Israeli Supreme Court Says Citizenship Must Be
Granted To Non-Orthodox Converts; Chief Rabbi
Compares Them To Dogs
Allan C. Brownfeld, Editor
Special Interest Report
April 2021
The Israeli Supreme Court ruled on March 1 that Israel must grant
citizenship to those who converted to Judaism in Israel under non-Orthodox
auspices. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (March 4, 2021) notes that, “Past
Supreme Court decisions have mandated that the state also recognize Jews who
converted outside of Israel under non-Orthodox authority, provided they live
in a recognized Jewish community. Non-Orthodox converts, however, still
often face hurdles in obtaining Israeli citizenship and are sometimes
denied.”
In Israel, there is no separation of religion and state. The state finances
ultra-Orthodox chief rabbis and non-Orthodox rabbis do not have the right to
perform weddings and funerals or fulfill other religious functions. The
International Jerusalem Post (March 5-11, 2021) reported that, “The decision
set off a firestorm of criticism from Orthodox political parties that vowed
to pass legislation to overturn the ruling.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox coalition partners compared Reform
Jews to dogs and produced xenophobic ads warning that African asylum seekers
would convert to Judaism. The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party
depicted dogs wearing ritual items like kippot, tallit, tefillin, along with
side locks and glasses. Another ad featured a picture of African asylum
seekers with the caption, “Jews certified by the Supreme Court. Danger!
Thousands of infiltrators and foreign workers will become Jewish through
Reform conversion.”
One Israeli lawmaker, Moshe Aboutboul, said of the court ruling: “They’re
trying, essentially, to kill the Jewish people.” He told the Israeli news
site Ynet that the ruling “would benefit every clown in America who calls
himself Reform or a Reform rabbi.”
Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef said: “What is Reform
conversion? It isn’t Jewish... If a Reform convert comes to me after
marrying a Jewish woman, I’ll send her away without a divorce. She doesn’t
need a divorce. The marriage is invalid. Her husband is not a convert.”
Yosef said that Reform Judaism “falsified” the Torah and said that
immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union are “communist, religion-
hating gentiles.”
Editorially, Washington Jewish Week (March 11, 2021) declared: “... even
though the ruling is significant... it did nothing to loosen the haredi
Rabbinate’s stranglehold on personal status issues... Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi
David Lau said those who undergo Reform or Conservative conversions ‘are not
Jews.’ Interior Minister Ariyeh Deri... pledged to overturn the decision
through legislation since it constitutes ‘a mortal blow to the Jewish
character of the state’ and the ‘complete demolition of the status quo’...
Non-Orthodox streams of Judaism account for the vast majority of the world’s
Jewish population... that is an issue Israel will have to address as it
works to sustain its foundational commitment to being both Jewish and
democratic.” **
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