Israeli Court Postpones Ruling on Status of Adopted Children

Israel’s Supreme Court has postponed a decision on the religious standing of several adopted children who underwent Conservative conversions in Israel.

The postponement prompted charges that the court was sidestepping a highly charged issue.

Israel’s Masorti, or Conservative, movement appealed to the high court last year in a bid to have the adopted children recognized as Jewish according to halachah, or traditional Jewish law.

The court case comes amid concerns over pending Knesset legislation that would invalidate non-Orthodox conversions performed in Israel.

In a sign of the highly charged emotions generated here over the conversion issue, the Masorti movement has received almost a dozen death threats from an extremist Orthodox organization known as Brit Ka’anim, a movement spokeswoman said.

The threats came after the movement placed newspaper ads urging public support for non-Orthodox conversions in Israel.

Israel’s Interior Ministry now recognizes non-Orthodox conversions when they are performed outside the Jewish state, but does not grant them recognition if they are performed in Israel.

The Masorti movement’s appeal before the high court argued that if conversions performed outside Israel by the Conservative movement’s rabbis are recognized within Israel, the identical conversion procedure performed in Israel should also be recognized.

During Tuesday’s court session, the state requested a postponement on the grounds that it was trying to work with the Orthodox rabbinate to resolve the children’s religious standing.

Rabbi Ainat Ramon, a spokeswoman for the Masorti movement, termed the postponement “a cop out.”

“The court has already had 15 months to decide on the matter, and it is clear that it is trying not to rule at all.”

A new court date was set for Feb. 1.