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Israeli court ends top Jewish body's monopoly on conversions to Judaism

Xinhua, April 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Israeli Supreme Court made an unusual ruling on Thursday that Israel would recognize private Orthodox conversions to Judaism, therefore hurting the monopoly of a top religious body.

A panel of nine judges ruled that immigrants to Israel do not have to go through the Chief Rabbinate, the supreme rabbinic and spiritual religious authority for Jews in Israel, but can undergo conversions in private Orthodox courts.

The Chief Rabbinate is the legal and administrative authority with monopoly over various aspects of religious life in Israel, overseeing, among others, marriages, divorces and burials, and supervising conversions to Judaism, mostly of Russian and Ethiopian migrants in the country who are not considered Jews by the Orthodox establishment.

Under the Israeli Law of Return of 1950, Jews can reach Israel and become citizens. Thus, private Orthodox courts will be in charge of paving the way to citizenship alongside the chief rabbinate.

The ruling came amid appeals by tourists who stayed in Israel and converted to Judaism by private rabbinical courts which currently do not receive the official recognition of the state. Therefore they were denied a request to citizenship.

"Restricting recognition of conversions to the official track alone ... will hurt the right to return (to Israel) which is a fundamental right of every Jew, and violates the instructions of the Law of Return," Justice Miriam Naor wrote in her judgment, the Ha'aretz daily reported.

Rabbi Isaac Yosef, the chief rabbi of the Sephardi Jewish community whose origins are from northern African and Middle Eastern countries, blasted the decision on Thursday, calling it "outrageous."

"It is inconceivable that the pirate conversions business will get the recognition of the state," Yosef said, according to the Ynet news website. He also said the move is a "de facto execution" of the state's official conversion mechanism.

Israeli activists for religious pluralism welcomed the decision, expressing hopes this would open the door for the state in the future to recognize conversions carried out by reform and conservative Jewish establishments, more moderate divisions of Judaism, and possibly put an end to the Orthodoxy's monopoly on Jewish religious practice in the country. Endit