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On Sunday Israel’s Chief Rabbi, Shlomo Amar, put forward a proposal to the Knesset that will make the terms of Conversion to Judaism more stringent. The proposal is made to control the Reform Converts and prevent those converting to gain Israeli citizenship and acquiring the associated Right to Return privilage. The proposal was put forward for approval to Prime Minister Olmert. The Rabbi wants to amend the Right to Return Law that is currently is granted to Jewish Converts.
The issue has to do with the foreign residents and converts who see the process of conversion as there only ticket into Israel. It is suggested that this trend makes the conversion process devoid of any religious meaning and turns it into a formality on the road to Israeli citizenship.
The proposal was prompted by the recent call to the Supreme Court in Israel to decide on a proposal put forward by the Reform Movement, calling for recognition in the Reform Converts and not only Conversion done by the Orthodox. Amar’s proposal comes to prevent making the Reform Conversion equal in every respect to the Orthodox process.
Rabbi Gilad Kariv of the Reform Movement calls the proposal anti Jewish and a move meant to protect the Orthodox monopoly. He hopes the Prime Minister will not support the proposal, that he believes will increase division between the world Jewry and emphasize division within the population. He calls separating the Jewish born from the convert a fundamental breach of Jewish principals.
The whole issue seems a little ridiculous when you think about it. We are not suffering from over population and I don’t see how we can turn away people who want to become citizens of Israel and are willing to become Jewish to do so. We are just not that popular !
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One thing is certain; We live in interesting times! I’d like to see both proposals backed by scripture played out in court. We may have the makings of the most popular movie in history here.
“He calls separating the Jewish born from the convert a fundamental breach of Jewish principals.” He’s right, where’s the argument?
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