Sefardic Haredi Chief Rabbi: Diaspora Jews "Coercing The Israeli Government"

Israeli laws should be determined by residents of Israel who defend its security and bear its burdens. If our Jewish brethren immigrate to Israel, we will welcome them with great joy, and then they would be entitled, as citizens, to struggle for the adoption of their perspective.

Note Rabbi Amar says, "Israeli laws should be determined by residents of Israel who defend its security and bear its burdens." Yet Amar does not call for haredim to serve in the Israeli Army or contribute in any other way to Israeli society.

Apparently, In Rabbi Amar's mind, only non-Orthodox Jews must meet the standard of "defend[ing] its security and bear[ing] its burdens." Haredim are exempt.

Past that, Rabi Amar misrepresents the current status of conversion in Israel, as you can see from the following Jerusalem Post article:

'Diaspora Jews 'coercing the Israeli government''
By JONAH MANDEL • Jerusalem Post

Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar says opposition to conversion bill 'causing great damage.'
 
Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar slammed Diaspora Jews for “coercing the Israeli government” to drop the conversion bill, which is not justified and “causing great damage.”

In a letter published in Friday’s New York Times [please see below], Amar maintained that the bill penned by MK David Rotem (Israel Beiteinu) would not change the status quo for conversions, which “since the establishment of the State of Israel... have been governed by the Chief Rabbinate.”

Any change to the status quo is likely to come out of a High Court petition backed by the Reform and Conservative movements, Amar said, adding that “fewer than 1 percent of the Jews living in Israel are members of these movements.”

Rotem’s bill sought to enable city rabbis, past and present, to conduct conversions, including for people living in other municipalities, while ultimately placing the conversion issue under the legal jurisdiction of the Chief Rabbinate.

Critics of the bill fear that such wording would prevent the state and its institutions from recognizing non-Orthodox converts for citizenship under the Law of Return. Rotem says that his legislation, which is meant to provide immigrants, mostly from the former Soviet Union, who are not halachicly Jewish with more welcoming options for conversion, would have no effect on conversions conducted abroad.

An impassioned campaign to prevent the bill from passing has been marked by opposition not only from within the Israeli political system, but also from US Jewry, whose religious and lay leaders’ presence was well felt in the corridors of the Knesset, especially after Rotem’s bill passed a Law Committee vote and was thus approved for plenary hearings in July.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who had said that the bill bore the threat of “tearing apart the Jewish people” and ought to be drafted in a way that is sensitive to the needs of all streams of Judaism, was subject to much pressure to ensure that he took the bill in its current version off the table. He eventually declared a six-month moratorium on the legislation, during which talks on the issue would be held “by all sides,” under the orchestration of Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky.

Amar, who had in July accused the Reform Movement of exploiting Israel’s sensitive political standing to pressure the prime minister to oppose the bill, expressed puzzlement in Friday’s letter over the fact that the “non-Israeli movements” objecting to the Israeli legislation asked 12 US senators “to pressure the Israeli government on this internal matter.

“Israeli laws should be determined by residents of Israel who defend its security and bear its burdens,” he said. “If our Jewish brethren immigrate to Israel, we will welcome them with great joy, and then they would be entitled, as citizens, to struggle for the adoption of their perspective. Diaspora Jews who are coercing the Israeli government to drop the proposed legislation are causing great damage. The bill, within the framework of Jewish law, would expand the ambit of conversion, prevent the application of unjustified stringencies, and provide more leniency and flexibility in administration. Many Russian Israelis would benefit substantially. In fact, this legislation was proposed by Israel Beiteinu – a secular party – representing more than a million Russian Israelis,” Amar’s letter read.

In return for the bill being put on the ice, the Reform and Conservative movements in Israel agreed to freeze their petitions demanding that the state recognize non-Orthodox conversions conducted in Israel for civil rights bestowed upon Jews.

Shas and United Torah Judaism, which supported the bill in the Law Committee vote, have said that they would proceed with the legislation in the Knesset’s winter session that begins in October. Some haredi representatives may partake in the planned discussions on the bill.

The Jewish Agency, meanwhile, reiterated its call for across-the-board unity on the issue.

“Israel belongs to all the Jews of the world,” the agency said in a statement on Sunday. “The moment the law of Israel, not just the opinion of the chief rabbi, but Israeli legislation itself starts grading the legitimacy of Jewish communities, we have a problem. This is not a debate about the position of the Chief Rabbinate in the conversion issue, but over whether the State of Israel sees itself as the home of all Jewish communities.”

