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proposal to reform the conversion system in Israel has been met with near-universal scorn by the religious establishment.

The proposed law would recognize conversions carried out by Reform and Conservative clergy abroad and allow their representatives to sit on a new conversion authority. Currently, the chief rabbinate oversees the conversion process.

Almost immediately after Moshe Nissim, a former minister of justice, finance, and industry, presented his proposal to Prime Minister Netanyahu, the religious establishment pounced, rejecting the idea out of hand. Rishon L’Tzion Rav Yitzchak Yosef called together national-religious rabbis — including Rav Yaacov Shapira, rosh yeshivah of Merkaz Harav, and Rav Tzvi Thau, rosh yeshivah of Har Hamor — for an emergency meeting with the participation of Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau.

“[These conclusions] recognize non-halachic conversions, reform conversions. This is a very grave breach,” Rav Yosef warned. “I am asking all the rabbis to sign a protest so that this law will be thrown out. It doesn’t deserve to be on the agenda.”

Rav Lau stated that the conversion outline harms the Jewish People, while misleading potential geirim. “This provides an opening for assimilation, bringing into the Holy Land the destruction of Jewry that is happening all over the world. The chief rabbinate has been working throughout the years to ensure that conversion be carried out solely according to halachah, free of foreign considerations. It’s a matter for all of the Jewish nation, which cannot tolerate such a situation for even a moment.”

At the meeting’s conclusion, the rabbis signed a special circular of Israeli rabbis calling to keep the authority for conversions under the purview of the chief rabbinate. The rabbis also petitioned MKs and government ministers to do all in their power to halt the conversion reform.

Rav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, a former dayan in the Beis Din Hagadol, wrote a letter, and was joined by Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl, rav of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City, stating: “The committee’s resolutions surprisingly seem to suggest that there is no need for rabbinic sanction [for conversion and they also sanction] Reform conversion. Heaven forbid such a possibility for destroying Klal Yisrael and annulling the performance of mitzvos.”

The committee headed by Moshe Nissim received a mandate from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to formulate an alternative to the conversion law proposed by Minister Aryeh Deri a year ago. Deri’s proposal would have enshrined the power of the chief rabbinate to oversee conversions, excluding the liberal streams.

The committee report includes a recommendation to transfer authority for conversions from the chief rabbinate to a specially designated conversion board, whose head would be appointed by the prime minister and would include 11 representatives. Aside from the two chief rabbis, the other nine representatives would not necessarily be shomrei mitzvos, and would come from all streams, including Reform. Furthermore, those performing the conversions would not necessarily be dayanim, and could include anyone who had passed exams on conversion and circumcision. It was further proposed that not only Israeli citizens could convert in this new framework, but also foreigners, thus potentially allowing non-Jews a fast-track to legal immigration to Israel.

Although the proposal stipulates that the actual conversion would be carried out according to Torah law, there is no clear definition as to what constitutes “Torah law” and who would establish that definition — whether the chief rabbinate or any legal body.

Shas chairman and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri told Mishpacha that he wouldn’t allow the recommendations to be brought to discussion in the Knesset. “The only person legally authorized by the government to present a bill on the subject of conversion is the interior minister, and it’s perfectly clear that I will not present it,” Deri said. “I demand to immediately return to the original conversion bill that I proposed and that was authorized by the government, establishing that only conversion by the chief rabbinate will be recognized in Israel, and no private conversions will be recognized.”

Ichud Haleumi representative Minister Uri Ariel added that his faction would not allow the bill’s passage, and that it was in contact with other elements to formulate a different, better law.

 (Excerpted from Mishpacha, Issue 714)