressive Judaism, is the last of a long series of actions meant to break the state-sanctioned monopoly of the Chief Rabbinate to authorize conversions to Judaism and to force the state to recognize conversions conducted by Reform and Conservative rabbis in Israel.
In 1989, the High Court of Justice ruled that the Interior Ministry must register as a new immigrant in accordance with the Law of Return any foreigner who came to live in Israel after converting to Judaism abroad, whether the conversion was conducted by an Orthodox, Conservative or Reform rabbi.
Six years later, the court rejected the state's argument that according to a British Mandatory law, the Chief Rabbinate had sole authority over conversions. The decision was handed down in response to a request by a Brazilian woman living in Israel who had converted in Israel in a Reform ceremony and wanted to be classified as Jewish in the Population Registry (she was already an Israeli citizen by marriage.)
The court did not order the Interior Ministry to register the woman as a Jew, but indicated that according to the Law of Return, it would have to do so in the future unless the Knesset passed a new law.
In order to avert a coalition crisis with the haredi parties, the government prepared a bill declaring that the Chief Rabbinate had sole authority to recognize conversions. But the bill angered the Reform and Conservative communities abroad and their leaders threatened to severe their ties with Israel if it were approved.
In order to avoid a political crisis in Israel or a rift with the Diaspora, the government decided to establish a committee headed by Ya'acov Ne'eman to seek a compromise between the Orthodox and the Reform and Conservative streams. The committee failed to reach an agreement, although it produced an unsigned decision that was approved by the Knesset.
In the meantime, the Reform and Conservative movements continued to go to the courts to press for more gains. These actions included a demand by the Conservative movement to recognize their conversions of non-Jewish babies from abroad who were adopted by Israeli families, and a request from Israeli residents and citizens, who had been converted in Reform and Conservative ceremonies, to have their status changed to Jewish in the Population Registry.
These proceedings were suspended during the deliberations of the Ne'eman Committee. But in 2000, after being convinced that there was no more hope for a compromise or for the Knesset to pass a new law, the High Court resumed its deliberations and appointed a panel of 11 justices to decide the cases.
The court split the cases into two categories, dealing first with those of the Israeli citizens or residents who had been converted in non-Orthodox ceremonies (including the adopted babies) and wanted to be registered as Jews in the Population Registry. On February 19, 2002, the court ordered the Interior Ministry to register the petitioners as Jewish.
In an interim ruling handed down on May 31, 2004, the court rejected the state's argument that no foreigner who converted to Judaism while living in Israel, whether the conversion was Orthodox, Conservative or Reform, should be eligible for citizenship according to the Law of Return..
|
|
|
