Who won the latest round of the conversion wars? No one. In these wars, everybody loses.
Rabbi Eric Yoffie
To be sure, a broad-based coalition of North American Jews, anchored by the federation system and the Reform and Conservative movements, succeeded in convincing Israel’s leaders to delay a vote on a controversial new conversion bill in the Knesset. This was a monumental accomplishment, averting the disaster that was certain to ensue if the legislation had been adopted.
Nonetheless, there is no reason for satisfaction.
At this moment, Israel should be mobilizing her friends to confront the dangers posed by Iran. She should be responding to the outrageous anti-Israel actions of the United Nations. She should be working with the American government to advance the cause of peace.
Instead, Israel has spent several months engaged in an ugly battle with North American Jewish leadership. North American Jews committed to Israel’s welfare had no choice but to join a public lobbying effort aimed at Israel’s government.
The confrontation included new levels of nastiness. The sponsor of the legislation, David Rotem, was quoted in the New York Times as referring to American Jewish leaders as “absolute idiots.” Worse yet, if history is any guide, we will learn nothing from this experience and repeat the disastrous scenario next year or the year after that.
What’s going on here?
Israeli leaders vastly underestimated how sensitive North American Jews remain about religious matters in the State of Israel. The first conversion crisis was in the 1950s, and it was assumed in Israel that the most recent dispute was nothing more than one more round in a long battle.
Yet conversions in North America are far more frequent now than they were a generation ago. Jews by choice are to be found in every community, and Jewish leaders are infuriated by legislation in Israel that they see as challenging the status of so many North American Jews.
In addition, North American Jews dislike religious fundamentalists who attempt to impose their will on others. The danger of religious extremism throughout the world is endlessly discussed in the media. North American Jews share the distress of all North Americans that Israel, a democratic ally, has created a coercive religious monopoly that limits the religious freedom of its citizens.
When U.S. senators and members of Congress expressed their concerns about the bill, Israeli representatives here began to understand just how dangerous the situation had become. American lawmakers rarely speak out on internal Israeli politics, and if they were doing so now, it could only mean deep concern on the part of their constituents.
Israeli advocates of the bill attempted to convince American Jews by confusing them. The legislation was very complicated and changed frequently. But a patronizing “You don’t understand” approach did not work this time.
True, few North American Jews comprehended the bill’s intricacies. But one thing about this legislation was truly important: it fundamentally altered the religious status quo by granting significant new powers in the realm of conversion to Israel’s Chief Rabbinate. Such a change would reignite battles over conversion both in Israel and throughout the Diaspora. North American Jews understood this very well and remained firm in their opposition.
It would have been preferable had Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed the bill in the spring, sparing the Jewish world the sorry spectacle of the past few months. Nonetheless, his decision last week to cast the bill as disastrous for the Jewish people was welcome. The prime minister was wise, too, in calling on Natan Sharansky, the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, to devise an acceptable compromise.
No one should harbour any illusions. The Israeli religious parties are intent on gaining absolute control over conversion, both in the State of Israel and in matters that relate to the Law of Return. Any arrangement that gives them less than full control will never win their support.
Still, I believe that a reasonable compromise is not out of reach.
As a Reform Jewish leader, I would like to see Israel’s religious monopoly swept away. I will need to accept that such a change for now is simply not possible. I do expect that additional support will be provided to Reform and Conservative schools and synagogues, but I recognize that this will have to happen within the confines of the existing structure.
At the same time, the leaders of three major non-Orthodox parties in Israel – Likud, Kadima and Labor – will need to agree that they will oppose conversion legislation and any other significant change in the religious status quo demanded by the religious parties or their allies.
Such an understanding should have been reached 30 years ago, of course, but each of the major parties has been reluctant to cede ground that might be exploited by its rivals in future coalition negotiations.
What is different this time is the terrible experience that we have just had. At a time when Israel is especially vulnerable, she has suffered through a period that has tarnished her image, upset her supporters, gladdened her enemies, played out in the general media and even reached the U.S. Congress, causing dismay to all who love the Jewish state.
Perhaps Israel’s political leaders will finally understand: religious extremism must be rejected, the sensitivities of world Jewry must be respected, coalition politics must be transcended and Jewish unity must be affirmed. Neither the Jewish people nor the State of Israel can afford the heavy price of these ongoing religious crises.
Rabbi Eric Yoffie is the president of the Union for Reform Judaism.
