TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday delivered a major blow to the country’s powerful orthodox system, ruling that people who convert to Judaism through Reformation and conservative movements in Israel are also Jewish. and have the right to become citizens.
The historic decision, 15 years in the making, centered around the fuel issue of who is a Jew and marked an important victory for the reformist and conservative movements. These liberal currents of Judaism, which represent the vast majority of American Jewish affiliates, were long ago marginalized in Israel.
“If the state of Israel claims to be the nation-state of the Jewish world, then the state of Israel must recognize all denominations of Judaism and imbue them with equality and respect,” said Rabbi Gilad Kariv, head of the reformist movement in Israel. and a Liberal Labor Party candidate in the next parliamentary elections.
Israel’s powerful ultra-Orthodox establishment has a virtual monopoly on religious issues for Israeli Jews, overseeing life-cycle rituals such as weddings and burials, and using its political influence to gain influence on issues such as immigration.
Monday’s decision undermined that power by saying that the state must allow Jews who submit to conversions with liberal movements in Israel to receive citizenship.
“Jews who during their stay in Israel were legally converted into a reformist or conservative community must be recognized as Jews,” said the court in its majority decision. He said that the decision applies only to the issue of citizenship, and did not delve into religious matters.
Israel previously recognized conversions by liberal currents conducted abroad. This decision now applies to conversions within Israel.
The decision does not solve the problems faced by people who qualify for citizenship under the so-called Law of Return, but are not considered Jewish under religious law.
The Law of Return grants citizenship to anyone with at least one Jewish grandfather, while religious law requires that you have a Jewish mother. These different definitions allowed tens of thousands of people, mainly from the Soviet Union, to immigrate to Israel, only to suffer discrimination when seeking state religious services.
Monday’s decision directly affects about 30 people a year, as spouses of Israeli citizens, advocates say. But both defenders and opponents of the decision suggested that there was a much deeper symbolism.
“You are saying that the Jewish world is one,” said Nicole Maor, the lawyer who represented the reform movement.
“Anyone who becomes a Jew in a reformed conversion or the like is not a Jew,” said David Lau, one of Israel’s two chief rabbis. “No Supreme Court decision in this or that way will change that.”
The ultra-Orthodox are key allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with great political power.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, leader of the ultra-orthodox Shas party, condemned the decision, saying it would lead to deep divisions in Israeli society.
“I promise to fix the law to ensure that only conversions under orthodox religious law are recognized in the state of Israel,” said Deri, whose ministry is responsible for immigration policies.
Netanyahu, who is running for re-election in the March 23 race in Israel, published a tweet from the Likud Party saying that the decision should be left to “the people and the Knesset”.
The reformist and conservative currents of Judaism have an increasingly strained relationship with Netanyahu, who is on the rise with the success of Israel’s vaccination campaign before the March 23 election. The Orthodox, including the ultra-Orthodox who despise Netanyahu’s COVID plan of struggle, form a fundamental part of their base of supporters.
Netanyahu’s tensions with unorthodox movements have increased in recent years. They are underscored by their 2017 decision under strong orthodox pressure to cancel plans for an expanded mixed prayer area at the Western Wall, Judaism’s most sacred place of prayer. Netanyahu’s close ties to his ultra-Orthodox political partners, as well as his strong alliance with former President Donald Trump, alienated even greater segments of the American Jewish community. Most American Jews tend to have liberal political views.
Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Yisrael Beitenu, a party popular with former Soviet immigrants, welcomed the decision. “Yisrael Beitenu will continue to fight religious coercion and preserve the character of the State of Israel as a Jewish liberal Zionist state,” he wrote on Twitter.
Naftali Bennett, leader of the Yamina party and candidate for prime minister, said that the supreme court exaggerated and advocated a legislative solution.
“The recognition of the State of Israel by conversion will be determined by the democratically elected representatives of the people, and not by jurists,” he tweeted. “Conversion procedures,” he added, must be “institutionalized in the law”.
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