Conversion ruling ends decades of official shunning of Reform, Conservative
Few converts are likely to be affected by the High Court’s decision, but the court itself may face renewed calls on the right to weaken its powers
Israel’s High Court of Justice issued a groundbreaking ruling on Monday that will mean formal recognition by the state to non-Orthodox Jewish communities in the country — and likely spark a dramatic uptick in the country’s religious culture wars and, quite possibly, a move in the Knesset to clip the wings of the court.
But first, what the decision doesn’t do: it does not require the Haredi-controlled state rabbinate to recognize Reform and Conservative conversions. Only the Interior Ministry must do so.
And even there, the decision only slightly expands the scope of the Interior Ministry’s existing recognition for those conversions. After all, the Interior Ministry has for two decades formally accepted Reform and Conservative conversions conducted overseas as conferring the right to citizenship under the Law of Return.
Monday’s ruling is, in a sense, very narrow. It instructs the Interior Ministry (but not the rabbinate) to recognize as Jewish for the purposes of immigration (but for no other purposes, such as marriage or burial) only those few Reform and Conservative conversions conducted each year inside Israel. That’s the change.
As of Monday, a non-Jewish non-Israeli living in Israel who converts to Judaism in the Conservative or Reform religious streams and then asks to become a citizen based on the Law of Return will have their conversion recognized by non-religious state bodies as conferring on them that right.
Why, then, all the fuss? Why are Haredi parties warning of dire consequences and vowing to legislate to weaken the court’s powers in response?
Two reasons. First, in recognizing for the first time conversions done inside Israel, the State of Israel will necessarily be recognizing in a formal way the Reform and Conservative movements themselves, the institutions that are doing or have done the converting. Second, coming just 22 days before the election, the ruling promises to become a rallying cry for religious conservatives and liberals alike.
Recognition
Exceedingly few people are likely to be affected by the ruling.
In 2005, the High Court recognized what are known as “giyurei kfitzah,” literally “hop conversions,” as granting immigration rights under the law of return. “Hop conversions” are carried out by converts who live and study for their conversion in Israel, then “hop” overseas to conduct the official conversion ceremony in a Diaspora community in order to get Israeli state recognition.
In the most prosaic and practical terms, the new ruling merely spares the prospective convert/immigrant a short trip abroad.
But the decision nevertheless does something profound for the Reform and Conservative movements.
For two decades, the state has recognized overseas conversions as conferring immigration rights according to a test established by the High Court, often called the “recognized community” test. That is, Interior Ministry officials are asked to ascertain if the convert received their conversion in a Jewish community that is recognized as such by the rest of the Jewish communities in their country or region. (It’s a bit more complex than that, with several agencies and organizations doing the recognizing, but the details aren’t relevant here.)
The key point: That “recognized community” test has now been expanded to Israel.
The Jewish state has long refused to recognize the institutions of the Reform and Conservative movements in the country, a shunning rooted in the political power of the ultra-Orthodox and religious-Zionist political parties.
That wall of rejection has seen cracks over the years. In founding the Ne’eman Committee in 1997, a first-term Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time appointed a Reform and a Conservative representative, rabbis Uri Regev and Reuven Hammer, respectively, to an official state committee.
Since then, Reform and Conservative representatives played key roles in the development of the Western Wall compromise that would have established a permanent egalitarian section at the holy site, with joint oversight including non-Orthodox representatives. The plan won cabinet approval in January 2016 but was canceled by Netanyahu in June 2017, after his Haredi coalition partners protested the plan’s official recognition of the liberal religious streams. (The prayer pavilion itself was opened in 2013, and is in constant use.)
Now, for the first time in a formal and specific way, the Jewish state that has refused to recognize the institutions of the Reform and Conservative movements will officially acknowledge those institutions as a “recognized community” able to confer immigration rights on their converts.
For the first time, Israel will officially see and engage with the liberal streams inside the country.
‘Freedom of religion for Jews’
The ruling also comes three weeks before an election already shaped by the religious culture wars.
Secular-Haredi tensions have risen over the past year, exacerbated by the flouting of social-distancing restrictions in some Haredi communities.
