Government nearly falls over conversion spat, then cuts off nose to spite face
The Jewish Home party vented its anger over a bill that would remove power over conversions from the Chief Rabbinate by having all its non-minister MK's walk out of a no-confidence vote. After the government survived the no-confidence vote by four votes, the coalition chairman removed all of the Jewish Home's bills from the agenda, including party leader Naftali Bennett's bill to lower food prices.
A Bayit Yehudi spokesman explained that the party's MKs walked out on
Bennett's instructions, after a new article was added to the
controversial conversion bill without the party's prior knowledge.
"The
Bayit Yehudi never learned coalition discipline or commitment to
agreements," Levin said following the walkout. "I will not give in to
extortion."
On Tuesday, a fierce political fight broke out between
Bayit Yehudi and its coalition partners over the bill on reforming the
conversion process, authored by MK Elazar Stern of Hatnua.
The
bill proposes to allow chief municipal rabbis to establish a rabbinical
conversion court in conjunction with one of the centrally appointed
rabbinical conversion judges and any other rabbi ordained by the Chief
Rabbinate.
A senior Bayit Yehudi source said on Tuesday that “if [
Justice Minister Tzipi] Livni was promised that her party’s conversion
bill would pass in exchange for voting for the three major bills
[ultra-Orthodox conscription, electoral reform and referendum on land
concessions], then that was an unfounded promise. We’re sorry someone
made a promise to her, but it’s not our problem.”
The source added that party will vote against the coalition if the Stern conversion bill goes to the plenum.
“A conversion bill will not pass without the support of the Religious Services Ministry,” the source said.
Which paragraph in this bill did the Jewish Home party not know about?
Will the 'Jewish Home' party listen to their rabbis?
Last week, I reported that the quid pro quo for the Tzipi Livni party's support for the three bills that were rammed through the Knesset last week (electoral reform, 'equal burden' and referendum) was that the coalition would support a bill introduced by MK Elazar Stern of the Tzipi Livni party that would essentially strip the Chief Rabbinate of its power over conversions. At the time, I asked:
Given that the 'Jewish Home' party regards itself as the primary
proponent of the idea that the state institutions of the State of Israel
(qua State) [have] religious significance, is the 'Jewish Home' party
actually going to support this bill?
On Wednesday morning, we got part of the answer. Their rabbis definitely will not support the bill. The 'Jewish Home' party's rabbis met this morning with Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef (the son of Rav Ovadiah Yosef zt"l, the founder of the Shas party) and agreed that the Chief Rabbinate will not recognize what it's calling "Stern's conversions" (link in Hebrew). But the bill passed the legislation committee of the Knesset on Wednesday morning.
Rabbi Yosef said that conversion will continue to be decided only based upon halacha (Jewish law) as determined by the Chief Rabbinate. According to Rabbi Yosef, the Knesset has nothing to say about conversion, and they are fooling people by saying otherwise. The result, should this bill pass, would be the administration of Sifrei Yuchsin (Lineage Books), without which it would be virtually impossible to marry here.
The rabbis signed a joint declaration saying that they would oppose the law. Tens of amendments, mostly introduced by MK Orit Struck (Jewish Home) were rejected. But Struck and MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) have demanded a revote, and so a revote must take place.
No word yet on how close the vote was in the Knesset legislation committee or who voted for or against - Israel Radio is on strike.
Will the 'Jewish Home' party listen to its rabbis?
UPDATE 1:23 PM
Reader Romy L points me to this post on Arutz Sheva's website on Tuesday, which claims that the 'Jewish Home' party is opposed.
The religious-Zionist Jewish Home responded by saying that the move
contradicts the Coalition agreement that stipulated that the Conversion
Law would be coordinated with the Chief Rabbis and the Ministry of
Religions. The Jewish Home is threatening to vote against the
Coalition's position in all of the votes that remain to be held in the
Law, Constitution and Justice Committee until the end of the Knesset's
winter session.
The winter session ends next week, however.
A threat to vote against the coalition for a week seems kind of empty.... But how quickly can we introduce a bill to repeal the 'equal burden' law?
'Jewish Home' party to support bill to strip Chief Rabbinate of powers over conversion?
In an earlier post, I reported on the pact with the devil made by the main parties in the coalition. Each of Likud/Beiteinu, Yesh Atid and Jewish Home agreed to force every member of its Knesset delegation to support three bills - electoral reform, Haredi draft and referendum. The tactic worked and the last of the bills - the referendum bill - passed the Knesset on Wednesday.
But there's a fourth party in the coalition - the Tzipi Livni party - which also voted in favor of all three bills. I hope you didn't think they're not getting something too. And indeed they are. The Hebrew daily Maariv is reporting on Thursday that the coalition has agreed to support the Tzipi Livni party's bill to strip the Chief Rabbinate of its exclusive powers over conversion in Israel.. Et tu Naftali Bennett?
The legislation, put forth by MK Elazar Stern (Hatnua), would allow
city rabbis to conduct conversions, and would allow potential converts
to choose the beit din (rabbinic court) they wish to convert with.
Currently, would-be converts are restricted to conversion via the
rabbinic court in their place of residence.
The bill’s supporters say it will ease the process of conversion to
Judaism while ensuring that state-recognized conversions adhere to the
requirements of halakha (Jewish law). Opponents warn that it could
effectively strip the Chief Rabbinate of its authority
over conversions, and could ultimately lead to rabbis being forced to
accept a definition of Jewishness that contradicts Jewish law.
