JERUSALEM - The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that 17 Reform
and Conservative
converts to Judaism should be granted Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return, marking the first time Israel has recognized local non-Orthodox conversions since the establishment of the Jewish State in 1948.
Although the court stressed the decision related specifically to this case and should not be taken as a sweeping ruling, it is considered to be an important test of the court's attitude towards non-Orthodox conversions in Israel.
Prior to the ruling, Israel only recognized and authorized Orthodox conversions in the country and has allowed Reform and Conservative converts to immigrate under the Law of Return only if they have undergone their conversion process outside of Israel.
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Reform welcomes decision
Reform and Conservative officials were quick to applaud the decision, and called on the court to end Orthodox monopolies on other civil areas as well.
Zamira Segev, executive director of the Hemdat Council for Freedom of Religion in Israel, said the next target would be Orthodox of marriage in Israel. “Just as the court has done away with the Orthodox monopoly over conversion in Israel,” she said, “the time has come to allow Israelis to get married in accordance with their beliefs, in religious or civil ceremonies of any and all descriptions.”
Far-reaching implications
The case could have far-reaching repercussions in Israel and abroad. Domestically, the case opens the door for non-Orthodox converts to be recognized as Jewish, with full citizenship rights and absorption benefits.
Abroad, the decision avoids a major rift with American Jewry, a majority of whom do not affiliate with Orthodox Judaism.
The applicants in the ruling, including foreign workers who have lived in Israel for years, completed non-Ortrhodox conversion courses in Israel and later traveled abroad to complete the conversion process.
State position: Israeli conversion must be Orthodox
The court rejected the government’s position that a person who spends time in Israel should only be eligible to convert via a local Orthodox conversion. Foreign conversions would continue to be recognized by all streams—including Reform and Conservative.
But the government is opposed to a process known colloquially as “jump conversions,” in which a candidate studies in Israel for a non-Orthodox conversion, only to travel out of Israel for the official culmination of the process.
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