Goren to Press Knesset to Amend Law of Return So That ‘who is a Jew’ Definition is Consistent with H

Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren confirmed today that he plans to press the Knesset to amend Israel’s Law of Return so that the definition of “Who Is A Jew?” is consistent with Orthodox demands. The clause defining a Jew as, among other things, one who has been converted to Judaism, would have three words added — “according to halacha” (religious law) — in the amended version. In practical terms, the amend ment would mean that conversions performed by Reform rabbis and at least some by Conservative rabbis would not be recognized in Israel.

Rabbi Goren promised to seek action on the controversial amendment as criticism mounted in ultra-Orthodox circles here and abroad over his resolution of the Langer “mamzerim” case. Seven leading yeshiva principals issued statements denouncing his ruling which overturned a seven year-old ruling by a Petach Tikva religious court that Hanoch and Miriam Langer were illegitimates and forbidden to marry.

In the ultra-Orthodox Mear Shearim quarter residents publicly tore their garments as a gesture of mourning. Crowds listened for more than two hours to rabbis of the extremist Neturei Karta movement who denounced Goren for desecrating the Torah. Posters stating that future decisions by Rabbi Goren would be considered void appeared today in the Mear Shearim quarter. They were signed by several rabbis including Yosef Shalom Chiskin who resigned as a senior judge of the Supreme Rabbinical Court last month to protest the election of Rabbi Goren as Ashkenzai Chief Rabbi.

But Rabbi Goren’s decision was applauded by Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, head of the Kook Yeshiva here and son of Israel’s late Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook who is revered in Orthodox and non-Orthodox circles.

EXPLAINS WHY STIGMA WAS REMOVED

Rabbi Goren invited reporters to his Tel Aviv home Thursday night to explain why he decided that the stigma of bastardy should be removed from the Langers. He claimed there was no conclusive proof that Abraham Borokovsky, the first husband of the Langers’ mother, had been properly converted to Judaism, in which case Mrs. Langer’s first marriage was void and the children conceived by her second marriage were legitimate.

Goren also claimed that Borokovsky never took his conversion seriously and was not acquainted with Jewish religious ritual. Borokovsky, who lives in Israel, claims he is a practicing Jew and has been trying to get a local rabbinical court to confirm his status as a Jew. Asked why the Supreme Rabbinical Court never acted on the evidence that Borokovsky’s conversion was invalid, Rabbi Goren said its members had been threatened by “terrorists.” He said they were the same terrorists who had launched a campaign of “unbridled terror” against him. He did not identify them.