Non-Orthodox conversions back in court
Political hot potato goes back to supreme court: 7 plaintiffs demand recognition of non-Orthodox conversions, want to advance last court ruling permitting 'jump conversions'; Lawyer: We don't want to send people overseas to convert. It is natural for them to convert here
For years Supreme Court justices have tried to avoid one of Israel's most loaded issues, but it appears the game will end Tuesday when the court must rule on seven appeals by Reform and Conservative converts for recognition as Jews under the Law of Return.
On one level, the matter is procedural: Back in March, the court approved so-called "jump conversions," in which candidates complete non-Orthodox conversion courses in Israel but travel overseas for their actual conversion ceremonies.
Now, converts are trying to do away once-and-for-all with the Orthodox monopoly on conversion in Israel by demanding full recognition of their right to convert according to non-Orthodox denominations with no reservations.
The appeals, filed by attorney Nicole Maor of the Israel Religious Action Center, represent seven clients, five of whom are foreign residents in Israel and are married to Israeli citizens. The other two are officially tourists – one is a lecturer in Yiddish at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the other is an American-born computer specialist who has lived in Israel for a decade.
Hot potato
The issue is one of the hottest issues to face Israeli society. For years the court has issued a series of decisions recognizing non-Orthodox conversions conducted abroad, including the "jump conversion" ruling mentioned above.
But the court has done everything in its power to refrain from ruling on the ultimate issue in question: Does non-Orthodox Judaism have the right to conduct conversions in Israel or not?
Attorney Maor says the groundwork for the current appeal was laid in the language Chief Justice Aharon Barak used in the "jump conversion" ruling in March.
"Chief Justice Barak said two very important things (in that ruling)," she said. "One, the fact that there are governmental conversions does not rule out recognition of other conversions.
"Secondly, Justice Barak said the only thing that can validate conversion supervision is civil issues; that is to say, civil, rather than religious, supervision of the rabbinate or of other religious bodies."
In that ruling, Barak also wrote, "we accept that the government has the right to set up its own conversion apparatus, similar to the one established in light of the Neeman Commission recommendations.
"But the government may not limit recognition for the purposes of the Law of Return to its conversion framework."
Maor says the Reform and Conservative movements do not encourage converts to utilize the "jump conversions" loophole.
"A person who studies here, who undergoes almost the entire process here – has the right to convert here," she said. "We do not want to send people overseas. Israel is the natural and correct place for them to complete the process."
No forcing
Attorney Maor says the plaintiffs have no interest in forcing the court's hand.
"After the last ruling we turned to the attorney general, to the government and the interior minister and told them they had no more excuses, that there were no more defenses to support this discrimination.
"We told them to spare the court, and us, the need to rule again on this case, and we gave them the opportunity to cooperate. We told them: 'Set conditions, and we will meet them,' but we were met with complete silence. So we had no choice (but to go back to court)."
Maor says she believes the court will eventually permit non-Orthodox conversions in Israel.
"There is nothing to prevent recognition of our conversions," she says.
"Please – let them set conditions for our conversions, just like they do for Orthodox ones. But without legislation, there is no way they will fail to recognize other streams of Judaism.
"In any event, I don't see how the court can go back on its previous commitments and statements."