Stern reportedly received a promise of Coalition support for his
bill, and in exchange, retracted objections he had made to various
clauses in the Enlistment Bill.
Sources in Hatnua and Likud explained, “Hatnua was unhappy that it
was being forced to support three laws, each of which it had some
problems with, without the party getting support for any law associated
with it. That led to the agreement on promoting Stern’s conversion
bill.”
Given that the 'Jewish Home' party regards itself as the primary proponent of the idea that the state institutions of the State of Israel (qua State) has religious significance, is the 'Jewish Home' party actually going to support this bill?
I can name two MK's - one from Jewish Home and one from Likud - who probably won't. Yoni Chetboun from Jewish Home and Moshe Feiglin from Likud. I have to wonder what others will do.
During my first week at the office in Tel Aviv, a couple of weeks after I made aliya, my co-workers told me they were ordering in dinner and asked if I wanted to order with them. I declined. They told me that they were ordering basar lavan, but I said no thank you. They asked if I wasn't ordering with them because what they were ordering wasn't Kosher, and I said yes, I was sure it was not. But I thought they were ordering white meat chicken (basar lavan literally translates to 'white meat'). They weren't. They were ordering that other white meat....
Jews in other countries still envision Israeli Jews as being traditional at worst. After all, those who don't go to synagogue still insist that the synagogue they don't attend be Orthodox. But sadly, among the chattering classes - particularly of Tel Aviv and Haifa - they are far from traditional, and often have no idea about Jewish traditions. My non-Jewish co-workers in New York knew more about being Jewish than many of my Jewish co-workers in that office in Tel Aviv. And when my brother-in-law was an emissary to the US in the late '70's and early '80's, he had to take a course in basic Judaism (even though he had studied in yeshiva for many years), because it seems that a Jewish Agency emissary a couple of years earlier had been invited to sit on the dais at a fancy banquet and when they handed him the water with which to wash his hands after the meal, he drank it....
So I'm not too surprised by what Shimon Peres allegedly ate in Mexico, even if there is a famous story in the Talmud about someone who was fed the same thing because he didn't wash his hands before the meal....
Mati Tuchfeld of Israel Hayom reported that in the course of
the visit, Peres and his entourage entered a restaurant called Au Pied
de Cochon, in the hotel where he was staying, and ate a meal.
The name of the restaurant means “The Pig's Foot.” This is also the
restaurant's prized dish. The restaurant's sign features two piglets
staring at each other, and the menu is decorated with images of pigs,
which observant Jews are strictly forbidden from eating.
Peres, who speaks French, certainly understood the meaning of the name.
According to the report, several members of the Jewish congregation
in Mexico, which sponsored much of the presidential visit, felt great
discomfort upon learning that Peres chse to dine at this particular
restaurant with his entourage, but did not have the courage to say
anything to the president.
Peres's bureau said in reaction to the report: “This is a restaurant
that is located in the hotel where the president was staying. The meal
was a private lunch, to which no additional guests were invited. The
president and his bureau staff made sure to abide by the laws of kashrut
and ordered only fish and salad. In all of the formal meals he
attended, the food was kosher lemehadrin.”
Is this what the Zionist dream has come to... Kosher pigs?
The Attorney General’s Office announced on Monday that the authors of the book Torat Hamelech, which says it is permissible in some situations to kill non-Jews according to Jewish law, will not be indicted. Investigations against rabbis who gave their approbation to the book will also be closed.
The book, published in 2009, was written by Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira and Rabbi Yosef Elitzur of the Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. It provides an analysis of the Jewish laws regarding the permissibility or otherwise of killing non-Jews during times of war and peace, and was condemned as racist by many pluralistic groups who claimed it incited violence and racism against Arabs and other minorities in Israel.
The book’s publication in 2009 sparked a huge public outcry, which also saw Israel’s two most respected rabbis, Sephardi Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef and leader of the non-Hassidic Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox community Rabbi Shalom Yosef Elyashiv come out in public opposition to the publication of the Torat Hamelech.
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein said that the investigation was being closed because there is not enough evidence that the book was published with the intention to incite racism. Weinstein wrote that the Torat Hamelech is written in a general manner and does not call for violence.
According to the A-G, works pertaining to rulings on religious law or publications of religious sources should not be dealt with in criminal proceedings in order to preserve freedom of religion.
In addition, Weinstein said that it was hard to assert that the book permits individuals to act, rather than a ruling authority.
I do not own and have not read the book, but I suspect strongly that most of what it does is cite Chapter and Verse from Maimonides' Mishneh Torah.
Here's Part 3 of No Guns for Jews (see previous post below). And guess what: There's a Soros connection.
Let's go to the videotape.
Here's Part 4.
Let's go to the videotape.
Hmmm. I think the bit accusing people of 'opposing God's law' may be a bit simplistic, but I'm REALLY uncomfortable with the UN being in charge of gun control. Fortunately, I cannot foresee Israel agreeing to that (unlike the US in the Age of Obama).
And finally, here's Part 5.
Let's go to the videotape.
I can tell you - as someone who has learned all of the Jewish laws cited (I have studied the entire Babylonian Talmud more than once) - that the Rabbi knows his stuff well.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
