by Rev. William E. Currie
March 1998
"The War Within," an article by Thomas L. Friedman published in the May 15, 1997 New York Times, quoted Israeli Army Chief of Staff General Amnon Shahak's reply to "whether he was more worried about the eroding status of the Israeli Army in the eyes of the Israeli public or by Syria's steady buildup of missiles and chemical weapons." His answer? "Neither." He continued, "What really troubles me is the dissension within Israeli society...I have no doubt that this weakens us a lot." In the past year this dissension has increased as religious Knesset members sought further control over the lifestyles of Israelis. Since religious parties have a sizable minority vote in the Knesset, they are seeking to consolidate their hold on Israeli life by controlling the conversion process of both new immigrants and Israelis, and by excluding conversion within Israel to any religion except Orthodox Judaism.
The Israeli Knesset has almost always been nearly equally divided between two major parties, Labor and Likud, with neither party able to gain enough seats in an election to have a majority. This has led to the major parties seeking minority blocs to form a coalition of like-minded members to pass legislation. In the last election, Benjamin Netanyahu gained support of the religious parties as members of his coalition. They now hold more Knesset seats than ever, and use this leverage toward their ends. This means not only passing the laws Netanyahu and his party propose, but also expecting Netanyahu to support laws proposed by the religious parties. Not fully supporting the religious parties and their proposals could bring down Netanyahu's government, which now has only a tenuous one-vote majority. This situation has spawned aggressive attempts to pass laws that will secure the full religious authority of the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox elements of Israeli society. Two laws are now under consideration: (1) a conversion law that would strictly govern the conversion of non-Jews to the Jewish faith within Israel, and (2) a more draconian version of the previously proposed "anti-missionary" law that would make it unlawful for anyone to convert to any religion except Orthodox Judaism in Israel. Both laws would destroy freedom of speech and conscience for Israelis, and the tougher "anti-missionary" law seeks to stamp out the witness of Messianic Jews. In this issue of Heartbeat we will deal with the conversion law, and in the following issue look at the anti-missionary law.
The conversion law now under consideration in the Knesset is contested by Jewry in both Israel and the rest of the world. Under its provisions all conversions in Israel would be supervised by Orthodox rabbinic authority. Conservative and Reform Jews would officially become less than real Jews in the eyes of the Orthodox, and in practice would be second-class citizens because of the continuing Orthodox control over marriage and burial regulations. Yet worldwide there are far more Conservative and Reform Jews who consider themselves practicing the Jewish religion than there are Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Here are some examples of how religious tensions are dividing not only Jews in Israel but worldwide as well. The child of a Jewish man married to a gentile woman endures anti-Semitism in many parts of the world because of his Jewish name. When this family immigrates to Israel for relief from anti-Semitism they again find discrimination because their child is not born of a Jewish mother. Even though he has a Jewish father, the child is considered non-Jewish and loses the right to be married by a rabbi in a valid ceremony and to be granted a burial site in a Jewish cemetery.
The Knesset recently was embarrassed by a situation like this when Jewish religious authorities refused to bury a Russian child in a Jewish cemetery because he was not born of a Jewish mother, even though the child died under heroic circumstances. He had to be buried in a kibbutz cemetaey. The incident so incensed Israelis that Knesset members passed a law that all Jewish cemeteries had to have an area reserved for non-Jewish people who died in Israel. But so far only some of the cemeteries have complied.
Hirsch Goodman, editor-in-chief and CEO of The Jerusalem Report, reported at a March 1 lecture at the Anshe Emet synagogue in Chicago of an Israeli soldier who died in action in southern Lebanon whose family could not bury him in a Jewish cemetery because his mother wasn't Jewish. Goodman exclaimed, "If an Israeli soldier is killed in battle protecting Israel it is not 'their son,' but 'our son.'" A secular Jew attending the Goodman lecture told the group he was the child of Holocaust survivors, yet by this new law he felt he would not be considered a Jew in Israel.
These examples show the pressure for immigrants to seek a conversion that would declare them "fully Jewish" unter Israeli religious law. Non-Orthodox conversion to Judaism outside the state is recognized for a new oleh (immigrant) seeking citizenship. However, Orthodox conversion demands the converted party live by halacha, strict religious regulations governing lifestyle, including kosher laws and observance of holy days. Yet only a minority of those considered Orthodox Jews in Israel keep all the religious laws. Though Israelis may be considered Orthodox because of their birth to a Jewish mother, most attend synagogue infrequently. Their practice does not conform to halacha, but they are secure in their religious privileges. A new convert does not have that liberty and must adhere to all the regulations imposed by the rabbinate. This keeps many immigrants from seeking Orthodox conversion, they are asking for the right to a Conservative or Reform conversion that would grant them the privileges enjoyed by other Jews in Israel.
