{"id":414757,"date":"2010-03-10T21:06:39","date_gmt":"2010-03-11T02:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogs.rj.org,2010:\/rac\/\/2.2550"},"modified":"2010-03-10T21:10:33","modified_gmt":"2010-03-11T02:10:33","slug":"from-arza-an-important-request-for-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/414757","title":{"rendered":"From ARZA: An Important Request for Action"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rabbi Bob Orkand is the President of ARZA, the Association of Reform Zionists of America.<\/font><\/i>
<\/font><\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

\"arza-logo-blog.jpg\"<\/font><\/a>We
\nhave learned that the Knesset may vote as soon as Tuesday on
\nlegislation that would make important changes to the Law of Return,
\nwhich sets forth who can claim Israeli citizenship. This particular
\nlegislation would target converts to Judaism.<\/p>\n

The various arms of our Movement are asking that
\nurgent messages of protest be sent to Michael Oren, the Israeli
\nAmbassador to the United States, and to Prime Minister Benjamin
\nNetanyahu.<\/p>\n

We cannot permit the ultra-Orthodox parties in
\nIsrael to push through legislation without regard to the millions of
\nDiaspora Jews who are active, dedicated and devoted members of the
\nJewish people who identify themselves with non-Orthodox streams of
\nJudaism.<\/p>\n

The bill sponsored by MK David Rotem of Yisrael
\nBeitenu, deals with both the authority of the Chief Rabbinate and
\nmatters of Conversion. The Rotem Bill does three things:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It grants legal authority to the Chief Rabbinate for conversions.
    \nWhile until now there has been de facto recognition, this legislation
    \ngives legal recognition to the role of the Chief Rabbinate in this
    \narea. The result would be that it would become much more difficult for
    \nconversions to be performed by Reform, Conservative and more
    \nopen-minded Orthodox rabbis.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
  2. It provides for the ability of local rabbis in Israel to establish
    \nconversion courts. This is a part of the bill of which we can support
    \nbecause it will potentially permit the establishment of more forward
    \nlooking conversion courts. However, if the first part of the bill
    \npasses, the Chief Rabbinate may declare these courts null and void,
    \nwhich would obviate any reason for our support.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
  3. Section 3 of this bill is the most highly problematic. This section
    \nstates that anyone that who entered Israel as a non-Jew and then
    \nconverted to Judaism–either in Israel or the Diaspora–would not be
    \neligible for citizenship under the Law of Return. This is precisely the
    \ncase that is now before the Supreme Court, which asks that conversions
    \nin Israel by non-Orthodox rabbis be recognized and that citizenship
    \nrights be granted to our converts. This is an attempt to go around the
    \nSupreme Court. Further, the wording is so vague that it could mean that
    \nif such a person had visited Israel at any time, no matter when, that
    \nperson’s conversion would not be recognized for citizenship in the
    \nfuture. Thirdly this would be the first time that Israel is officially
    \nmaking a distinction between one who is born a Jew and a righteous
    \nconvert, something that we find insulting.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In the last 48 hours, there have been negotiations between MK David
    \nRotem, the sponsor of this legislation, and the ultra-Orthodox parties.
    \nThe Israeli media reports that these negotiations might lead to adding
    \nprovisions which would block Reform and Conservative conversions in
    \nIsrael. In response, Reform Movement leaders around the world are in
    \ncontact with Israeli government officials in an effort to block this
    \nlegislation.<\/p>\n

    THEREFORE, ARZA URGES THAT THE FOLLOWING LETTER OR ITS EQUIVALENT BE SENT TO AMBASSADOR OREN AND PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \n

    The Honorable Benjamin Netanyahu
    Prime Minister of Israel
    Office of the Prime Minister
    Jerusalem, Israel<\/p>\n

    Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu,<\/p>\n

    We write to request your immediate intervention to prevent passage of the legislation being brought forward by MK David Rotem.<\/p>\n

    Passage of this bill in its present form, especially section 3, will
    \nhave the effect of altering the Law of Return or, at the least, cause
    \nundue hardship to anyone in Israel who has come from Diaspora
    \ncommunities and seeks conversion in Israel.<\/p>\n

    While the Reform movement is supportive of efforts to create greater
    \naccessibility to conversion courts in Israel and have done all we can
    \nto aid in this effort, the overall impact of the Rotem Bill will set
    \nback these efforts. Should this bill be enacted, it will exacerbate a
    \nwidening gap between Diaspora and Israel communities, which we are all
    \nworking very hard to avoid. <\/p>\n

    Therefore, we believe it is imperative that you, Israel’s leader,
    \nwho cares so deeply about the well-being of our people, intervene and
    \nurge withdrawal of this bill. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    The email for Prime Minister Netanyahu is: Prime.Minister’sOffice@it.pmo.gov.il<\/a> <\/p>\n

    For Ambassador Oren’s office: info@washington.mfa.gov.il<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Rabbi Bob Orkand is the President of ARZA, the Association of Reform Zionists of America. We have learned that the Knesset may vote as soon as Tuesday on legislation that would make important changes to the Law of Return, which sets forth who can claim Israeli citizenship. This particular legislation would target converts to Judaism. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4316,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-414757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}