Nrp Prepared to Quit Cabinet; Meet with Mrs. Meir to Work out 11th Hour Compromise

The National Religious Party, apparently convinced that Orthodox domination of religious life in Israel is threatened if the government recognizes conversions performed by other than Orthodox rabbis, prepared today to quit Premier Golda Meir’s coalition cabinet over the Issue. A party caucus confirmed an executive committee decision to withdraw unless the government accedes to Orthodox demands to ram through legislation that would make non-Orthodox conversions invalid. The Labor Alignment has made it clear that it will do no such thing although Premier Golda Meir was meeting with NRP leaders over the Shavuot holiday to try to work out an 11th hour compromise. Moderate elements within the NRP who were agreeable to a compromise offered last week by Laborite Justice Minister Yaacov Shimshon Shapiro, were overruled by party militants. The moderate position was further weakened by a decision of the Chief Rabbinate barring continued NRP participation in the government unless maximum Orthodox demands were met. The Chief Rabbinate insists that the government sponsor a law that would bar recognition of non-Orthodox conversions performed abroad as well as in Israel. The Orthodox politicians feel they cannot disobey a rabbinical ruling.

Minister of Interior Moshe Shapiro informed the NRP caucus that he would defy Israel’s Supreme Court if it ruled that he must register as Jewish Mrs. Helen Zeidman, an American-born Israeli married to a Jew who was converted to Judaism by a Reform rabbi in Tel Aviv. The court has given the Ministry three weeks to show cause why Mrs. Zeidman’s petition for registration should not be granted. Political sources said today that if the NRP quit the Cabinet it would not leave the government altogether but would retain Cabinet rank without portfolio as is the case of Mapam. The latter, a member of the Labor Alignment, has refused to accept cabinet posts ear-marked for it because of political differences with the Gahal faction but remains in the government. The NRP presently holds the ministries of religious affairs, welfare and interior. Should they relinquish their portfolios, Mrs. Meir would have to appoint care-taker ministers. A non-Orthodox Minister of Interior would be likely to register Mrs. Zeidman as a Jew if the Supreme Court so decrees.