Govt may fall over conversion bill

Monday, July 19, 2010
Govt may fall over conversion bill
The struggle over the conversion bill is not quite over and the remarks
of Rabbi Amar yesterday have now made clear what many of us have been
saying all along: it is aimed at preventing non-Orthodox conversions.
Amar called for haredi parties to withdraw from the coalition if the
bill is not passed and said, "I told Prime Minister Netanyahu if, heaven
forbid, he permits Reform conversion, we will be turning the people into
two parts,meaning one part will not intermarry with the other....Pass
the conversion law or we will leave..." Amar is not concerned with the
bill because it will make conversion for Russians easier, but because it
will make 'Reform' conversions (and that includes us) harder - and this
from the rabbi we have been told for years is really liberal! I don't
know if Rotem really believes what he says when he tells us that it
won't harm our conversions or not but it is obvious what his partners
believe. He can have a bill that will help by leaving out the parts that
strengthen the authority of the Chief Rabbinate, but if he does that he
will loose the support of Shas and the Haredim whose agenda is not to
encourage conversion but to assert Orthodox monopoly not only in Israel
but throughout the world. In case this was not clear before, it should
be now.