TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday dealt a major blow to the country’s strongest Orthodox institution, ruling that people who convert to Judaism through conservative reforms and movements in Israel are also Jews and have the right to become citizens.
The reference decision, 15 years ago, centered around the fuel issue of who is a Jew and marked an important victory for the reformist and conservative movements. These liberal flows of Judaism, which represent the vast majority of American Jewish affiliates, have long been marginalized in Israel.
“If the state of Israel claims to be the national 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, leader of the Israeli reform movement and a Liberal Labor Party candidate at the next parliamentary elections.
Israel’s powerful ultra-Orthodox institution has a virtual monopoly on religious issues for Israeli Jews, overseeing life-cycle rituals such as weddings and funerals, and using their political influence to gain influence over issues such as immigration.
The government on Monday removed the power, saying the state must allow Jews who are subject to conversions with liberal movements in Israel to receive citizenship.
“Jews who during their stay in Israel have been legally converted to a reform or conservative community must be recognized as Jews,” the court said in its majority decision. He said the ruling applies only to the issue of citizenship and does not delve into religious affairs.
Israel has previously recognized conversions after liberal flows abroad. This judgment now applies to conversions within Israel.
The ruling does not address the issues faced by people who qualify for citizenship under the so-called Return Law, but are not considered Jewish under religious law.
The Law of Return grants citizenship to anyone who has at least one Jewish grandfather, while religious law requires that someone have a Jewish mother. These different definitions have allowed tens of thousands of people, mostly from the Soviet Union, to emigrate to Israel, only to suffer discrimination when seeking religious services from the state.
Monday’s decision directly affects only 30 people a year, such as the husbands of Israeli citizens, lawyers say. But both supporters and opponents of the decision suggested that there was a much deeper symbolism.
“It is said that the Jewish world is one,” said Nicole Maor, the lawyer who represented the reform movement.
“Anyone who becomes a Jew in a conversion conversion or something similar is not a Jew,” said David Lau, one of Israel’s two chief rabbis. “No decision of the Supreme Court in this way or in this way will change this fact.”
The ultra-Orthodox are the key allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with great political power.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, the leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, condemned the decision, saying it would lead to deep divisions in Israeli society.
“I promise to set the law to ensure that only conversions under Orthodox religious law will be recognized in the state of Israel,” said Deri, whose ministry deals with immigration policy.
Netanyahu, who is running for re-election in Israel’s March 23 contest, retweeted a tweet from the Likud Party, saying the decision should be left to “the people and the Knesset.”
Reforms and conservative flows of Judaism have had an increasingly strained relationship with Netanyahu, who is leading the success of Israel’s vaccination campaign ahead of the March 23 elections. The Orthodox, including the ultra-Orthodox robbing Netanyahu’s plan to fight COVID, form a key part of his support base.
Netanyahu’s tensions with unorthodox movements have risen in recent years. These are underlined by his decision in 2017 under strong Orthodox pressure to cancel plans for a large mixed-area prayer area at the Western Wall, the holiest place of prayer in Judaism. Netanyahu’s close ties to his ultra-Orthodox political partners, as well as his strong alliance with former President Donald Trump, have further alienated large segments of the American Jewish community. Most American Jews tend to have liberal political views.
Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of Israel Beitenu, a popular party among former Soviet immigrants, welcomed the decision. “Yisrael Beitenu will continue to fight against religious constraints and maintain the character of the state of Israel as a liberal Jewish Zionist state,” he wrote on Twitter.
Naftali Bennett, the leader of the Yamina party and candidate for prime minister, said the high court had overtaken and called for a legislative solution.
“The recognition of the state of Israel through conversion will be determined by the democratically elected people’s representatives, and not by lawyers,” he wrote on Twitter. “Conversion procedures,” he added, should be “institutionalized in law.”
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