Rishon L’Tzion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita has turned to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to intervene to block the new Giyur Bill sponsored by MK Elazar Stern. The letter sent to Mr. Netanyahu was also signed by Chief Rabbi David Lau.
The rabbonim explain the bill simply circumvents the Chief Rabbinate in the matter of conversions and they explain the dangers of doing so. They also warn the arrangement that would exist under the new law might possibly lead to a ‘giyur for profit’ marketplace and it is understood that giyur is not handled as required, serious ramifications may result.
The rabbis add that Chief Rabbinate of Israel has been the highest halachic authority in Israel since the establishment of the state and the bill would create a new reality in which the Chief Rabbinate’s role in giyur will by symbolic and marginal at best. They warn the reality is the new system will lead to second class converts that will not be accepted in large communities of the Jewish People.
The rabbonim ask to meet with the prime minister at his earliest convenience.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
“I suppose in the end we have Bennett to thank for this and his insistence on having Yesh Atid in government .. I .. wish I knew why. I didn’t vote for them, but I know people who did and are feeling very, very disappointed and disillusioned.”
Feb. 8, 2013
‘Sapir goes on to say Bayit Yehudi is not “Amsellem but the National Religious Party of the old days; of Zevulun Hammer and Yosef Burg”. He adds that from the founding of the state until 5741, the NRP had more or less the same number of mandates as it enjoys today and it took advantage of its numbers primarily to wipe the Chief Rabbinate clean of rabbonim and scholars and grabbed the natural benefit for the good of those who study Zionist ideology. “They sold their souls to the ideological Mapai for as long as they received infinite government jobs, filling the offices from the Rabbanut, kashrus and marriage, the Ministry of the Interior and then taking control of education and religious affairs. Everything good was destroyed..
Sapir continues, speaking of the threat from the dati leumi party regarding compromise in Halacha that it is likely to result. He warns of the possibility of “irreversible changes in giyur” by Bayit Yehudi, and “if only someone could inform us that we are mistaken and it is untrue and that Naftali Bennett wishes to indeed run a Jewish house with traditional roots as we have carried the torch from generation to generation without wavering and without compromise towards restoring the glory of yesteryear…”
This threat is not in any way like the situation when NPR had the main power in the Rabbanut. When Rav Goren made conversions, perhaps it wasn’t as strict as some hareidi rabbis would prefer, but it was limited in number and most of the converts were in Israel, where the religious climate would assure that their offspring would, to some extent, recognize what it means to be Jewish. Today, however, the numbers are very large, due to the thousands of non-Jews who immigrated with the Russian Jewry. Not just the numbers present a risk of splitting Jewry but the candidates for conversion are doing it just to have a means of getting married and not even to please family members or any other less than ideal reasons(but still reasons that would integrate their offspring into traditional Jewry.)
These new changes in the law will see an erosion of standards and a splitting into 2 peoples,Chas v’sholem. Soon they will grant powers to all the different “streams”, in the name “tolerance” and “achdus.” By then it will be too late.
I only hope the PM will see what a terrible threat this is to the nation and wait for a resolution to the problem.(or a new coalition, B’H.)
To #1. Why? easy answer. Lapid was going to be in the government almost either way, at that point, unless they were blocked out by a coalition of Bennett and the Chareidi parties and Shas nixed that at the time. Bennett is a shrewd politician. He was on the outs with Netanytahu at the time and the only way he was going to be in the coalition, is to make an agreement with other parties up front. After Shas rejected him, he turned to Lapid.
Bennett has done a lot of good things too, he has modified or blocked Lapid often, but on certain issues, he is misguided. Case in point, is the Giyur bill. He has the right idea, to make the process more mentchlach, but is going about it the wrong way and could lead to unqualified people making conversions.
I think the Chief Rabbinate should remain in charge, but decentralize the process with adding more qualified Rabbonim making the conversions around the country..
@4, I think you are incorrect in the Bennett/ Shas assessment…I think it was a difficult situation, but Bennett, as he now demonstrates, wants a restructuring of religious life in Israel and he sees that as a lessening of the power that the Rabbanut and hareidim have over religious life in Israel.So Shas could never have helped him in accomplishing his goals. Not sure how many of the MKs in his party really share his vision, some may just want a big right wing party that caters to development in Judea and Shomron, but those who don’t stand up to him will be responsible when the former national religious bloc is nothing more than a right of center party that is nationalistic.
Bennett is a visionary that wants it his way…reminds me of someone else on the US political scene.