Will the State of Israel continue to act in service to extreme political interests?
The conversion draft bill is a land mine!
"The minefields of Israel's religion and state arena and Israel-Diaspora relations will explode in the coming days," Rabbi Uri Regev responded to reports about the upcoming legislative initiative on conversion, based on the recommendations of former minister Moshe Nissim.
Uri Regev
24/04/2018 11:36
Tags: conversion · Conversion Bill · Moshe Nissim · Modern Orthodoxy
The recommendations regarding the appointment of an exclusive conversion authority to approve conversions in Israel were expected, but unlike the previous rounds of 'Who is a Jew' battles throughout Israel's history, this time the move is directed not only against the non-Orthodox denominations, but also against Modern Orthodoxy. Therefore the intensity of the explosion will be greater than ever.
This proposal has no relation to the Jewish people's conversion tradition, which has always been flexible and diversified. Pluralism has existed not only between liberal and Orthodox Judaism but also within Orthodoxy itself. If the government adopts this draft bill, the State of Israel will be acting not only against the interests of most of the Jewish world but also against Judaism itself, in service to cynical and extreme politic interests. Such politics prioritize short-term political survival over the real needs of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
The positive side to this new proposal is that if the government adopts this draft bill, it will give a boost to the battle to promote freedom of religion and equality in Israel
The positive side to this new proposal is that if the government adopts this draft bill, it will give a boost to the battle to promote freedom of religion and equality in Israel, and this time with a broader base of cooperation than ever before between all the enlightened streams of world Jewry, including modern Orthodoxy.
An example of such partnership can be seen in the Vision Statement on Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, which has brought together rabbis and leaders of all streams and political views throughout the United States and Israel to call for far-reaching changes in Israel's arena of religion and state and to realize Israel's Declaration of Independence's promise for freedom of religion and equality.