A leading Orthodox rabbi hinted Sunday night that some recognition might ultimately have to be accorded to institutions of the non-Orthodox trends in Judaism, particularly on the issue of conversion.
Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, head of a yeshiva in the Etzion bloc of settlements south of Jerusalem, suggested that Orthodox conversion courts might have their decisions formally approved by a Conservative institution as a way to break the present impasse. Israel’s Orthodox establishment has always insisted that only conversions performed by Orthodox rabbis are valid. Conservative and Reform Judaism are demanding recognition in Israel.
Lichtenstein, who is the son-in-law of the American Orthodox scholar, Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik, offered his proposal at a forum of the National Religious Party which is considering the problem posed by the case of Shoshana Miller, an American who immigrated to Israel but was denied citizenship because she was converted to Judaism by a Reform rabbi.
The Supreme Court, acting on Miller’s appeal, ordered the Interior Ministry last month to issue her an identity card as a Jew, without qualification. Interior Minister Yitzhak Peretz of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, resigned rather than comply.
SHAS THREATENED TO QUIT THE GOVERNMENT
Shas is now threatening to quit the unity coalition government. Premier Yitzhak Shamir, who took over the Interior portfolio temporarily, has postponed issuing an ID card to Miller as long as legally possible. The fact that she has gone back to the U.S. and is not certain when she will return to Israel to claim her card, gave Shamir time to seek a solution to the problem.
The Cabinet decided to convene a special ministerial panel to consider the matter of registering converts. It is chaired by Shamir and has given itself six months to consult with scholars and others here and abroad before it makes recommendations which, hopefully, will be unanimous.
Other members of the panel are Vice Premier and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Minister of Energy Moshe Shahal and Minister of Immigration Yaacov Tsur, all Laborites; Tourism Minister Avraham Sharir and Minister-Without-Portfolio Yitzhak Modai, both of Likud; and Religious Affairs Minister Zevulun Hammer of the National Religious party.
Peretz would be a member if he decides to return to the Cabinet. But Shas sources indicated Monday that the decision to set up the panel was not sufficient inducement.
Shas, which holds only four seats in the Knesset but is a political factor in the delicately balanced unity coalition, is demanding that labor and Likud support legislation that would permanently bar Reform converts from receiving status as Jews. Such a law would by-pass the Supreme Court’s decision.
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