The Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman has invited Chief Rabbi Bent Melchior of Denmark to visit him next time he is in Israel. In a letter written by the Chief Rabbi’s secretary and mailed yesterday, the 86-year-old Unterman said that no slight was intended when he failed to receive Rabbi Melchior during his visit to Israel last week. The Danish Chief Rabbi said he had been anxious to meet with Rabbi Unterman to clear up allegations in some religious quarters that conversions performed in Denmark were not in strict compliance with halacha.
Rabbi Melchior claimed that he was unable to get an appointment and shunted between subordinates, although he was cordially received by the Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Yitzhak Nissim. Rabbi Unterman explained in his letter that he was attending a rabbinical congress in Milan when Rabbi Melchior arrived in Israel and that later he rested at the home of relatives in Tel Aviv. When he returned to Jerusalem last Friday, Rabbi Melchior had left, the letter said.
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