BICOM

A group of prominent religious-Zionist rabbis yesterday established their own independent conversion court, challenging the authority of the ultra-Orthodox controlled state-run rabbinical institutions.

At present, the Chief Rabbinate and its constituent regional authorities is the sole state-recognised arbiter on major life events for Jewish Israelis, including marriages, divorce and conversions. They are notoriously stringent in their rulings and some leading religious-Zionist rabbis have long argued that their rigid approach is not only unnecessary but discourages many Jewish Israelis from religious life entirely.

Yesterday, it was announced that a new conversion court had been established by several dozen prominent religious-Zionist rabbis, some of whom are municipal chief rabbis within the existing Chief Rabbinate network. The court will be headed by Rabbi Nahum Rabinovitch, dean of the respected Ma’aleh Adumim religious seminary. The move comes after the new government cancelled a law which would have allowed 30 Orthodox city rabbis to perform state-recognised conversions, heralding a more flexible approach to conversions.

The new court will deal primarily with conversions for minors from the former-Soviet republics, who are of Jewish origin but not Jewish in accordance with Orthodox Jewish law. Jewish law holds that these conversions are more straightforward than those of adults with no Jewish background.

Members of the new conversion court called on the Chief Rabbinate to recognise its authority. There has been no official response. However, the Jewish Agency which is responsible for relations between Israel and Jewish communities across the world approved the development. Its’ chairman, Natan Sharansky said, “It is important that rabbis who have been authorised by the Chief Rabbinate to conduct conversions participate in this process.” Meanwhile, Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett also backed the new court. His party has close links with the religious-Zionist community. Bennett commented, “Unfortunately, the [chief] rabbinate is not working properly and therefore alternative bodies for conversion have been set up. This is an opportunity for the rabbinate, perhaps the last. It needs to regain its composure, and decisively repair [its] shortcomings.”