Israel – Stav Slams Rabbis For Not Recognizing Conversions Under Proposed Reforms

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    Israel – Rabbi David Stav, the chairman of the Tzohar association of national-religious rabbis and the chief municipal rabbi of Shoham, heavily criticized the chief rabbis on Tuesday for their vehement opposition to reforms to the conversion process that are currently being advanced.

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    Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Stav criticized comments the chief rabbis reportedly made to the prime minister in their meeting with him on Tuesday, and also hit out at Shas chairman MK Arye Deri who he said was “running” the chief rabbinate.

    The chief rabbis strongly oppose proposed reforms to the conversion process that would allow municipal chief rabbis to establish their own conversion courts. Currently there are just four conversion courts nationwide.

    Despite this opposition, Stav maintains that the reforms proposed are nevertheless implementable even without the support of the chief rabbis and are a crucial step in preventing intermarriage between Israeli Jews and immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are not Jewish according to Jewish law.

    Stav and Tzohar have been heavily involved in drafting the reform proposals as well as lobbying in Knesset for their adoption.

    “The authority that the chief rabbis have to recognize someone as having converted comes from the government and from the Knesset,” Stav said, in reference to the manner in which the state grants power over issues such as marriage and conversion to the established religious authorities.

    “Since this power is vested in the government and the Knesset, these institutions can also chose to give such rights not only to the chief rabbis but to municipal rabbis as well,” the rabbi continued.

    The proposals would still give the chief rabbis the final say over whether or not to recognize any particular conversion, but Stav said he did not believe this would be a barrier to the implementation of the reforms since there would not be any basis for rejecting en masse conversions performed by municipal rabbis who are all ordained by the chief rabbinate.

    “Everyone understands that the chief rabbis can’t simply annul a conversion, there has to be a reason behind it, and since there will be no substantive claims against such conversions which will be done according to Jewish law, they will have no choice but to recognize these converts,” Stav said.

    The rabbi also condemned the chief rabbis for telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that allowing municipal chief rabbis to convert would lead to corrupt practices seeping into the process.

    “I want to ask from where the chief rabbis have the chutzpah to cast aspersions on the rabbis of Israel,” he asked fiercely.

    “Are all city rabbis now suspected of corruption? Do the chief rabbis not support the city rabbis that are under their supervision?”

    Stav also leveled heavy criticism at Shas chairman MK Arye Deri, accusing him of playing political games on an issue of national importance.

    “The person running the chief rabbinate today is Arye Deri. He decides who is a Jew and who is not, who is a rabbi and who is not, but we will not allow a politician to have the final say in such matters,” Stav said, alluding to Deri’s reportedly heavy influence with in the office of Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, son of the late Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

    Stav said that Deri was trying to prove he was the ultimate authority in the country over issues of religion and state, and attributed blame to the Shas leader for Netanyahu’s decision last week to pull his support for a government order approving the reforms, which was worked out between Bayit Yehudi and Stern, following the national-religious party’s opposition to the legislation.

    “The prime minister didn’t start looking into the details of the reforms and then decide to pull his support. He withdrew his backing because of Deri’s pressure,” Stav said.

    This kind of political pressure shows an intense lack of responsibility to the Jewish people and must not be allowed to pass.”

    Stav and other advocates of the plan to allow municipal chief rabbis to establish conversion courts say that such measures are necessary in order to convert larger numbers of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who are of Jewish descent but not considered Jewish according to Halacha.

    There are approximately 330,000 such people in Israel and those backing the expansion of the number of rabbinical conversion courts say that intermarriage between this sector and Jewish Israelis will increase if efforts are not made to convert them and their children.

    “These people are part of our society, they serve in the army, they study in university and they are meeting Jewish men and women, said Stav.

    “People who care about the Jewish people, who care more about the nation than their own tribe and who have a sense of responsibility to our nation must find a solution to the conversion problem, otherwise we will see mass assimilation when civil marriage is enacted, as it surely will be at some stage.”

    Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post


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    3 Comments
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    proud-mo-israeli
    proud-mo-israeli
    9 years ago

    Kol Hakavod to Tzohar & MK Elazar Stern for dealing with this important issue.
    The haredims with their insular societies may not have exposure to this problem (yet), but the rest of the Jewish People in Israel (90% of the population) do.

    Shame on the Likud & Bayit Hayehudi parties for trying to prevent this law.

    This is an urgent issue that should have been dealt with years ago to prevent assimilation.

    BarryLS1
    BarryLS1
    9 years ago

    People need to recognize the difference between Halacha and political control. Halacha should not be compromised, but politics should not play a role in it. My fear is that when people respond to political over-reaching, the backlash that comes force changes that may actually affect Halacha and then the real problems begin.

    There are Halachic conversion aspects that must be followed, but all the stories coming out about conversions are overbearing and have nothing to do with Halacha. Too many Israeli’s go to Europe for civil marriage ceremonies because of the administrative nightmare. Agree with Rav Stav or not, but that is what he is trying to prevent. The issue isn’t just conversions, but similar problems exist for marriages between secular Jews too.

    Rafuel
    Rafuel
    9 years ago

    If Stav and Tzohar have their way, there would be hundreds of thousands russian goyim walking around calling themselves Jews, and unsuspecting simple minded secular or modern strive-to-be orthodox Israeli would see no problems marrying their shiksas daughters. Here is hoping that Stav and Tzohar fail miserably.