Gershom Gorenberg on the Israeli Conversion Crisis
We received the latest issue of Moment Magazine in the mail today and it has an interesting Op-Ed piece in it by Jerusalem based journalist Gershom Gorenberg on the recent conversion controversy in Israel.
Here is a snippet for anyone who is interested, with points of interest underlined by yours truly.
Israel’s Supreme Rabbinic Court effectively accepted
a radical stance that conversions can be retroactively annulled.
The decision is a scandal.Once, the rules seemed clear: Reform or Conservative converts knew that some Jews wouldn’t accept them as members of the tribe. Orthodox conversions were honored by everyone, including Israel’s state rabbinate. They were the gold standard.
It has actually never been so simple. Orthodox rabbis have cast doubts on one another’s conversions, and the Israeli rabbinate has become steadily more selective even about accepting Orthodox converts who come from the diaspora. But the idea of universally accepted conversions collapsed completely with a decision of Israel’s Supreme Rabbinic Court publicized in May. The panel of three judges upheld a lower court’s ruling that a woman who had converted 15 years ago—under state-sanctioned Orthodox auspices—was not Jewish, because she’s not currently living by Orthodox law.
The judges also cast doubt on thousands of conversions performed through the state’s Conversion Authority, headed by Rabbi Haim Druckman, a leading religious Zionist rabbi. (The Authority was set up to ease the conversion process, until then handled by state rabbinic courts.) What’s more, the court effectively accepted a radical stance that conversions can be retroactively annulled.
The decision is a scandal: People who made the choice to become Jews, studied Judaism and underwent the required rituals now find their identity challenged. Children born to female converts have been put in limbo.
But the implications go further. The decision undermines the last teetering arguments for state-established religion in Israel. It removes the basis for the controversial agreement on conversion between the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA)—representing modern Orthodoxy—and the Israeli rabbinate. And it demonstrates that ultra-Orthodoxy is not old-time religion, but rather a modern movement—one increasingly setting itself apart from the rest of Judaism.
You can read the rest here.
I truly feel for the people who have been or are potentially going to be affected adversely by what’s going on in Israel but the more I think about it, the more I’m wondering, if this might not be a good thing in the long run for the Jewish people as a whole.
Here’s why!
When it comes to "Jewish" identity within the State of Israel (which incidentally as you know is a democratic nation state) I think it’s wrong to let a religious court have the final say on who is in or out. As I’ve recently pointed out elsewhere on the J-Blogosphere (see the comments,) Jewish identity and its related legal status in Israel, as I see it should be decided and overseen by the legislative body, not a religious court which is not representative of the majority of Israelis, never mind the Jews of the Diaspora.
I believe in large part what has allowed the "orthodox" monopoly to continue for so long, has been the misguided belief that orthodoxy speaks with one voice and is “authentic Judaism”. Although I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I’m happy about what’s going on in Israel regarding conversion. I do think it’s important because it clearly disproves the "one voice" myth and I believe it would be a mistake for the Reform and Conservative movements not to take notice and see this as an opportunity to push for greater acceptance and pluralism within Israel, at least in terms of conversion and Jewish status.
I’m not suggesting that the Orthodox world should be forced to embrace converts into their communities, be they Reform, Conservative or Orthodox converts who have retroactively been (for whatever reason,) deemed unfit to remain members of their communities. I defend their right to decide who counts as part of a minyan in their shul’s but I’m not prepared to submit to (without a fight) letting them unilaterally, decide who has full rights as a Jew (including who has the right to conduct conversions) and who has access to the Jewish commons that are Israel. The Orthodox members of the Jewish world get a vote not a veto on this subject. Ultimately this is a socio-political issue and as long as Israel remains a democratic nation, it needs to be decided via the legal and parliamentary systems, not via a religious one.
