Amidst the recent spate of horrific acts of terrorism and violence in Jerusalem, the Israeli government has offered a long overdue ray of sunshine to Israelis and Jews worldwide.

The new measure, effective immediately, allows municipal rabbis to perform conversions, ending the monopoly of the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) dominated Chief Rabbinate over conversions to Judaism in Israel.

This is a very good, very inclusive change, and one we strongly support.

According to a JTA article by Ben Sales, the action taken by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet is “the most significant response in decades to about 400,000 Israelis who are not considered Jewish by the Chief Rabbinate.”

Since Israel’s rebirth as a modern Jewish State, authority over marriage, divorce and conversion has been under the aegis of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which is overseen by separate Ashkenazic and Sephardic chief rabbis. For most of the years since Israel’s inception, the Chief Rabbinate was cooperative on granting conversions approved by American Orthodox, and even some Conservative, rabbis. 

More recently, however, the Chief Rabbinate has become extremely restrictive, and many of its rabbis will not approve conversions that fail to meet its rigid standards. Even those conversions performed by many Modern Orthodox American rabbis, though done according to the letter of halacha, or Jewish law, have often failed to be recognized by the Chief Rabbinate.

Moreover, among the 1 million Jews who came to Israel in the 1970s through the 1990s, nearly half of them, despite qualifying as Jews under the Law of Return (satisfied by family lineage), are not technically “fully Jewish” according to the standards of the Chief Rabbinate. Those who didn’t meet the Chief Rabbinate’s requirements were prevented from official conversion to Judaism and thus from being married in Israel. 

Until now, many of these Israelis have had to travel overseas to obtain a civil marriage, which the Israeli government would recognize, and return to their homeland having legally satisfied the state’s requirements, though without the Rabbinate’s approval. This is a humiliating and insulting requirement for those who were considered “Jewish enough” to live in Israel, but subject to a second-class status in the eyes of the religious authorities having monopolistic control over domestic marriages. 

The bill was passed by the Knesset last year but languished while ministerial approval was required, and Netanyahu wouldn’t move it forward, fearing alienation from several religious parties and their constituencies. But Minister of the Economy Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, pushed it forward to a Cabinet vote.

As Bennett noted, “Every rabbi in every city will be able to set up his own tribunal according to Jewish law. It also gives a choice. People will be able to choose the tribunal they want to go to, and warm, friendly tribunals will be used more than others.”

Seth Farber, founder of ITIM, an organization that assists Jews with personal-status issues, hailed the new law on conversions. 

“The hope is that this bill will enable a much more understanding and friendly set of rabbinic courts to emerge without the Chief Rabbinate imposing its monolithic view on every conversion,” he said. 

Both of the current Chief Rabbis oppose the new law. But Farber indicates that if the rabbis attempt to block conversions under the new law, he will petition the Israeli Supreme Court to uphold the legislation.

The new law, while a major breakthrough, does not go as far as recognizing non-Orthodox conversions, a long-sought goal of non-Orthodox and Diaspora groups. Yet it has nonetheless been welcomed by non-Orthodox groups. Rabbi Gilad Kariv, CEO of the Israeli Reform Movement, said he supports any reform that eases conversion as long as it doesn’t hurt non-Orthodox streams of Judaism. 

“Now there are no more excuses for (Religious) Zionists,” Kariv said. “Now is the time for them to deliver.”

Kariv is on target. The new law is a major step toward the ultimate goal of full recognition being given to marriages and conversions officiated by all streams of Judaism in Israel. Many of the Jews from the former Soviet Union either served or risked prison time for bravely demanding the right to immigrate to Israel. They should be made to feel appreciated and their fundamental right to have their conversions and marriages recognized as fully legal must be recognized and affirmed. 

And those in the Diaspora who have gone through serious, meaningful conversion processes should not have to hear that their efforts to embrace Judaism are in vain.