New conversion bill a recipe for continued chaos

The new "conversion law" - which passed a first reading in the Knesset this past week - is essentially a political tool which will in no way bring order to the chaos that characterizes conversion in Israel. With 310,000 immigrants from the Former Soviet Union eligible for conversion, it is unpalatable that conversion has become a subject of Pyrrhic political victories.

The original law, presented to the Knesset in two variations by Rabbi Michael Melchior and David Rotem, was meant to allow community rabbis to perform conversions. Essentially, this would have allowed for less public scrutiny of conversion judges, and theoretically for those moderate city rabbis to perform conversions and register their converts for marriage. The authors of the bill were clever enough to include a clause that would allow converts the benefit of registering in any region, and not necessarily their own locale. 

The strength of the bill was that it ensured that conversions would be performed under Orthodox auspices, but understood that within Orthodoxy, there are multiple voices, and converts could choose their approach while still falling within the consensus of the halachic community.

Unfortunately, the Yisrael Britain part buckled under pressure, and the bill, in its present form, added one neutralizing clause.

According to the new bill, city rabbis would be able to perform conversions, but only subject to the approval of the Moetzet Rabbanut HaRashit (the Chief rabbinic council in Israel). This group of rabbis, while certainly well-intentioned, are not necessarily sympathetic to the plight of Israeli citizens who seek to become Jewish, and in fact some of them have been involved recently in conversion annulments.  The fact that a city rabbi has to pass through a battery of exams and political hoops to achieve his position seems to be irrelevant to the authors of the new bill. Given the constitution of the Chief Rabbinic Council, it is highly unlikely that any moderate city rabbis will ever be approved to perform conversions in Israel.

Instead of providing more opportunities for conversion, the bill simply puts more power in the hands of a select few, who, though they may be well-intentioned, are unable to promote their agenda while under public scrutiny.

If in the original bill there was talk of hundreds of converts literally lining up to convert in certain cities, I would venture to say that, should the bill pass, only a handful of converts will actually convert with city rabbis. 

The new conversion bill is another example of politics gone awry.  The authors of the bill are already touting themselves as the heroes of the conversion process in Israel. Unfortunately, they are wrong.

In order to emerge from the chaos, the system needs to be able to evaluate its judges. I am confident that each conversion judge in the national system has the intellectual qualifications to convert. But conversion is not simply a matter of information; it is a matter of approach. The conversion authority ought to weed out those judges unsympathetic to the plight of the convert, and those whom complaints have been filed against. There are enough judges in Israel who are both meticulous in their approach to the observance of the commandments and the respect for human dignity (kavod habriyot). Until we can ensure that these rabbis are appointed, there is little hope for progress.