The Yisrael Beytenu party, for example, adopted “End Haredi rule” as its campaign slogan.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid of secularist Yesh Atid party welcomed Monday’s decision with a call for Israel to institute “complete equality of rights for all streams of Judaism – Orthodox, Reform or Conservative,” and promised a government led by him would “put an end to the ridiculous situation whereby Israel is the only democracy in the world without freedom of religion for Jews.”
And what of the religious right?
“The High Court’s decision to recognize Reform and Conservative conversions is mistaken, very unfortunate, and will cause deep division and dissension in the country,” lamented Shas party leader Aryeh Deri, who is also the interior minister, and so must now implement the court’s decision.
Never fear, Deri said in a statement, “I promise to amend the law so that only conversion according to Jewish law is recognized by the State of Israel.”
The ruling Likud party also issued a statement, though it was so vague that it was hard to know what was being promised or threatened.
The statement, in a tweet several hours after the ruling, read: “The High Court issued a ruling that endangers the Law of Return, which is a foundational pillar of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. Only a vote for Likud will ensure a stable right-wing government that will restore sovereignty to the people and the Knesset.”
Prominent right-leaning pundit Amit Segal translated the vague promises for the uninitiated: “After the elections, prepare for the return of the ‘supersession clause,'” a bill long favored by the right that would grant the Knesset the power to overturn High Court rulings.
Very little is likely to change in the life of Reform and Conservative converts because of Monday’s ruling. But Israel itself will change.
If the ruling stands, it will mark a watershed in state recognition for Jewish religious options long rejected by Orthodox political parties and the state rabbinic apparatus.
If a religious-right government is spurred by the decision to legislate a “supersession clause,” that too would mark a watershed in the balance of power between the Knesset and the High Court.
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Calls for NY Gov Cuomo’s resignation intensified after a 3rd woman accused him of offensive behavior, saying he touched her face & back, asked to kiss her moments after they met at a wedding
Anna Ruch told The NY Times she removed the Gov’s hand, but he said she's “aggressive” & promptly grabbed her face, asking to kiss her
“I was shocked & embarrassed,” Ruch, 33, told the Times, which published a photo of the Gov’s pawing her face. “I turned my head away & didn’t have words”
Ruch, White House fotog during Obama’s 2nd term, is the 2nd woman to accuse Cuomo of touching her without permission & fueled broad calls for Cuomo to resign, including from Democrats
“The sex harassment by Cuomo is unacceptable. I believe the women,” NYC Councilman Antonio Reynoso tweeted. “Cuomo must resign”
The latest accusation follows sex harassment allegations from 2 women who worked for his administration, that led NY’s attorney general to investigate
AG Letitia James took charge after wrangling over who investigates
James, a Democrat, is to deputize an outside law firm to conduct inquiry with full subpoena power. The findings will be disclosed publicly
Cuomo maintains he never inappropriately touched / propositioned anyone
Ex-aide Charlotte Bennett rejects Cuomo excuses he's “playful,” saying he “refuses to acknowledge or own his predatory behavior”
Bennett, who says Cuomo quizzed her on her sex life & asked if she's open to older men, tweeted “abusers — particularly with tremendous power — are repeat offenders who manipulate to blame victims, deny wrongdoing & escape consequences”
After Ruch’s account broke, Bennett tweeted: “His inappropriate, aggressive behavior can't be justified / normalized. Thanks for your courage”
Cuomo’s support plummeted amid dual crises. The harassment comes after he covered up the death toll of covid on nursing home residents
It’s quite a tumble for Cuomo, celebrated for pandemic leadership, particularly daily conferences where he reassured the public with graphs & machismo he dubbed “NY tough”
Mayor de Blasio & other officials say while Cuomo's under investigation, he must cede emergency powers held since the pandemic began. The Legislature hasn’t taken steps to revoke Cuomo’s powers — despite a push from Republicans & some Democrats
