Israeli politics were in an uproar Wednesday after Israel Hayom published a draft of Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana's proposed reforms to current law on the process of conversion to Judaism, which would recognize conversions that are not approved by the Chief Rabbinate.
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According to the draft bill obtained by Israel Hayom, despite Kahana's commitment that his proposed reforms would maintain the authority of the Chief Rabbinate to oversee the conversion process, the bill actually cancels the Chief Rabbinate's authorities in the matter and proposes that a new system be established to handle conversions, which will be conducted by city rabbis. This would allow each city rabbi to rule on the required standards for conversion.
The proposed reforms also set easier criteria for conversions conducted by city rabbis.
The Religious Zionist Party issued a statement responding to the proposed changes: "The details revealed today about the conversion law that Matan Kahana is preparing and the internal communications in his ministry demonstrate that Kahana is fooling the rabbis when he tells them that his reforms will uphold the status of the Chief Rabbinate in ruling in matters of conversion, and that conversion will be supervised by the rabbinate.
"Based on what the minister's representatives are saying, it turns out that the truth is utterly differently. The bill Kahana plans to present to the Knesset completely eradicates the authority of the Chief Rabbinate, and completely privatizes conversion in Israel and opens the door to Reform and Conservative conversions," the party said.
The statement from the Religious Zionist Party went on: "The reports indicate that Kahana, who apparently fears [Labor MK] Gilad Kariv, isn't even trying to use the bill to close the holes that the High Court of Justice poked in conversion matters and make the minimum decree that Israel will recognize government-supervised conversions only. Thus, Kahana will allow Reform and Conservative conversions to be recognized, something that will seriously hurt the unity of the people and dupe the converts. We call on Minister Kahana to step back from his intention of dismantling government-run conversion and tearing the people apart."
MK Shlomo Karhi (Likud) said, "Under the table, Minister Kahana is selling Judaism to the Reformists. He is breaking down the fence of kashruth … and now he wants to break down Judaism's last line of defense and mix Israel in with other nations. He will be remembered for this."
Chairman of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, said, "Kahana is allowing Reform [Jews] to conduct 'express' conversions, thus diving the public, hurting Jewish tradition, and what's worse, leading to polarization and rifts in Israeli society. This isn't a reform that will move us forward, but rather a primitive policy wrapped up in empty slogans that goes against Jewish law."
Kahana's staff rejected the criticism, saying that the bill had been through multiple drafts and the current one would also see alterations.
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