The Ministerial Committee for Conversions headed by Minister
Michael Melchior and the Knesset Committee for Aliya and
Absorption both met last week (separately) to discuss plans
for conversions in the upcoming year.
Benny Ish Shalom, who heads the institutes for Judaic studies
which were established as a result of the Ne'eman
recommendations on conversion and Minister Melchior
independently announced the establishment of 100 joint
conversion ulpanim in the coming year.
These institutes operate in conjunction with the Reform and
the Conservative movements, and the gedolei Yisroel of
all circles and sects adamantly oppose them, as they do the
conclusions of the Ne'eman Committee.
The Vaad HaRabbonim Haolami LeInyonei Giyur headed by HaRav
Chaim Kreiswirth of Antwerp, strongly criticized Minister
Melchior for meddling in conversion matters and encouraging
joint conversion ulpanim which were prohibited by all
Orthodox rabbonim. When Minister Melchior was a rabbi in
Norway, he was not authorized by the Conference of European
Rabbis to do conversions, and he acted accordingly. He should
continue as began when he was a practicing rabbi, leave
conversion matters to be decided by Orthodox rabbonim and
stop pretending to be the spokesman for Klal
Yisroel.
At the meeting, Ish Shalom also said that over the next few
years he plans to expand the institutions to accommodate up
to 20,000 students a year. He stressed that plans are being
formulated to establish a corresponding system in Russia and
in the Ukraine.
Professor Yaakov Ne'eman, former Finance Minister, also made
very disconcerting remarks which included subtle allusions to
gedolei Yisroel. "I am concerned about the force of
the verbal violence in Israeli society," he said. "To my
dismay, elected officials as well as spiritual mentors do not
serve as good examples for negotiation and appeasement."
Rabbi Shmuel Halpert, a member of the committee, took offense
at Ne'eman's remarks and shouted at him: "Don't dare preach
to gedolei Yisroel who think differently than you. You
reached agreements at the committee, even though you know
that the chareidi sector will not collaborate with the Reform
and the Conservatives who are the responsible for the
assimilation and the spiritual cataclysm which has wrecked
the Jewish Nation."
MK Yuli Edelstein (Yisrael B'Aliya) also said that the
rabbonim must be respected, and that it is forbidden to
undermine them. He added that there is no link between the
issue of respect for rabbonim and the conversion issue.
Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz stressed that there must be a consensus
on the point that only Orthodox conversions, recognized by
the Rabbinate, will be accepted in Israel, and that every
attempt to include the Reform and Conservatives in the
picture is a serious offense which should not be
supported.
The chairman of the Knesset Aliya Committee Naomi Blumenthal
(Likud) related to the issue of the Law of Return, and said
that there is no choice but to restrict the Law of Return in
order to limit the number of non-Jewish immigrants from the
C.I.S.
Rabbi Yosef Avior, director of the special conversion court
in Or Etzion headed by Rabbi Chaim Druckman, took an active
part in the meeting of the Ministerial Committee for
Conversion, and publicly announced the decision to adopt
these ulpans. He also said that he intends to visit them, to
interview the students and then to invite them to "convert"
in Or Etzion.. The committee was very pleased with this
decision because it will enable it to solve the problem of
the "conversions" of the these students of the Reform and the
Conservative.
Despite Avior's announcement, the Conservative representative
at the meeting, Mr. Bendel said: "Even though Avior has
approved the curriculum in the joint ulpans, I don't approve
the fact that the conversions will be conducted in the
Orthodox courts, since the students can be converted in
Conservative courts too."
The Conversion Committee meeting was also attended by a high-
ranking official from the Chief Rabbinate who is very active
in the deliberations of the Ministerial Committee for
Conversion set up on the basis of the findings of the Ne'eman
Committee and headed by Minster Melchior. This is quite
disconcerting, in light of the fact that all of the Orthodox
bodies in Israel -- including the Chief Rabbinate -- rejected
the decisions of the Ne'eman Committee, and that
representatives of the Reform and Conservative movements
actively participate in the Melchior Committee, which is
actually a direct continuation of the Ne'eman Committee.
The Vaad HaRabbonim Haolami LeInyonei Giyur expressed shocked
over the participation of people who call themselves
religious -- especially the official representatives of the
Chief Rabbinate -- at this meeting. The representatives of
the Vaad boycotted the meeting of the Absorption Committee
which met Monday 20 Kislev to discuss the developments
concerning the implementation of the Ne'eman Report on the
conversion issue.
Even though the Vaad HaRabbonim received an official
invitation to attend this meeting, its representatives
boycotted it -- as they boycotted the meeting of the
committee held three weeks ago -- at the guidelines of the
maranan verabonon. Although the representatives of the Vaad
have quite a lot to contribute on this issue due to their
vast experience in the area of conversion, they are staunch
in their loyalty to the guidelines of all gedolei
Yisroel. Recently, intensive, behind-the-scenes contacts
are being made regrading the conversion system in Israel, and
it seems as if new officials will be appointed to direct the
system. Already, people are beginning to offer their
services, along with proposals to conduct 20,000 wholesale
conversions a year, when it is clear to all that these
version are not valid even bedi'eved.
Despite the fact that rabbis Avior and Druckman in Or Etzion
function in total defiance of the guidelines and directives
of the Chief Rabbinate, and even intends to convert graduates
of the joint ulpans, no order to totally stop the court's
activity has yet been given. As a result, it is seriously
feared that just as a hundred conversion files were approved
in defiance of the Chief Rabbinate's directives, so will
these of the graduates of the Ne'eman Committee ulpanim be
approved.
In light of the deteriorating situation whereby tens of
thousands of non-Jews may penetrate into Klal Yisroel
through bogus converions that may even have the approval of
the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, and the fact that it is accepted
now that hundreds of thousands of non-Jews have arrived in
Israel, gedolei Yisroel have reinstated the necessity
to continue with efforts to prepare the sefer yichus
that was started by the Vaad several years ago.
