Reform rabbis lobby against conversion bill

MICHELE CHABIN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

The 50 rabbis came to Israel this week to lobby against a bill, which, if passed, would affirm the Chief Rabbinate's control over all conversions to Judaism in Israel and thereby delegitimize non-Orthodox conversions.

Welcomed by numerous governmental officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the delegation received "a great deal of respect," said Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America.

Hirsch said the half-hour meeting, the first since Netanyahu came to power, was "in itself significant."

The battle over who has the legal right to perform conversions in Israel is part of a larger campaign by Reform and Conservative Jews to win recognition for their movements in Israel. Bobby Brown, the prime minister's adviser on Diaspora affairs, concurred that the meeting with the Reform rabbis went well.

"This was an open discussion," he said. "The rabbis understood the depth of the problem the prime minister is facing."

The Reform lobbying effort came as the Cabinet is nearing action on the so-called "Rabbinical Court Conversion Bill," which has been in the works for months.

The bill aims to plug a hole in Israel's Orthodox monopoly over religious affairs. Israel's Supreme Court ruled in late 1995 that there was no legal reason why non-Orthodox conversions should not be recognized in Israel. However, the court did not explicitly recognize such conversions, saying that it would be up to the Knesset.

During their visit, the American rabbis put their religious views into practice. Although a planned conversion of a handful of people in the Mediterranean Sea was postponed due to bad weather, the delegates successfully held a joint male/female morning service in the plaza just behind the Western Wall.