The Chief Rabbinate will cooperate with a ministerial committee, headed by Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, set up to study the issues in the dispute over state identification of Jewishness, contrary to reports of a possible rabbinical boycott of the committee, it was learned today.
Mr. Ben Gurion named the committee, consisting of himself, Interior Minister Israel Bar Yehuda and Justice Minister Pinchas Rosen, in an effort to end a religious-secular conflict sparked by an identity card issued by Minister Bar Yehuda. The identity card would make it possible for an Israel citizen to identify himself as a Jew without proof acceptable to the rabbinical authorities. The dispute resulted in the resignation of National Religious Party representatives from the Cabinet.
The secretariat of the Chief Rabbinate, denying reports of a boycott of the committee, said today that the Supreme Council of the Chief Rabbinate would meet next week to consider means of cooperation with the ministerial committee.
The Prime Minister’s office, meanwhile, had not yet publicized the names of the Jewish scholars, both in Israel and abroad, who will be asked for opinions on settlement of the issue of state identification of Jewishness. Some names that have been suggested include the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Dr. Louis Finkelstein, Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of New York, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, noted Orthodox scholar in Boston, Dr. Nelson Glueck, Reform leader. Dr. Mordecai M. Kaplan of New York, Reconstructionist philosopher, and Prof. Martin Buber.
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