Rabbi Nachum Rabinovich Shlita, the Av Beis Din of the Giyur K’halacha Beis Din, has come out against a draft of a bill that would ensure that the key to Jewish conversion is kept exclusively within the hands of the national conversion department at the Israel Chief Rabbinate.

The summary of the bill, named “National Conversion Law in Israel,” was discussed at the Ministerial Committee on Legislation on Sunday, 1 Tammuz). Rabbi Rabinovich has sent a letter calling on ministers to prevent the bill from being passed into law.

The draft legislation, written by chareidi parties, is intended to subvert a High Court of Justice ruling delivered only a year ago. At the time, the court said that private conversions in Orthodox religious courts conducted in the framework of known communities will be recognized for the purpose of the Law of Return and for population censuses. The ruling was nicknamed the Karelitz Ruling and was expected to be followed up by recognition on the side of the rabbinate later on.

In his letter, Rabbi Rabinovich called on the ministers not to lend a hand to the conversion bill that, he said, would lead to a social dShin Betster in the State of Israel.

“The proposed legislation [not to recognize converts who converted in private Orthodox courts] directly hurts thousands of converts who converted in Israel over the years, and is also in complete contradiction to halacha [Jewish law],” Rabinovich wrote.

“There was never a precedent for a senior rabbinical authority interfering with these matters [of conversions in private communities],” he continued. “It is clear to me that this proposal is not your own initiative, but lending a hand to the proposal and approving it in the ministerial committee will constitute a permanent stain on your important activity as well as on the activity of the entire Bayit Yehudi party in the current Knesset.”

Rabinovich was referring to the thousands of citizens of the State of Israel defined as having ‘no religious status’ due to them not being considered Jewish according to Jewish law. These citizens live in Israel and sometimes were even born in the country; they study in Jewish schools, serve in the Israeli military and define themselves as Israeli for all intents and purposes. Some have chosen in recent years to convert within the framework of the chief rabbinate but were rejected during the process and even in spite of this continued to study and deepen their knowledge of Jewish law and tradition and have chosen to fulfill their Jewish dream by conversion through the private Orthodox courts in Israel, many of them through the courts of “Giyur K’halacha” established by Rabinovich.

In order for the conversion bill to be moved ahead agreement by all coalition parties is necessary and on Friday the Yisrael Beitenu party made it clear that it would not agree to the draft of the bill as promoted by chareidi parties. In an interview conducted on Sunday morning on Galei Tzahal (Army Radio), Minister Naftali Bennett announced that he and his Bayit Yehudi party are not certain they can agree with the demands of the bill as currently stipulated. “Conversions should be conducted in an inclusive form as possible, so long as these conversions are done according to Orthodox halacha and with an understanding of this issue’s great national and demographic urgency for the State of Israel.”

The private bill comes despite the establishment, over the past two years, of an array of private Orthodox courts by a series of leading Religious Zionist rabbis, called “Giyur K’halacha.” Among the members of the organization one can find the head of the Maalah Adumim Hesder Yeshiva Rabbi Nachum Rabinovich, the Chief Rabbi of Shoham and Head of Tzohar Rabbonim Rabbi David Stav, Chief Rabbi of Efrat Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Rabbi Chaim Amsalem, and others. The new courts are mainly intended to convert minors, whose conversion is considered easier from the point of view of Jewish law – this due to the policy of the national conversion establishment that looks to make these conversions harder and to force the parents of the minors to convert as well.

“The draft of this bill is a nightmare for every citizen of the State of Israel and more than this – to every Jew living anywhere in the world,” said Rabbi Seth Farber, director of ITIM organization and one of the people behind the initiative to establish the “Giyur K’halacha” courts.

“How can it be that in the State of Israel in 2017 will ignore the teachings of the Shulchan Aruch, which allows every recognized rabbinical community to enable the conversion of a person seeking to join the Jewish people – and they do this with the sponsorship of chareidi parties. It is an outrage,” Farber said.

“Among the citizens of the State of Israel, there are thousands of people today who are stuck between a rock and a hard place, they are not recognized as citizens of equal value but on the other hands are required to perform all their civic duties. These people are not in this situation out of choice, but due to the cruel constraints that are a result of the national conversion system. We must not ignore the call of the hour Israel has a responsibility towards olim to enable them to become full members of the State and of our people.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)