Haredim may try to bypass conversion ruling
By DAN IZENBERG
Mar. 31, 2005

The Knesset is set to convene a special session next Wednesday, during the Pessah recess, to debate Thursday's controversial ruling by the High Court of Justice permitting non-Jews living in Israel legally to be converted to Judaism by Reform and Conservative religious courts overseas.

The haredi parties are considering ways to nullify the court decision.

Orthodox Jewish leaders were infuriated by the ruling. Shas Party leader Eli Yishai described it as an "explosives belt that has blown up, causing an identity terrorist attack against the Jewish people."

Meanwhile, a Reform Movement official said the movement would present a new petition to the High Court to force it to rule on whether non-Orthodox rabbis may convert non-Jews living in Israel legally, thus enabling them to obtain citizenship according to the Law of Return. Such a petition would determine once and for all whether the state recognizes Reform and Conservative rabbis on an equal footing with Orthodox rabbis regarding conversion to Judaism.

Agudat Yisrael or Degel Hatorah MKs may submit legislation to supercede the ruling, since they are members of the coalition and could get backing for the measure. Shas, however, said it was not planning on sponsoring a bill on the issue at this point and was considering other ways to fight the decision.

Two of the 15 original petitioners attended Thursday's hearing and were moved to tears by the decision to recognize them as Jews and allow them to become Israeli citizens. One of them was Peruvian-born Christina Chapana Castro, 50, who has lived in Israel for 21 years and converted in 1993. The other was Colombian-born John Aguedelo, 43, who has lived in Israel for 14 years.

"I am very, very happy," Aguedelo told The Jerusalem Post. "I didn't sleep all night, but I feel very good." He said he did not need Israeli citizenship to continue living in Israel, but it was very important for him to be recognized as Jewish.

The High Court declined on Thursday to consider the question of whether to recognize conversions in Israel by non-Orthodox rabbis with regard to the Law of Return.

All the petitioners were non-Jews living in Israel legally. They had studied Judaism for a year in Reform and Conservative conversion classes in Israel, and then undergone conversion in Reform and Conservative communities abroad. Most of them returned immediately afterwards, giving this type of conversion the nickname "overnight conversions."

On the basis of these conversions, the petitioners returned to Israel and applied to the Interior Ministry for citizenship in accordance with the Law of Return, with the understanding that they met the definition of "Jewish" as stated in the law. The Interior Ministry refused to register them and they then petitioned the High Court under the sponsorship of the Israel Religious Action Center and the World Union for Progressive Judaism.

In a 7-4 vote, the High Court upheld the petition and ordered the Interior Ministry to register the petitioners.

The state presented several different arguments to justify its position. According to its final one, it maintained that a non-Jew who converted to Judaism in a Diaspora community must live in that community for a reasonable length of time to settle in to his new identity.

"The State of Israel recognizes on an equal basis conversions conducted abroad by all streams recognized by Judaism, on condition that the conversion be conducted in a recognized Jewish community, by the religious body authorized to do so, and in accordance with accepted procedures and rules meant to guarantee the sincerity of the conversion," wrote the state's representative, attorney Yochi Gnessin. "This principle is, naturally, limited to converts who are members of the community, who join it and integrate themselves into it. The conversion process is therefore a communal act of a non-Jew who joins the Jewish community where he lives and merges into it. As such, he is converted in accordance with the Law of Return."

Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, Deputy President Mishael Cheshin, and Justices Eliahu Mazza (retired), Dorit Beinisch, Eliezer Rivlin, Miriam Naor and Esther Hayut rejected the state's argument. Justices Jacob Turkel (retired), Ayala Procaccia, Edmond Levy and Asher Grunis voted against accepting the petition.

"It isn't at all clear why recognition of conversions conducted abroad must be restricted to those converts who want to join the community that converted them," wrote Barak. "Why isn't it enough to guarantee that the conversion procedures applied to those who want to bind themselves to the Jewish nation but don't want to join the community, be exactly the same as it is for those who want to convert and join the community? What is so special about the act of joining the community? Why isn't it enough that the convert wants to join some other recognized Jewish community abroad and then come to Israel? And why should we withhold recognition of a conversion conducted in a recognized Jewish community abroad, when the convert wants to join the Jewish people in Israel?"

Barak wrote that it was enough that the recognized Jewish community that converted the non-Jewish resident of Israel attested to the fact that it applied the same standards and procedures to him as it did to all other converts.

After concluding his ruling on the "overnight conversions," Barak addressed the question of conversions by non-Orthodox rabbis in Israel. In its arguments, the state had maintained that in accordance with the recommendations of the Neeman Committee, it had established a state conversion system, including a school for converts with teachers from all three streams of Judaism, and special rabbinical courts to convert them. It asked the court to endorse this arrangement as the only legal one in Israel.

Barak replied that the Reform and Conservative movements did not accept this system, claiming that the special courts were subordinate to the Chief Rabbinate. Barak wrote that the government did not have the power to establish such a far-reaching arrangement on its own. If it wanted to implement it, it must do so through Knesset legislation.

Barak warned that since there was no such legislation at present, the Law of Return, which is the only currently applicable law, made no distinction between Orthodox, Conservative and Reform conversions.

While religious political leaders reacted harshly to the decision, the secular camp called for recognition of local non-Orthodox conversions.

The coalition parties – Likud, Labor and United Torah Judaism – were largely silent on the matter.

MK Etti Livni (Shinui) called the decision a "historic breakthrough" and said it would put an end to the practice of treating Reform Judaism as a "stepson of the Jewish people." But she called for the court to take it one step further and give full recognition to Reform conversions carried out in Israel to avoid the need to travel abroad for those who can't afford it.

MK Yuri Shtern (National Union) said the decision was an important step that would force the conversion court in Israel to reexamine its procedures, make itself consistent with a new reality and perform conversions instead of blocking them.

MK Roman Bronfman (Yahad) said that for the first time the court had shattered the Orthodox rabbinate's monopoly and determined that there was more than one way to become Jewish. He said the decision came in time, given the changing demographics of Israeli society.

MK Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party) said the time had come to establish a constitutional court to rule on issues such as state and religion, whose judges would represent a "balance of opinions." The High Court of Justice ruling, he said, was predictable and another link in the long chain of rulings that were blurring the Jewish identity of the State of Israel.

MK Uri Ariel (National Union) said the court had undermined its legitimacy to rule in matters of state and religion.

"The judges proved that they don't understand the first thing about the Jewish religion and gave the stamp of approval to strange cults," he said.

MK Effi Eitam (National Religious Zionist Renewal Party) said the court had initiated a "hostile takeover" of the Jewish identity and character of the State of Israel.
 

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