The letter:

Conversions in Israel: The Chief Rabbi’s View

To the Editor [of the New York Times]:

Re “Israel Tries to Defuse Crisis Over Conversions” (news article, July 24):

Since the establishment of the State of Israel, conversions to Judaism have been governed by the Chief Rabbinate. As you noted in your article, this status quo has been challenged by a petition to Israel’s Supreme Court, backed by members of the Reform and Conservative movements. Yet fewer than 1 percent of the Jews living in Israel are members of these movements.

The bill provision you discuss seeks no changes; it seeks only to retain the situation as it has existed for 62 years. If these non-Israeli movements believe in democratic principles, why have they intervened in a matter that affects only Israelis and does not affect American Jews at all? Even more puzzling, how do they justify asking 12 American senators to pressure the Israeli government on this internal matter?

Israeli laws should be determined by residents of Israel who defend its security and bear its burdens. If our Jewish brethren immigrate to Israel, we will welcome them with great joy, and then they would be entitled, as citizens, to struggle for the adoption of their perspective.

Diaspora Jews who are coercing the Israeli government to drop the proposed legislation are causing great damage. The bill, within the framework of Jewish law, would expand the ambit of conversion, prevent the application of unjustified stringencies, and provide more leniency and flexibility in administration. Many Russian Israelis would benefit substantially. In fact, this legislation was proposed by Yisrael Beiteinu — a secular party — representing more than a million Russian Israelis.

May this unnecessary divisiveness end speedily.

Shlomo Moshe Amar

Chief Rabbi of Israel

Jerusalem, Aug. 3, 2010

[Hat Tip: Radical Feminist.]

Comments

[Shlomo]

Isn't he really only saying that non resident Jews must meet the standard of "defend[ing] its security and bear[ing] its burdens."
Chareidim at least bear the consequences of the security situation to some extent i.e. its burdens.
He has a point though I disagree with what appears to be the conversion situation in Israel.
The problem is that the status of the conversion bill in Israel has world wide consequences for all Jews yet in the end we are talking about a law in a democratic society where you would think only the citizens can vote. Maybe we should all immigrate and vote for parties that have better laws

[Bill]

He who pays the piper calls the tune.

End of story.

[danny]

And its whispered that soon
If we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason.

(I miss YL. I hope he is just on vacation or something and will return soon)

[Dr. Dave]

Isn't it typical bully behavior to claim to be the victim when caught in the act of bullying.

Kind of reminds me of Eddie Haskel from Leave it to Beaver.

[who knows]

It is in Amar's power as a chief rabbi to allow municipal rabbis to conduct conversions. He does not need this law to make this happen. Why he did not do it, if his only concern are Russian immigrants?

On the other hand, this law will give him all the power to define legitimacy of any person of Jewish descent and this is the only thing that this thug wants - POWER.

[Alter Kocker]

To Rabbi Amar:
You better fuckin believe it. If we as diaspora Jews support Israel through our finances, then when you go about telling us that the government will not recognise us as Jews unless we are certified by UO rabbis. Well screw you!

[abc]

Ignorant Peasant

[A E ANDERSON]

i don't why this Orthodox blowhard thinks his metsisah be-peh is any better than a Reform/Recon GBLT blow job!

[harold]

What an idiot to think that when someone gives charity that there are no strings attached. Doesn’t everyone know that one gets a gift that they are beholden to the one that gives the gift? Common sense!

"Israeli laws should be determined by residents of Israel” what mishugas! Israel is a puppet of America on many levels and when we say jump they should say “How high!”

[Michael David Kittell]

"They would be entitled" to try to win over the Israelis in the court of public opinion
Two things: first off, most Israelis already disagree with Rabbi Amar
Second, if somehow a bunch of American Jews got to make aliyah and won the public opinion war vs. the haredim, then there would be 100,000 haredim in the streets again
Fundamentalists always like to pay lip service to democracy. Khomeini did so when he was in exile. At least Kahane admitted he hated democracy
ps Is he related to Jo Amar? I liked his earlier stuff

[Reader]

If a million of American Jews made aliyah, it would take the power away from the Rabbinate, and this is exactly what Amar is trying to prevent. If the law is passed, they will be defined by the Rabbinate as non-Jews who immigrated and forced to convert with no automatic citizenship (see the new law), i.e, no voting rights, etc.
They will have fewer civil rights than Israeli Arabs.

[Kobi]

"If a million of American Jews made aliyah"

The hard thing is to find a million american Jews willing to make aliyah.
Usually the ones who do that are the religious ones, not the culturally (but non-jewish) jews...

I'm a non-orthodox brazilian jew, and I went too the US and couldn't believe how judaism is dead there. Amazing how judaism in america became bagels, wooody allen and liberal crap. There is something really wrong with the european jews.. both you guys and the haredim.