Cuomo retained Elkan Abramowitz to represent him in probes of nursing homes
Abramowitz, who previously rep'ed Cuomo in a federal investigation of his 2014 shutdown of NY's anti-corruption panel, said he's not representing Cuomo in the sex matter
Bennett, 25, came forward in the Times. She said Cuomo told her he's lonely & seeking a girlfriend. Cuomo didn't respond to Bennett’s statement
Ex-aide Lindsey Boylan said Cuomo made inappropriate comments, kissed her without consent & suggested they play strip poker aboard his State-owned jet. Boylan, who's running for Manhattan boro president, accused Cuomo in December & elaborated last week
She tweeted on Ruch’s experience with the Gov: “This doesn’t validate. It makes me sick”
Cuomo denies Boylan’s allegations. He acknowledged he teased people about their personal lives to be “playful” & funny. He said he wanted to be mentor to Bennett
“I now understand my interactions may've been insensitive or too personal & some comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended. I acknowledge some things I said were misinterpreted as unwanted flirting. To the extent anyone felt that way, I'm truly sorry,” he said
Cuomo’s statement drew immediate backlash from critics who say he throws responsibility on the women, that they perceive him wrong
Bennett lawyer Debra Katz: “He's not misunderstood. He abused power for sex. Textbook sex harassment”
Cuomo wanted control of the investigation. He asked crony federal judge Barbara Jones to head the probe. Then that the AG & top NY judge jointly agree on outside counsel
Finally, Cuomo acquiesced to James’ demands to take control
Cuomo's non-apology bears an uncanny resemblance to Harvey Weinstein's!
And Freddo's not available to propagandize on behalf of his older brother because CNN was finally shamed into assering him from any comment on Cuomo scandals
Any word if Cuomo had a Pakki mistress he was abusing with sado-masichism? Very vichtig question I tell ya!
While Cuomo had no problem following in my kleineh chazir feeselach, Cuomo still had BIG SHOES to fill with R' Elya Spitzer, aka Client #9!
And if you thought Elly Kleinman's fawning all over me when introducing me to the Boro Park-Flatbush Fresser set was pathetic, you shoulda seen Yankel Bender acting like a sycophant this past year to Cuomo, thinking that buttering him up would get him to luz up from shutting down Darchei.
Anyone see Pinchos Sheinberg?
https://www.kupat.org/Project/423/?source=TAM6
Twenty-six fresh orphans in one week
Reopening is the best sort zerizus!
With the U.S. vaccination drive gaining speed with a 3rd formula, states eager to reopen for business are easing virus restrictions despite warnings from health experts that the outbreak's far from over & moving too quick could prolong the misery.
Massachusetts yesterday made it much easier to grab dinner & a show. In Missouri, where individual communities make the rules, the 2 biggest metros, St Louis & Kansas City, relaxed measures. Iowa’s Gov lifted mask rules & limits in bars-restaurants, while town of Lawrence, home to U of Kansas, lets establishments stay open til 12 am.
Trezo Mare Restaurant owner Mike Lee in Kansas City, hopes increased vaccines, combined with warm weather, will improve business.
“People are excited to get back to their way of things"
The push to reopen comes as vaccine shipments ramp up. 20% of US adults — 50+ million — received at least 1 dose. 10% are fully inoculated 10 weeks in, as per the CDC.
J & J shipped 4 million doses of its new vaccine Sunday. The company will deliver 16 million more by Apr & total 100 million by July.
That adds to the supply by Pfizer & Moderna by midsummer to vaccinate all adults. The White House encourages taking the 1st dose available, regardless of manufacturer.
In NYC, where indoor dining resumed, J&J will help inoculate millions more by summer, including thru door-to-door vaccinations of homebound seniors.
But the efforts come with strong warnings from officials against reopening too quick, as worrisome variants spread.
Yesterday, CDC head Dr. Rochelle Walensky, urgently warned state officials & ordinary Americans not to let down their guard. She “really worries more states are rolling back the exact health measures we recommend & deeply concerned about a shift in trajectory of the pandemic. We stand to completely lose hard-earned ground we gained.”
Hospitalizations plunged since Jan & deaths dropped sharply, but still at dangerously high levels, even risen slightly.
“We can't be resigned to 70,000 cases a day & 2,000 daily deaths,” Walensky said.
