The Israeli chief rabbinate, which refuses to recognize non-Orthodox rabbis, indicated today that it was willing to relax conversion procedures for non-Jewish immigrants who were converted to Judaism abroad by Reform or Conservative rabbis. The Ashkenazic chief rabbi, Isser Untermann, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that such persons would have to undergo a greatly simplified conversion process when they arrived in Israel. It would consist of a declaration of their willingness to accept “the burdens of Judaism” and immersion in a ritual bath in the presence of three Orthodox rabbis. Rabbi Untermann said that an American or Canadian woman migrant who was converted abroad by an “unrecognized” rabbi would be registered as Jewish by nationality under the amendment to the Law of Return which the Knesset is expected to pass shortly. However, he said, unless she submitted herself to the conversion process he described, “difficulties” would arise if her children wanted to marry Jews.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
