Speaking with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday afternoon, 20 Sivan, Shas party leader Aryeh Deri explained there is no point on even raising the recommendations of the Nissim Committee regarding giyur, for doing so would be a “waste of time”.

During a meeting of Knesset coalition faction heads, Deri raised the matter of giyur, and asked to expeditiously move ahead legislation for a government bill to make certain all giyur remains under the exclusive control of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

The chareidi party leaders have reportedly signaled to the prime minister that attempting to advance the committee’s recommendations, which include acceptance of giyur by the Reform and Conservative, would result in an immediate coalition crisis. Deri insisted that giyur must remain in the exclusive hands of the Chief Rabbinate and private conversions cannot be accepted.

The Nissim Committee was appointed by the prime minister, to make recommendations regarding giyur in the hope of ending the controversy that exists. The committee was headed by former Likud minister, Moshe Nissim, a son of former Rishon L’Tzion Yitzchak Nissim ZT”L.

Some of the highlights of the committee’s recommendations include:

• Acceptance of private conversions.
• ·The establishment of a Giyur Authority to operate under the direction of the PM’s Office, not the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
• The Committee to Appoint Dayanim will be comprised of 11 members. Only two of these members will be Orthodox. The committee can meet with only seven members, so it is possible to meet without the inclusion of the Chief Rabbis. There will also be two representatives of Reform Jewry on the committee.
• Any rav of any city can perform giyur. One needn’t be a dayan and one does not have to have passed a test to confirm one’s qualifications to preform giyur. Any Rosh Yeshiva “who is a clear talmid chacham regarding giyur” is qualified, without setting parameters in this area.
• Giyur will be performed before a din Torah, without detailing the parameters of a “din Torah”.
• Conversions conducted by recognized Jewish communities abroad will be recognized in Israel, which includes Reform and Conservative.

Meanwhile, Rishon L’Tzion HaGaon HaRav Yitzchak Yosef Shlita on Sunday morning convened with rabbonim of the dati leumi community to discuss the recommendations submitted to the government regarding giyur. The recommendations were submitted by Moshe Nissim, a former Likud cabinet minister who was placed in charge of the state committee recommending guidelines for giyur in light of the controversy existing today between the chareidim and the Reform and Conservative Movements.

Rav Yosef called on all dati leumi rabbonim to step forward in a united front, citing the recommendations suggest accepting Reform giyur, which means the state would chas v’sholom recognize persons converted without adhering to halacha. Rav Yosef is asking all dati leumi rabbonim to step up and oppose the recommendations, as the chareidim are doing.

Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi HaGaon HaRav Dovid Lau Shlita explained, “This is an illusion of the people, as if this was providing a solution. It is an opening for assimilation! It opened the door to bringing the destruction of Judaism to the world!”

Dozens of rabbonim have signed against the recommendations, which would give legitimization to Reform and Conservative giyur. They are calling on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to reject the recommendations outright, and to legislate a bill that would prevent the High Court of Justice from moving forward and recognizing non-religious conversions.

The Chief Rabbis are calling on Members of Knesset and cabinet ministers to introduce legislation to prevent such an occurrence, from the High Court opening a door to non-frum conversions being recognized in Israel.

The members of the Ichud HaLeumi faction of the Bayit Yehudi party, Minister Uri Ariel and MK Betzalel Smotrich, have not wasted time, but have come out strongly in opposition of the Nissim Committee’s recommendations for state giyur. The committee’s recommendations were presented on Sunday, 20 Sivan. The recommendations call for the establishment of a Giyur Authority to replace the Chief Rabbinate of Israel in this matter, and recommendations also call for recognizing Reform and Conservative giyur.

The two, both Shomer Shabbos, wrote in their letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, that acceptance of such recommendations would spell the destruction of religious giyur in Israel. They add that acceptance of the recommendations change giyur from a religious matter to a “state and political matter, one that would tear Am Yisrael to shreds”.

They add the recommendations are without a doubt the worst that have been submitted in years.

Netanyahu responded that since he had only received the report today, that he would need time to look it over and has therefore requested from the Attorney General to review it as well as they were the ones who asked the courts for a deferral of the draft written by Deri in order o allow them time to clarify the matter.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)