Overall, the outbreak killed 500,000+ Americans.
The vaccine already contributes to a decrease in deaths among elderly, Justin Lessler, infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins, said.
“I suspect we see it overtake natural infection as the biggest driver of immunity late spring earliest, more likely midsummer,” Lessler said.
Dr. Amesh Adalja, infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins, believes "masks need to be kept in place for some time until we get more of our vulnerable vaccinated. It's important for restaurants increasing capacity to remember we're still in a pandemic & to continue to follow rules."
Biden wants all 3 vaccines distributed evenly, acknowledging J&J will be used in pop-up sites without freezers.
States hope surging vaccine supply tamps down new infections.
In Massachusetts, Gov Charlie Baker lifted restaurant capacities entirely. Theaters can open 50%, max. 500 people. Limits across all businesses have been raised to 50%.
Las Vegas became the latest of large school districts to return kids to class. Pre-K to 3rd grade go back 2 days a week, other grades phased in by Apr.
In Calif, Gov Gavin Newsom & legislators agreed getting most kids back in class by Apr. Under the deal, districts receive up to $6.6 billion if they reopen by Apr.
The US ranks 4th behind Israel, UAE & UK, in doses administered per population, as per University of Oxford.
Biden fell well short of his goal to set up 100 federal mass-vaccination sites by Mar, with just 7 up & running.
White House vaccine coordinator Jeff Zients acknowledged scheduling “remains too difficult in too many places.” But he said he's working with states to improve & exploring federal call centers to get appointments.
(AP)
How ironic that "progressive" Andy as a teenager was mechaber of the shprach for tatty Mario: "Vote for Cuomo, not the Homo"!
But chotsh he has a sense of humor which even I & Ed Koch will not deny!
UTJ-Agudah released an election campaign video last night that seemingly compares people who convert to non-Orthodox Judaism to dogs wearing kippot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ICGrogK580
The video drew condemnation from opposition leader MK Yair Lapid, who said with this message, Agudah joins the ranks of anti-Semites who compare Jews to dogs.
The video was released after the High Court ruled Reform & Conservative conversions to Judaism conducted in Israel be recognized for citizenship. The decision, which dents the Orthodox monopoly on religion, was widely condemned by ultra-Orthodox lawmakers, who vow to overturn it.
In the video, a series of photos are shown featuring dogs wearing traditional kippas on their heads & wrapped in talit prayer shawls. The images are apparently drawn from so-called Bark Mitzvahs held by US Reform & Conservative Jews for their pets.
As the images parade on the screen, a narrator declares, “In the High Court, this is a Jew” while joking of one dog that “his grandfather was a canine rabbi, of course he is Jewish!”
The video ends with the message that only Agudah “will protect your Judaism, that of your children & grandchildren, first of all the Jews.”
Lapid, who leads the secular Yesh Atid party, criticized the video & recalled his father, Tommy Lapid, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor, told him that during WWII there was a big sign on the parliament in Budapest declaring, “No entry for Jews & dogs.”
Lapid wrote: “anti-Semites in every generation compare Jews to dogs. Now UTJ-Agudah joins them. Disgusting!”
Ne’emanei Torah Va’Avodah, a liberal Orthodox group, also slammed the clip: "A red line was crossed relating to our brothers who are millions of Jews around the world. As an Orthodox movement, we're concerned. With ignorance-polarization together, we reach a nadir of fraternal hatred.”
The clip comes on the heels of another scandal involving Agudah. On Monday, the day of the High Court decision, party lawmaker Yitzhak Pindrus said women who convert to Judaism through the IDF program are shiksas, using a pejorative for non-Jewish women. Following a backlash, he apologized for the term, but maintains that IDF’s system's not religiously legit.
The army Nativ program, founded in 2001, is the only state conversion system not controlled by the Chief Rabbis. 100s of soldiers, mostly non-Jewish immigrants or their descendants from the former USSR, enter the IDF conversion system each year. 1000s successfully finish the program & convert thru the IDF rabbinic court.
The High Court ruling's denounced by rabbis & religious politicians, who vow in the next parliament to overturn it.
