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EXPOSING ORTHODOX CONVERSION MYTHS
by Reuven Hammer, Jerusalem Post, April 6, 2005
The hysterical reaction of Orthodox spokesmen to the decision of the High Court
concerning conversion was to be expected. Anything that impinges upon the Orthodox
monopoly in Israel is seen by them as a dire threat. Nevertheless would it have
been asking too much to expect that they would register indignation and protest
without resorting to exaggeration and falsification of the facts?
Let me attempt to set the record straight.
Myth: These court affirmed "quickie conversions."
Fact: The conversions under discussion involved a long process of preparation
and reflected a considered decision of rabbinical courts here that the candidates
were acceptable. The comparison that one important rabbi made to "going overseas
for one day, receiving a medical degree there and coming back to practice in Israel"
is so ludicrous that I doubt even he believes it.
All of these people had studied in recognized, well-planned programs of conversion
for at least a year, in many cases much more. They went overseas for a short time
to complete their conversion before a court only because the Interior Ministry
indicated that it would not recognize their conversions if they took place in
Israel, though an identical conversion process performed entirely overseas would
be.
If conversions done here by the rabbinical courts of the Conservative and Reform
Movements were recognized by the state – as the court decision seems to
imply should be the case – there would be no need to send candidates abroad.
Myth: The floodgates have been opened to the mass conversion of foreign workers.
Fact: In all the years I have served as head of the Rabbinical Court for the Masorti
Movement not one "foreign worker" has been converted nor is there the
slightest chance that this will happen in the future.
As a court that respects
itself and adheres to the highest standards of Jewish Law, each candidate is carefully
examined and if there is the slightest suspicion that the candidate wishes to
convert for the purpose of attaining Israeli citizenship or economic gain and
not because of a genuine desire to become a Jew, we will not accept the candidate.
Furthermore, the Interior Ministry has the right to reject any conversion that
was not proper. There is no truth to the allegation that superficial overseas
conversions will be accepted or that any Israeli rabbi can prepare a candidate
and send him or her overseas. There is only one conversion court for the Masorti
Movement in Israel, and the same is true of the Reform Movement.
No individual rabbi or group of rabbis can convert here. Therefore only those
candidates that we accept in our court can become converts and I hope that our
integrity will not be questioned.
Myth: The court, for the first time, is allowing citizenship for non-Orthodox
converts thus endangering the Jewish nature of the state.
Fact: All this decision has done is to widen the scope of what has been the case
for decades. Those converted by Conservative or Reform courts overseas have for
years been entitled to make aliya and receive citizenship under the Law of Return,
as hundreds of people have done.
In addition, the Interior Ministry consults with
the Israeli office of the Rabbinical Assembly to verify if an overseas conversion
by a Conservative rabbi was valid and we always investigate to make certain that
conversions were done properly by an authorized court.
There may be problems concerning the Jewishness of the State of Israel, but this
has not been one of them. The fact that the Chief Rabbinate is unwilling to marry
such converts is nothing new, an attitude that undoubtedly will not change. This
is all the more reason to divest them of that monopoly as well – something
I am certain will happen sooner or later.I can also testify that the converts
we have accepted in Israel are people who treasure Judaism and truly wish to identify
with the Jewish people.
They are people who add to the Jewish nature of the state. I wish that the average
Israeli were as knowledgeable and as observant of Judaism as many of those I have
been privileged to convert.
Myth: Only conversions performed by Orthodox rabbis have halachic standing.
Fact: All that is needed for a conversion to be halachic is that it be performed
according to certain standards. Rabbis are not needed at all.
It is obviously beyond the scope of this paper to deal with all the aspects of
this question, but suffice it to say that the halachic requirements for conversion
are simply that the person be informed of "some of the easier and some of
the more severe commandments," that the convert "accepts the yoke of
the commandments," that there be immersion in a mikve and circumcision for
males.
Though there is no requirement for rabbis to be present, it has been the practice
for rabbis to supervise the process. Were the Orthodox authorities willing to
follow the Halacha, they would be able to accept as converts anyone who has followed
the above process, certainly after the fact. I cannot speculate as to what prevents
them from doing so.
Myth: For $10,000 anyone can go overseas and get a non-Orthodox conversion.
Fact: There has never been a case of Conservative or Reform conversions being
performed for bribe money. It was not a Conservative court that gave a quickie
conversion to a foreign basketball player, nor did the rabbis convicted in Israel
a few years ago of taking bribes to "expedite" the conversion process
belong to the Conservative movement.
Myth: The High Court has been guilty of judicial activism.
Fact: The court has taken years to reach this seemingly simple decision and did
so only in the absence of legislative action. If anything, the court has shown
inordinate restraint in this matter.
The court has not even yet, after decades of deliberation, make the clear statement
that conversions by non-Orthodox courts in Israel are to be recognized for purposes
of the Law of Return. This recent decision indicates in many ways that such is
the court's thinking, but it has not been stated.
On the contrary the court has consistently called upon the Knesset to decide these
matters. The court has done nothing but decide the law on the basis of existing
legislation.
It is clear to everyone that there is no law in Israel giving the Chief Rabbinate
sole jurisdiction over conversion, just as there is no law that says that only
conversions done by any particular Orthodox group here are to be recognized. The
Law of Return does not specify that it applies only to conversions performed overseas.
Ironically, given current law, the charge of judicial activism would only have
applied if the court had taken almost any decision other than the one it took.
The world of Judaism today is a complex one. There is no one religious authority
recognized by all Jews. The majority of the world's Jews are not Orthodox.
Certainly in North and South America, the majority belong to either the Conservative
or Reform streams of Judaism. If the State of Israel is to consider itself connected
to the Jewish people as a whole this must be taken into consideration.
If the state expects world Jewry to relate to it positively it simply cannot deny
the validity of the streams of Judaism to which world Jewry belongs. If Israel
wishes to reflect the highest standards of democracy and freedom of religion,
it cannot continue to hold on to an outmoded monopoly in religious life that no
longer even reflects the reality here.
The High Court's decision is another step in the right direction, but more must
be done for complete freedom of religion and equality of the streams to be realized
in the Jewish state.
The writer heads the Rabbinic Court of the Masorti Movement and the Rabbinical
Assembly of Israel.
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