Interior Minister Yitzhak Peretz formally submitted his resignation to Premier Yitzhak Shamir at Sunday’s Cabinet meeting and it was accepted with regret. It takes effect in 48 hours.
Peretz, who heads the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, quit rather than comply with a Supreme Court order to register as a Jew Shoshana Miller, a recent immigrant from the U.S. who was converted to Judaism by an American Reform rabbi. His departure from the Cabinet is not expected to lead to the defection of Shas, which has four Knesset seats, from the unity coalition government.
NO REPLACEMENT FOR PERETZ ANNOUNCED
No replacement for Peretz has been announced. The Interior Ministry is traditionally headed by a member of an Orthodox political party. The Orthodox rabbinate refuses to recognize conversions performed abroad by non-Orthodox rabbis. Only Orthodox rabbis are permitted to perform conversions in Israel.
Miller was converted four years ago by Rabbi David Klein, a Reform rabbi of Colorado Springs, Colo. She immigrated to Israel a year ago and appealed to the Supreme Court after the Interior Ministry refused to register her as a Jew, thus denying her automatic citizenship.
The Supreme Court ruling last month precipitated a crisis in Orthodox circles. Miller must be given status as a Jew which, in effect, recognizes Reform conversion as valid in Israel.
MILLER REGRETS THE CONTROVERSY
Miller herself is presently in the U.S. caring for her widowed father who is seriously ill. She said on an Israel Radio telephone interview Sunday that she plans to return to Israel as soon as she can. She expressed regret over the controversy aroused by her case.
“I am not a political animal. When I converted to Judaism I believed I was making an entirely personal commitment. I suddenly found myself in the center of a public controversy,” she said.
Commenting on Peretz’s resignation, Miller observed that it “was proof that all the streams of Judaism have to be treated equally.”
Miller indicated that she could have ended the controversy by agreeing to Rabbi Klein’s suggestion that she submit to Orthodox conversion rites in Israel. She said her conversion experience was a “momentous event in my life and I see no reason to do it again.”
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.