As I see it this article and the current conversion crisis it covers should be seen as ‘more” clear evidence that the Orthodox monopoly is divisive and unhealthy to the Jewish people as a whole. This is an opportunity (and it is a mistake not to see it as such) for the non-Orthodox Jewish world to stand up and make its case for a more pluralistic approach regarding Jewish status and conversion issues within Israel.
I’ve posted more on conversion recently at my blog, South Jerusalem:
http://southjerusalem.com/2008/07/ultra-orthodoxy-cancels-conversion-sends-modern-orthodox-for-reeducation/
and
http://southjerusalem.com/2008/06/jane-austen-explains-conversion-to-judaism/
Gershom thanks for stopping by and letting us know about your two other recent articles on the subject. I will definitely be checking them out.
I have been watching this story for a few weeks with much delight and bemusement. I particularly like the story of the woman whose 15 year old orthodox conversion was annulled because she wore pants. And there was a rejection of a potential convert because he was a follower of Chabad.
While the previously assumed ‘orthodox’ consensus on conversions appears to be now irretrievably broken, it does shatter the myth of there being a unified bulwark against the evils of modernity (i.e. Conservative, Reconstruction, and Reform). But anyone who has read Jewish history will know that this infighting and bickering is part of our collective heritage. Didn’t the Sadducees try to undermine the Pharisees notion of the Oral Torah, (to say nothing of the Essenes)? Didn’t the Vilna Gaon’s ‘misnagdim’ view the the Baal Shem Tov’s ‘chassidim’ as dangerous enemies.
But personally I think that the whole affair is fantastic. Perhaps the only possible solution for Israel is the inevitable separation of synagogue and state. Perhaps also there needs to be a legislatively imposed pluralism much like the 5730-1970 amendment to the ‘Law of Return’ regarding who is a Jew. If we compound this with the tragedy of the the ‘agunah’ (divorcee) issue, clearly the competency of the Beis Din must be raised.
Hi Paul
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the subject. I think you and I are on the same page in terms of the larger issues connected to this story, especially around the (as you put it) “separation of synagogue and state.” I also agree with you that infighting is nothing new to the Jewish people. I for one certainly don’t believe that these divisions and infighting have been limited to the last 200 years, as some claim.
However, comments such as “I think that the whole affair is fantastic” or to indicate a sense of “delight and bemusement” seems to me to be more than a little misguided. It’s important to understand that while this is indeed a story that affects us all from a policies/institutional/sociological perspective it also has an important human element. One which doesn’t affect either you or myself as non-Orthodox converts.
I for one think it’s a mistake to take delight in the suffering of any human being, let alone fellow Jews. Thousands of people who pursued Orthodox conversions in good faith and with the best of intentions have now been put at great risk. Families and lives could very well be torn apart by this decision and that’s not something anyone should take delight in. You and I did not convert Orthodox, therefore we knew going into things, that in all likelihood the Orthodox world would not consider us Jewish. However, these people (I have no doubt) for the most part, did pursue and undergo Orthodox conversions with the best of intentions. Now their sincerity and status is being called into question and that’s something that truly breaks my heart.
For the sake of Jewish cohesion and in the spirit of Klal Yisrael I think we need to be mindful of and sensitive to the human costs which have arisen out of this situation. Understanding the situation to be an opportunity for non-Orthodox Jews and converts to push for reform is one thing but to ignore the human costs is shortsighted and a mistake.
Reading your comments and rethinking my own first reactions to what’s going on in Israel has reminded me that above and beyond all of this, it’s important to hold on to my belief in Klal Yisrael. I think it’s a mistake regardless of the broader context to take delight in any situation that involves the suffering of a Jew regardless of his/her denomination. How can we expect to be understood and sympathized with if we can’t do the same for those we perceive to be on the other side of an issue, such as this one?
while i agree with paul that it might be better for israeli society, israeli goverment, and the jewish religion (especially orthodoxy) if there were some separation of synagogue and state in israel (since religion and gov’t have a habit of corrupting each other when they get too close), avi’s right that this isn’t the time for gloating over other people’s misfortune.