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Reform, Conservative Jews suspend legal action over conversions
Leaders will try to reach accord with Orthodox Jews
October 28, 1997
Web posted at: 1:37 p.m. EST (1837 GMT)JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Leaders of the Jewish Reform and Conservative movements agreed Tuesday to try to reach a compromise with Orthodox Jews in the next three months over which rabbis have the authority to convert people to Judaism and who should be represented on religious councils.
The Reform and Conservative leaders, apparently seeking to avoid a rift between Israeli and American Jews, said they would temporarily set aside plans -- announced Monday -- to take the issue to Israel's Supreme Court.
Rabbi Richard Hirsh comments on the Jewish Reform stance 
153 K / 11 sec.AIFF or WAV sound Conservative Jewish leader Uri Regev is worried about how Israel appears to the world 255 K / 20 sec. AIFF or WAV sound The Reform and Conservative movements -- both of which are more liberal than the Orthodox Jews -- represent more than 90 percent of affiliated Jews in the United States, home to the world's largest Jewish community.
Reform and Conservative Jewish leaders have been pursuing legal action in an effort to obtain formal recognition of their movements in Israel, where religious affairs are controlled by two chief Orthodox rabbis.
Tuesday's turnaround gave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a reprieve from what appeared to be an inevitable collision with American Jews, who provide crucial political support for Israel in Washington.
Netanyahu has been under pressure from three Orthodox parties in his coalition to fend off efforts by the Reform and Conservative movements to win recognition in Israel with lawsuits over the right to carry out conversions and be represented on the councils.
Israel's President Ezer Weizman and Finance Minister Yaacov Neeman, the head of a commission trying to hammer out a compromise, had appealed to the two liberal movements to give the committee another three months, until January 31. The agreement came after mediation talks involving President Ezer Weizman.
"(We) hope that during the course of these three months we will be able to arrive at an amicable resolution of the differences and complete the work of the commission," Rabbi Richard Hirsch, executive director of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, said.
Rabbinical control dates to Israel's founding
The chief Orthodox rabbis in Israel, who adhere to a rigid interpretation of Jewish traditions, have controlled conversions based on understandings reached when Israel was founded in 1948. However, those agreements have never been written into law.
Orthodox Jews argue that only a rigid set of laws has enabled the Jewish people to survive, and that the more liberal Reform and Conservative Jews are only one step away from assimilation.
Conservative and Reform movements want to adjust Judaism to match the modern times -- allowing women rabbis, for example.
Rabbi Yitzhak Rosen, who heads the conversion department in the chief rabbinate and who attended the meeting hosted by Weizman, said he believed the two chief rabbis were in favor of trying to reach a compromise.
"We believe ... that there is a basis for discussion," he said.
Netanyahu has big stake in debate
The debate is known in Israel as the "Who's a Jew" dispute. But observers say it has distinctly political overtones.
U.S. Jews who gave Netanyahu generous campaign contributions for his election in 1996 and provide substantial funding for Israeli projects reportedly have threatened to cut off the money, if the three Orthodox parties in his coalition enact legislation to counteract any court ruling on lawsuits by the Reform and Conservative movements.
As part of Monday's agreement, Orthodox leaders pledged to freeze two bills that would have allowed only Orthodox rabbis to carry out conversions and would have prevented Reform and Conservative representatives form serving on religious councils.
American Jewish leaders -- and many Israelis -- warned that passage of a bill would bring about a historic split between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora.
Richard Hirsh of the liberal Reform movement said the whole debate was essentially about the character of the modern Jewish state.
"What kind of state are we going to have? Is this going to become a theocratic state ... run by an anachronistic, militant, narrow ... view of what it means to be a Jew? That's the real issue," Hirsh said.
Jerusalem Bureau Chief Walter Rodgers, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
- Newsmaker Profile: Benjamin Netanyahu - Israeli Prime Minister
Related sites:
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- Office of The Israeli Prime Minister - information in both Hebrew and English
- Orthodox Union - includes the online synagogue network, publications, outreach, and other cultural, religious, and educational information for Orthodox Jews
- Reform Judaism - information from the Union of American Hebrew Congregations
- The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism - policy-making organization of Conservative synagogues in North America
- The Union For Traditional Judaism - organization of lay people, educators, talmudic scholars, cantors and pulpit rabbis who are dedicated to the principles of Traditional Judaism
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