Focus on Issues: Jewish Leaders in Seattle Take Up Conversion Gauntlet

The Jewish federation world may be taking up the cudgel for the legitimacy of non-Orthodox Judaism in Israel — at least in the arena of conversions.

The Council of Jewish Federations was expected to pass a resolution this week at its annual General Assembly here calling on the Israeli government to protect and preserve the current status of conversions to Judaism.

That action comes in spite of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to assuage concerns in advance of the meeting by declaring that Israel’s recognition of non-Orthodox conversions performed in the Diaspora is not at risk.

He did so in the face of new conversion legislation expected to be submitted shortly to the Knesset. That legislation is expected to delegitimize non- Orthodox conversions performed in Israel. Its impact on conversions outside of Israel is unclear.

Tensions were simmering around this issue as CJF opened its annual assembly here.

Martin Kraar, executive vice president of CJF, called the prime minister’s clarification “a step in the right direction,” saying it prompted “a lot of relief.”

However, it clearly wasn’t enough to buy harmony.

Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, chancellor of the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary and an ardent defender of religious pluralism, said this week that he welcomed the prime minister’s reassurances, which came in a letter to Jewish leaders in America. But he cautioned it was “not decisive.”

“The decisive text is the proposed legislation, and it makes it pretty clear that the ultimate decision on the kashrut of conversions will be in the hands of the Chief Rabbinate” of Israel, he said.

The bill aims to plug a hole in Israel’s Orthodox monopoly over religious affairs. The hole was opened a year ago, when the Supreme Court said there was no legal reason why non-Orthodox conversions should not be recognized in Israel.

However, the court did not explicitly recognize such conversions, saying that it would be up to the Knesset to pass the appropriate legislation.

The pending measure was initiated by the Orthodox parties in Israel’s governing coalition. Those parties gained significant strength in May’s election and made support for such legislation a condition for joining the coalition.

The latest initiative, seen as a blow to those fighting for equal status for Reform and Conservative rabbis, immediately put those in the Diaspora on notice that there was a risk of repeating the “Who is a Jew” debacle of 1988.

At that time there was an Israeli initiative to recognize as legitimate only Orthodox conversions in the Diaspora for purposes of determining which Jewish immigrants to Israel were eligible for automatic Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.

In issuing his letter to American Jewish leaders last Friday, Netanyahu was signaling that he anticipated no repetition of the political conflagration that erupted in 1988, when hordes of Diaspora delegations descended upon the Jewish state in protest.

Netanyahu pledged in his letter to “oppose any legislation which will change the status quo regarding conversions outside of Israel.”

That CJF decided to go forward with its resolution this week was certain to be viewed as a rebuke to the diplomatic gesture by Netanyahu, who was scheduled to appear in Seattle on Thursday night. The resolution called on the government of Israel not to change or pass legislation that would “change the current situation.” But if the risk to the status of Diaspora conversions is ruled out, federations will face the dilemma of whether to get involved in fighting for the legal status of non-Orthodox conversions in Israel.

Federations have traditionally been reluctant to intervene in internal Israeli affairs.

The issue at stake is “how much CJF wants to involve itself in a resolution that concerns conversions within the State of Israel,” said Dr. Conrad Giles, the new president of CJF.

He said he believed that a “substantial” number of people would be “unhappy if, at the very least, we don’t engage in the discussion.”

CJF clearly has calculated that it cannot afford to risk alienating the leadership of the Reform and Conservative movements here and their millions of constituents.

Eighty percent of the donors to the annual campaigns run jointly by the federations and the United Jewish Appeal identify themselves as Reform or Conservative. For their part, UJA officers were expected to pass the resolution on Tuesday.

At the same time, however, federation leaders are concerned about their Orthodox constituents, most of whom have expressed support for legislation invalidating non-Orthodox conversions.

The questions are how hard the fund-raising leadership will be willing to fight and whether the Israelis will risk a rift with the Diaspora.

The decision by CJF to take action, meanwhile, was applauded by non-Orthodox leaders. “We’re appreciative that CJF recognizes the issue and sees right through the desperate attempts at confusing the matters,” said Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America.

Hirsch said the prime minister’s letter reinforces the split between the Orthodox monopoly of Jewish life in Israel and Jewish pluralism in the Diaspora.

“If the prime minister wanted to be helpful, he’d come to the G.A. and declare in no uncertain terms he’ll oppose any legislation which disallows Reform and Conservative conversions inside Israel,” Hirsch said.

For Schorsch, protecting the legality of non-Orthodox conversions in the Diaspora “averts a rupture between Israel and the Diaspora.”

But if those in Israel continue to be invalidated, he said, there will be “a deepening divide between the religious and non-religious in Israel, between Judaism and Zionism.”

At the same time, he seemed philosophical about the Orthodox monopoly in Israel. “It is not healthy, but it is not a situation I can alter from abroad.”

For his part, Hirsch said he would hold CJF to its pledge to fight the fight and not let its resolution recede as a formality. “We have enough respect for CJF to think if it passes a resolution, it does so with serious purpose and intent.”

CJF’s Giles explained why CJF is prompted to act now.

“There has been a window” for Reform and Conservative conversions in Israel, he said, referring to last year’s Supreme Court decision that paved the way for the legitimacy of such conversions.

“We took great comfort that these gains, albeit incremental, would never be taken away,”

David Minkin, head of a CJF committee formed to address the issue, said this “affects the credibility and legitimacy of religious movements in the Diaspora.”

Said Richard Wexler, national chairman of the UJA, “I don’t see the resolution as representing any opposition” to Netanyahu.

“The issue here is a threat to Jewish unity. And as federation and UJA leaders know, Jewish community strength is dependent on its unity.

“We ought to be out front on issues of critical importance to our constituency,” he said. “The time has come to cease political timidity.”