Rethinking 'recognized conversions'

Israel's immigration policy needs some serious rethinking, particularly if critical decisions are left in the hands of clerks.

While the law of return allows Jews - both those born Jewish and those who converted - to immigrate to Israel and receive citizenship automatically, it does not specify the threshold for proving one's Jewishness. While much has been written about this (see for example the NY Times article from last March), there is little question that the State has to rely on recognized Jewish communities abroad for Jewishness certification.  

In recent months, I have encountered a new problem - staggering in its implications. It seems that no one is quite sure how to define the term "recognized Jewish community." I know this sounds like a joke, but it isn't.

While I would argue that Jews for Jesus communities or messianic Jewish communities shouldn't go recognized be the State for purposes of aliyah, a Supreme Court decision from 1988 clearly recognizes - for purposes of aliyah - the legitimacy of the Orthodox, Conservation and Reform Movement. Letters of Jewishness and conversions performed by these movements go recognized by the State. 

What has happened in recent months that worries me is the definition of "an Orthodox community." ITIM has recently gotten hold of a letter sent by the "Population, Immigration and Border Authority," of the Interior Ministry that states clearly that an Orthodox conversion performed overseas was not acceptable to the State for purposes of aliyah because the chief rabbi [of Israel] did not recognize the conversion as legitimate. Essentially, the State's civil authorities have decided to sublimate the definition of the "recognized" communities - at least in the Orthodox sphere - to the Chief Rabbi.  

Now, I don't believe that Conservative and Reform converts need worry - for the moment - that they are not eligible for immigration under the Law of Return. Ironically, it is Orthodox converts, who have cause to worry.  In recent years, the chief rabbinate has pared down to a handful the rabbis in North America who can perform conversions which they will certify. Is it conceivable that the State of Israel relies on the major Reform and Conservative rabbinical bodies to determine "recognized" communities, but that when it comes to the Orthodox, the chief rabbi is the final arbiter? Apparently so!

When ITIM turned to the Ministry of Interior for clarification regarding its policies toward immigrants, we received a letter stating that "we relate to conversions performed overseas by each of the denominations with identical criterion."  

That letter is written by the same office that wrote that the Chief Rabbi didn't recognize the legitimacy of an Orthodox rabbinical court. 

I think that the State has to begin to review who it trusts and whom it doesn't trust in the diaspora. If Israelis to be the State of the Jews, then our understanding of the Jewish people has to be wider than the definition provided by a bunch of clerks.