Israel's Supreme Court took a step politicans could not
Photo: Gali Tivon
Court ruling a ray of light
Non-Orthodox in Israel finally win victory over closed-mindedness
It’s about time that sanity and modernity prevailed in the long-running debate over conversion to Judaism in Israel, and it’s not surprising that it took the Supreme Court which is shielded from political pressure, not elected officials, to move on this subject.
Alan D. Abbey is Editor and Managing Director of Ynetnews.comThe 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.
Let’s go back over that phrase again, because it’s quite unbelievable, if you think about it. The court’s ruling is the first time Israel has recognized local non-Orthodox conversions since the establishment of the Jewish State in 1948.
It is difficult for me to believe, and I have lived here for five years and seen the stranglehold Orthodox authorities have on matters of social status in Israel. I can’t imagine that Jews living outside Israel can even fathom the antediluvian status of such a fact. Non-Orthodox conversions have been a common practice for years overseas, everywhere except the Promised Land.
Non-Orthodox Jews making some progress here
In fact, non-Orthodox everything (except in matters of kosher food certification - and even that is changing) has pretty much been the rule rather than the exception in the Diaspora, and particularly in the United States.
Non-Orthodox rabbis have been forbidden to do just about everything a rabbi does in Israel. There are Conservative rabbis here who also perform as mohelim (ritual circumcisers), but they do it only outside the country. There are Reform rabbis who head large congregations but cannot perform marriages for their congregants in Israel. The list goes on and on.
The Conservative and Reform movements in Israel have made some progress in recent years, and a rabbi from those communities has, here and there, joined local rabbinical councils. Non-Orthodox congregations have received some government land for their buildings. The “Masorti” (Israeli Conservative) movement has gotten some space in the vicinity of the Western Wall for mixed prayer - but not all the amenities needed to make it a regularly functioning operation the way Orthodox groups do at the “main” Kotel.
Ruling opens up some light
But Thursday’s ruling is a big hole punched through the wall of separation the Orthodox have thrown up around Judaism, a hole big enough to see some light through.
Of course, the usual suspects - Shas political leader Eli Yishai, Orthodox rabbis and others - have mouthed the usual disgraceful comments about how such a ruling will destroy Judaism, separate the people from each other, blah, blah, blah.
As we say here, “davka ha heffech.” Actually, it’s the opposite. It is the Orthodox world’s rigidity, inability to compromise, and unwillingness to address modernity that is creating two Jewish peoples - the vast majority of Jews around the world who want to engage the world and retain their Jewish identity will applaud this ruling. The Orthodox, for all of their procreativity, are the ones who are separating themselves from the mainstream and masses of Jewish people in Israel, North America and the world over. If “two Jewish people” are created by such rulings (which I sincerely doubt), it is the Orthodox that are doing the creating.
