The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada designated Sunday, Sept, 3, as a day of fast and special prayers to protest against “repeated legislation (in Israel) which offends the sensitivities of religious Jews.” The fast day was proclaimed by Rabbi Moses Feinstein, president of the rabbinical organization.
He singled out as target of the protest an amendment to Israel’s Law of Return which, he claimed, “blurs the distinction between Jew and non-Jew” and is “particularly absurd and ominous in its implications.”
Orthodox elements here and in Israel have been agitating to have the Law of Return amended to specify that the conversion of prospective immigrants must be in accordance with halacha, religious law. The law as it now stands is not specific on that point.
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