The Committee for Jewish Survival (CJS) an Orthodox ad hoc committee, has charged that the Knesset is considering a proposal to create a special Rabbinical Court to consider conversions in Israel whose only purpose is to make conversions easier. “In accepting converts, there is only one unalterable procedure, conversion according to all the requirements of the Halacha,” Michael Davidson, a spokesman for CJS, declared.
Davidson noted that the bill was introduced by a Labor Alignment Knesset member and has been sent to a Knesset committee with the agreement of the Minister of Religious Affairs, Yitzhak Rafael. A Rabbinical Court can only be set up by rabbis and not by the Knesset, Davidson said. “The unfortunate ‘Who is a Jew’ Law has already been responsible for many tragic errors,” Davidson said. “Non-Jews are being registered as Jews. The chaos now reigning in Israel on the generation of conversions is terrifying.” The CJS seeks to have Israel’s Law of Return amended so that only those converted according to Halacha can be considered Jewish.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
