50 U.S. Rabbis Urge Israel Not to Make Non-Orthodox Jews ‘Second-Class’

JERUSALEM — The American rabbis embraced new converts to Judaism, and they held a prayer service at the Old City’s Western Wall. The 50 religious leaders even sat down with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.

Their pilgrimage would seem to have been the perfect visit to the Jewish homeland were it not for the fact that the rabbis are Reform Jews: The conversions they perform are not recognized by Israel’s highest religious authority, and their prayers for equality have yet to be answered by the Jewish state.

On the contrary. The leaders of the Assn. of Reform Zionists of America met with Netanyahu to oppose his government’s move toward legislation that would for the first time explicitly ban all non-Orthodox rabbis from performing marriages, burials and conversions in Israel.

In fact, Orthodox rabbis have held a monopoly over these rites since the founding of the Jewish state in 1948. The Orthodox rabbinate does not recognize rites performed by Reform and Conservative rabbis.

Reform leaders told Netanyahu that they want to see the liberalization of a “medieval” status quo, not legislation for the 21st century that would define them as “second-class Jews.”

“We expect the government of Israel to oppose legislation whose purpose and effect would be to split world Jewry,” said Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, director of the Reform movement’s umbrella organization. “The government should not be involved in codifying second-class status for non-Orthodox Jews.”

The issue goes to the heart of Diaspora-Israel relations, and it is a hot potato for Netanyahu, who is caught between the demands of millions of Jews abroad and those of ultra-Orthodox members of his own religious-right coalition.

At root is the fundamental question of “Who is a Jew?” That is to say, who is recognized by the Jewish state and, therefore, is entitled to automatic citizenship? Also at issue is who is doing the recognizing.

Reform and Conservative Jews say the Orthodox should not be the exclusive voice of Judaism in Israel or the only heirs to Jewish traditions. They say the Orthodox try to impose their religious views on all Jews and turn away anyone who does not agree with them.

The Orthodox rabbinate, Israel’s only religious authority, sees itself as the caretaker of Jewish tradition. It sees Reform and Conservative Jews as agents of assimilation, peddlers of a watered-down Judaism that, ultimately, is not Judaism.

The rabbinate does not recognize Reform and Conservative conversions performed in Israel or abroad, although such conversions done abroad are accepted by the Interior Ministry. Thus, Reform and Conservative converts may immigrate to Israel, but Israel’s Orthodox rabbis will not marry or bury them in a country where there are no civil ceremonies.

The rabbinate also has prohibited Reform and Conservative rabbis from performing marriages, burials and conversions in Israel. But last year, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that there was nothing in Israeli law to prevent non-Orthodox rabbis from performing such ceremonies and urged the government to define the law.

On Friday, the Cabinet began discussing a draft law prepared by the Justice Ministry that would codify the status quo: Marriage, divorce and conversion would remain the exclusive domain of the Orthodox in Israel. That would leave the status of conversions abroad untouched.

“We never proposed that non-Orthodox conversions performed abroad would not be recognized in Israel,” said Deputy Health Minister Shlomo Benizri of the religious Shas Party. “That is our ambition, but not our proposal.”

Nonetheless, religious Cabinet members argued that the new law does not go far enough to prevent quick conversions abroad for people who live in Israel or intend to do so.

They claim that, for example, Russian immigrants and foreign workers who want citizenship can fly to London for a day to be converted by a Reform rabbi, or even receive a certificate of conversion by fax from abroad.

At least one of the religious parties, which have 23 seats in the 120-member parliament, has threatened to pull out of Netanyahu’s coalition--and bring down the government--if the prime minister cedes any ground to Reform Jews.

The American Reform leaders, meanwhile, drove home the point to Netanyahu that American Jews--the vast majority of whom are Reform or Conservative--are the ones who lobby Congress for $3 billion a year in aid to Israel.

“If you have the Jewish state sending the message that you [Reform Jews] are not exactly equal here . . . if you say, ‘Continue lobbying for us, continue your tourism, but don’t bring us your religious sensibilities,’ ” said Hirsch, “well, it doesn’t take much for Jews to disengage.”

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The Americans came face to face with the inequality issue Sunday when ultra-Orthodox Jews shouted insults at them as the men and women prayed together at the Western Wall, in violation of Orthodox custom.

“You women are impure and evil spirits,” shouted one Orthodox Jew after the rabbis prayed in the plaza about 50 yards from the wall, Associated Press reported.

Just when the Cabinet will agree on a draft law and take it to parliament is open to debate. Religious party leaders say they want to pass a law before the high court changes its mind and makes its own. To hear Netanyahu aides talk, the prime minister would prefer inaction for as long as possible.

“Realistically, it could be a long time before this gets to the Knesset,” said one official who asked not to be identified.

Immigration Minister Yuli Edelstein, who has been working closely on proposed legal changes, said, “This is a no-win issue.”

Nonetheless, he noted that the Orthodox have the upper hand.

“It’s a question of power. You only have a few thousand Reform and Conservative Jews in Israel . . . and more than 20 seats in the Knesset for parties that say, ‘What’s a Reform Jew?’ ”