Rabbi Louis Bernstein, president of the Rabbinical Council of America, urged religious members of the Knesset to resign in wake of the overwhelming defeat of the “Who is a Jew” amendment in the Knesset yesterday.
The American Orthodox leader said he spoke for all American, Canadian and British Mizrachi delegates to the Zionist General Council meeting here when he said the religious MKs produced a fiasco by pressing the controversial measure for a vote when its adoption was unlikely.
According to Bernstein, the outcome of the 61-47 defeat would be “to increase intermarriage in the United States and elsewhere.” The amendment would have, in effect, invalidated conversions to Judaism performed by non-Orthodox rabbis.
He said the Knesset was perceived to have “legislated against halacha” and warned that if the religious parties re-introduce the measure in six months –as they will be allowed to under the law–he and other diaspora Orthodox leaders would publicly dissociate themselves from the effort.
The amendment which yesterday sustained its third defeat in recent years is considered likely to be defeated a fourth time if introduced in six months. Bernstein’s position was akin to that of Religious Affairs Minister Yosef Burg, a leader of Mizrachi, who refused to cut short a visit to the U.S. and return home for the Knesset debate after warning that the amendment lacked the votes for passage and should not have been introduced at this time.
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