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REFORM GROUP CLAIMS ORTHODOX CONVERSION MONOPOLOY IS ILLEGAL
by Dan Izenberg, Jerusalem Post, Dec. 23, 2004
The Israel Religious Action Center on Wednesday accused the state of trying to mislead the High Court of Justice by arguing that the rabbinical courts were the only ones supervised by the state and therefore should be the only ones allowed to oversee conversions.
The charge came in IRAC's final statement to the court before it rules on two petitions calling on it to grant citizenship in accordance with the Law of Return to 15 people residing in Israel legally who were converted by Reform or Masorti (and in one case, Orthodox) rabbis in Israel or abroad after studying Judaism in the Reform or Masorti movements in Israel.
Attorney Nichole Maor rejected the state's claim that the Reform and Conservative conversions in Israel constituted "private" conversions as opposed to those of the rabbinical courts, which were allegedly "sponsored and supervised by the state." According to Maor, the state had illegally granted the rabbinical courts a monopoly on conversions until now.
Maor also charged that the state had ignored a series of rulings handed down over the years by the High Court that whittled away at the rabbinical monopoly.
For example, the court had recognized the right of new immigrants who had converted in Reform or Masorti ceremonies abroad to be granted citizenship according to the Law of Return.
It had also recently ordered the Interior Ministry to register Reform and Masorti converts to Judaism in Israel or abroad as Jewish in the population registry.
"The petitioners are surprised by the judicial cartwheels that the government performs each time in order to bypass the clear-cut rulings of the court on this issue," wrote Maor.
She charged that the state was violating the right to equality by favoring the Orthodox rabbinate over the Reform and Masorti movements.
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