Israeli Supreme Court Says Citizenship Must Be Granted To Non-Orthodox Converts; Chief Rabbi Compares Them To Dogs

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.” **