Interior Minister Yitzhak Peretz, who must comply with a Supreme Court ruling to issue a Jewish identification card to a woman converted by a Reform rabbi, or resign, said Thursday that he would appeal the high court’s decision in the case.
A three-justice panel, headed by Supreme Court President Meir Shamgar ruled unanimously Tuesday that the Interior Ministry may not inscribe the word “converted” on the ID card of a convert to Judaism. It acted in the case of Shoshana Miller, who was converted to Judaism in 1982 by Rabbi David Klein, a Reform rabbi in Colorado Springs, Colo. Miller immigrated to Israel in 1985, claiming the automatic citizenship granted every Jew.
Peretz, who heads the Orthodox Shas Party, said in an interview that he would seek a rehearing of the case before a panel of five justices. The Supreme Court usually agrees to a rehearing on issues considered to be of major public interest. Peretz said this issue has “major ramifications.”
He himself has come under attack from other Orthodox rabbis for granting Miller Jewish status on her ID card, even with the qualification “converted.” Justice Menahem Eylon, a member of the panel, stated in an addendum to its decision that the qualifying “converted” was contrary to halacha. Many Orthodox rabbis agree with him on that point but refuse to countenance Jewish status for a person converted by a non-Orthodox rabbi.
Peretz blasted the American Reform rabbi who converted Miller for “misleading” her. “I believe she came with a pure heart and a willing soul to link her life to that of the Jewish people” but “Reform rabbis plunged her into difficulties by converting her un-halachically,” Peretz said. “They would have done her a kindness had they directed her to go to a Rabbinical Court.”
As a result of being “led astray,” and given the publicity surrounding the case, Miller will never be able to marry in Israel or in an Orthodox synagogue abroad, Peretz said. He said that he would argue at a re-hearing that allowing non-halachic converts to register as Jews in Israel would amend the standing law on marriage and divorce which gives Orthodox rabbinical courts exclusive jurisdiction.
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