A large conference attended by hundreds of rabbis was held in Jerusalem last week under the banner of opposing conversion reforms. One after another, the country's two chief rabbis, Yitzhak Yosef and David Lau, and other prominent rabbis took to the podium and decried the reforms planned by the Religious Services Ministry.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Members of the "Ne'emanei Torah Va'Avodah (Loyalists of Torah and Labor)" NGO, which focuses on education research and policy in the religious Zionist community, meanwhile, complained that the funds for the conference were provided by the World Zionist Organization because one of the organizations that organized and funded the conference – the "The Holy Land" NGO – receives funds from the WZO.
Attorney Liat Klein, the head of the "Kedat Ukedin" center in the Loyalists of Torah and Labor organization, complained that the conference lacked transparency regarding the fact that the WZO ostensibly funded the event. The organization is angry that a conference pertaining to Diaspora affairs was held contrary to the interests of significant portions of Jews in the Diaspora – who support conversion reform.
"We were informed that a rabbinical conference – sponsored by "Liba Yehudit" [an NGO that seeks to protect Israel's Jewish identity] and attended by the chief rabbis in opposition of the conversion outline spearheaded by Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana – was supported financially with funds belonging to the WZO and the Jewish National Fund. Nevertheless, this support was not noted in the announcement for the conference, and the logos of the public bodies that supported it do not appear on the advertisements as required," wrote Klein.
Loyalists of Torah and Labor added: "That a body such as the World Zionist Organization, whose goal is to strengthen the bond with Jewry in the Diaspora, funds, either directly or indirectly, a conference that aims to do the opposite, raises questions."
"The Holy Land" NGO said in response that WZO funds were not used to organize the conference in question and that demands for transparency were hypocritical because other organizations have done the same thing for years on behalf of controversial agendas, including in the Diaspora, without anyone complaints of wrongdoing – until now.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
