Conversion Saga Continues as Chief Rabbi Threatens to Suspend All Giyur in EY
In the wake of the Israeli government’s attempts to promote a new conversion arrangement which will allow every city rabbi to perform conversions, Chief Rabbi Lau sent a sharp letter to Prime Minister Bennett. Rabbi Lau said that if the head of the Rabbinate’s Conversion Directorate, Moshe Waller, would be fired as he was told by Religious Affairs minister Matan Kahana and if the new arrangement was promoted in the Knesset, he would suspend the entire conversion procedure in Israel • Full Story
VINNews
In the wake of the Israeli government’s attempts to promote a new conversion arrangement which will allow every city rabbi to perform conversions, Chief Rabbi Lau sent a sharp letter to Prime Minister Bennett. Rabbi Lau said that if the head of the Rabbinate’s Conversion Directorate, Moshe Waller, would be fired as he was told by Religious Affairs minister Matan Kahana and if the new arrangement was promoted in the Knesset, he would suspend the entire conversion procedure in Israel.
Rabbi Lau referred in the the letter to Waller’s dismissal by Kahana because he opposes the new arrangement and is subordinate to the Chief Rabbi who himself opposes the new initiative. Rabbi Lau wrote that “this is exactly the role of the head of the Conversion Directorate – to implement the halachic directives of the head of the Rabbinical Court. Conversion is a halachic process and Rabbi Waller’s role is to ensure that the halachic directives of all the Chief Rabbis are maintained.”
Rabbi Lau added that firing Waller would “severely harm the Conversion Directorate” and added that Waller was currently promoting the conversion of Benei Menashe and Ethiopians as well as children in religious schools who undergo conversion within the educational system.
Rabbi Lau also attacked the proposed arrangement, stating it would cause a “significant split within the people of Israel which will be irrevocable.” He added that the arrangement will cause a “fissure within the Jewish people which will force us to deal with the difficult question of “who is Jewish, who can we marry, a terrible situation of two states,two peoples and a divided nation.”
Rabbi Lau concluded the letter with a threat, stating that with the dismissal of Waller, the authority reverts back to the Chief Rabbi, and “I will be forced to resign all of my responsibility to the Conversion Directorate and to immediately cease authorizing conversion certificates.”
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