So great an outcry has arisen against Orthodox control that Prime Minister Netanyahu appointed his Finance Minister, Ya'acov Ne'eman, a practicing Orthodox Jew, to head a committee to formulate a compromise. Such an agreement was called for not only because of the presence of the Reform and Conservative branches in Israel, but due to pressure from these movements in the U.S. where so much financial and political support for Israel originates. The committee worked for months and finally succeeded in drafting a proposal.
According to Israeline, the daily electronic newsletter published by the Consulate General of Israel in New York City, Ne'eman presented the proposal to Netanyahu on January 23, 1998, saying, "We are not offering a compromise, but a breakthrough for coexistence and mutual respect among Jews in Israel and throughout the world."
The committee proposed that all conversions in Israel be conducted by the Chief Rabbinate Court. Prospective converts would study in an institute administered by the Jewish Agency and taught by representatives of all three movements of Judaism. Netanyaju praised the committee for reaching agreement, saying, "This committee is an important step toward an overall solution to the conversion issue." Following this praise for a committee including Orthodox parties and chaired by an Orthodox Jew, Israeline reported on January 27, "an open letter signed by dozens of ultra-Orthodox rabbis is scheduled to appear in the religious press. The letter is reported to be a withering attack on the Reform and Conservative movements and an absolute prohibition on negotiating with those movements. The letter read, '...we are coming with this statement to express the opinion of Torah that it is inconceivable to give them [the Reform and Conservative movements] any recognition.'" On February 10, The Jerusalem Post reported that the Chief Rabbinical Council had accepted that the Chief Rabbinate should be responsible for approving conversions but that they would not participate in an institute with the Reform and Conservative movements. The Rabbinate should be responsible for approving conversions but that they would not participate in an institute with the Reform and Conservative movements. The Rabbinate described the non-Orthodox as "those who ...seek to undermine the foundations of the Jewish faith." In response, the directors of the Conservative and Reform movements in Israel said the Council had "declared war on the Jewish people." A curios compromise The decision by the Orthodox rabbis to refuse the Ne'eman Committee's compromise is especially confusing in light of Israel's Druckman Commission report on the conversion of non-Jewish children adopted from outside Israel by Israeli families. The Commission, headed by Rabbi Haim Druckman, President of the Religious Conversion Court, was established months ago to recommend conversion standards for adopted children.
The Druckman Commission proposed that families of converting minors need not be religiously observant, that converted children would not have to undergo religious education, and that there would be no follow-up scrutiny on the adoptive family's lifestyle. Conversion of adopted children would not be retroactively annulled.
This more moderate view on conversion, offered without explanation by Orthodox leaders, strains their credibility in the eyes of the Conservative and Reform wings of Judaism.
Such dissension between the religious streams of Judaism has raised questions among the Israeli public, most of whom are non-religious. Israeline's January 29, 1998 issue reported the concerns of secular members of Likud and Labor over the growing influence of the religious parties and its effect on the social structure of Israeli life. Pointing out that the majority of Israelis are secular, they highlighted their concerns over yeshiva students' education, and the increasing number of ultra-Orthodox who are not part of the workforce.
On February 2, more than 15,000 university students and 1100 high school students appealed to the Israeli High Court of Justice demanding that yeshiva students be drafted to serve in the Israel Defense Forces. According to Yediot Aharonot, a leading Israeli daily newspaper, the petitioners claimed that "a situation by which thousands of teenagers are exempt from military service while thousands of others risk their lives...causes frustration...on the part of those who serve." The petitioners presented statistics provided by the head of the IDF draft until stating that, at present, 29,000 teenagers are exempt from military service.
Goodman of The Jerusalem Report believes that the conversion law will pass because one of its major proponents, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, is the strongest minority party in the Knesset. He explained to his lecture audience that Shas could bring down Netanyahu's government immediately by leaving his coalition, but that they will not do so because it serves their purpose to have a prime minister they can control.
Goodman's proposed solution to the dissention in Israel is a restructuring of the political system that will return the control of the Knesset to the majority of the people. But he offered no agenda to accomplish this. The only comfort he could offer his audience was the statement that the Jews "have always remained, and this will work out." But I believe that only Messiah's intervention will prevent the ongoing destructive division within worldwide Jewry over the question "Who is a Jew?"
