The Committee for Jewish Survival said that leading Orthodox rabbis have called on rabbis throughout the world to utilize the holiday of Shavuot “to make their constituents aware of the dangers inherent in the present Israeli Law of Return.” The group wants the law amended so that only those converted according to halacha (religious law) would be recognized as Jews. It alleges that “at present any non-Jew can be classified as Jew” by presenting credentials “obtainable from unreliable sources for a small fee.” Shavuot begins at sundown today.
According to the Committee, a joint statement on the Law of Return was issued by Rabbi Moses Feinstein, president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of America and Canada; Rabbi David Hollander, president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America; Rabbi Abraham Hecht, chairman of the Sephardic Rabbinical Organization; and Chief Rabbi Pinchus Hirshprung of Canada.
The Committee claimed that the rabbinical leaders “also urge rabbis to protest Mizrachi’s flagrant disregard for all leading Torah authorities who have prohibited their re-entry into the government coalition prior to a proper amendment of the conversion law.” The Committee quoted the rabbis as saying that “The only way that there will be unity amongst the Jewish people is by adhering to the laws of the Torah. It is precisely those who defy the rulings of our age-old tradition who create divisiveness amongst the Jewish people.”
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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.
