Cheif Rabbi of Jerusalem, Hagaon HaRav Shlomo Amar sent an urgent letter to Rabbinic leaders of the National Religious camp Rabbis Chaim Drukman and Yaakov Ariel warning them against supporting the Conversion Bill as behind the bill stands the interest of the Reform and Conservative communities, according to the Israeli media outlet 0404.

Rabbi Amar wrote in his letter: “I was astounded to see the report and it recommendations that were published by the committee tasked with consolidating recommendations to change the conversion law in Israel. To paraphrase the recommendations made therein, there is an attempt here to cut off the conversion process from the Rabanut and from the Halacha and to establish a social and governmental conversion to be directed at the whim of those who negate the halacha. They seem to have neglected or forgotten the clear idea that conversion is a halachic and Torah matter which is based in the Talmud, Rambam and Shulchan Aruch.”

Rabbi Amar continued: “I was then told that my friend and partner in arms Mister Moshe Nissim sits at the head of this committee. I am certain that his hands did not write the report, and if he joined the report or signed off on it, then he was misled into doing so. And I know that neither of you great sages would ever agree to this, as I’ve known you for many years. If you did then I am certain that you too were misled.”

“When I saw the report yesterday, I was not only worried that the process of conversion would be taken out of the hands of the Rabbanut but that this would cause a chasm between the State and the Rabbanut itself. I won’t go into detail here because it is superfluous.”

“Therefore,” Rabbi Amar concluded, “I hereby request that you honorable sages write in a quick fashion that your endorsements on the proposal were written by mistake and that they are null and void. May your names, your seats, your honor, be elevated to a very high stature, may you have health and long lives, that are sweet and good, and filled with satisfaction.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)