The heads of Agudah denounce the ruling as “disastrous for the significance of the ‘Jewish state.’” Gerrorist Housing Minister Yankel Litzman & MK Moshe Gafni said they'll demand advancement of an override clause, allowing Knesset to overturn High Court rulings.
Shas said the ruling underlines the court’s disconnect from the Israeli people, “who want to maintain the Jewish state & preserve Judaism according to traditions going back 1000s of years.”
Both parties said they won't join a coalition not committed to overturning the ruling.
Yesh gorsin: "Colmo the Homo"
UTJ-Agudah's Yitzhak Pindrus, speaking Monday at a conference organized by the Open Orthodox ITIM org (!), discussed the case of the daughter of a Jewish father & non-Jewish mother who converts under military auspices.
She's a “shiksa, a non-Jew,” he said in a video clip aired by Army Radio yesterday.
“If she underwent an army conversion, she's not a Jew under halacha.”
Yesterday afternoon, Pindrus apologized on Channel 12 for his use of the term “shiksa,” admitting it hadn't been appropriate.
“I apologize to those who were converted according to Halacha but were offended by what I said,” he told Channel 12.
However, Pindrus stood by his statement that the IDF conversion hierarchy's not religiously legit.
“If someone marries her, their father needs to sit shiva, rend his garments & say Kaddish” over their lost son, he said.
Pindrus said he's unwilling to bend in order to be “pluralistic.”
Pindrus’s comments were condemned by secular & some religious politicians.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the statement “ignorant & sad.”
“These wonderful young women you call shiksas are saving your life,” he tweeted.
Yisrael Beytenu's Avigdor Liberman tweeted: “Pindrus & Agudaniks, not enlisting in the army & living at taxpayer expense — that’s a shiksa!”
Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, former Diaspora affairs minister, called the description “shameful” & vowed that IDF converts won't have their Jewishness questioned.
Pindrus’s comment came the same day the High Court ruled that Reform & Conservative conversions in Israel be recognized for citizenship.
Pindrus said yesterday the ITIM panel was recorded before the High Court ruling.
In a follow-up interview with Army Radio, Pindrus did not withdraw his remarks. But he said he would reconsider his views if the Chief Rabbis oversee Nativ conversions. Pindrus said neither he nor the High Court has authority to decide which conversions are legit — an assessment left to rabbis.
“Fake conversions are a religious issue, not a national / civilian one. The High Court doesn't have authority to decide if a Reform convert's Jewish,” he said.
The UTJ-Agudah Knesset member also brushed off criticism vs him by other politicians.
“There can be a citizen who contributes to the state & isn’t Jewish, or a Jew who doesn’t contribute to the state,” said Pindrus.
https://mailchi.mp/1bdcf7715210/girls-pta-reminder-2681124
Dear Parents,
We are pleased to inform you that after much effort & advocacy of many, including Rabbi Yehoshua Pinkus & the Agudah Dept of Yeshiva Services, YSV's approved to provide all our students with breakfast & lunch daily in a 7 day distribution box - on the taxpayer dime.
Meals provided by Continental Kosher Catering will be available for pickup Sundays (weekly) at Bas Mikroh at 381 Viola Rd. The meals are available to all families of YSV students, regardless of income.
In addition to YSV children, any children in your house up to age 18, not enrolled in school, i.e. non-school age or home-schooled, not already registered in any distribution, are eligible to receive the weekly box.
Provisions in the packages consist of ready-to-eat breakfast & lunch. The value of these packages for a family of 5 is in excess of $200 weekly. The boxes will include Kosher for Pesach products.
If you have suggestions or for feedback on the packages, email meals@yeshivaspringvalley.org.
We trust these enhanced food distributions will prove valuable.
Wishing you good Fressing,
Rabbi Eliezer Stern
CEO
Yeshiva of Spring Valley
estern@yeshivaspringvalley.org
Andrew, I heard you lawyered up for criminal investigations. If they send you to Otisville, I'll get you into the Kiddush Club. I dunno about cannolis & grappa, but the herring & schnapps is really good!
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