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The World
Orthodox, Conservative and Reform
rabbis delivered its report to the
prime minister last week. They rec
ommended a religious compromise: a
joint institute would prepare candi-
dates for conversion, but only an
Orthodox rabbinical court could
complete the process. Thus all con-
verts, whoever taught them their new
faith, would be kosher.
Reform leaders insisted, however,
on a meeting with the Orthodox
chief rabbis and their signature on
the contract. The chief rabbis backed
off. They would
have been legit-
imizing Reform
Judaism. The
Reform, for their
part, declined to
affirm the binding
and literal truth
of the Torah.
Although no
one wanted to
take the blame for
demolishing the
Ne'eman enter-
prise, an ominous
timetable was
closing in. The
three religious
parties were
threatening to press an exclusively
Orthodox conversion bill to a vote,
even if it meant splintering
Binyamin Netanyahu's ruling coali-
tion, once the Jan. 31 Ne'eman
deadline expired.
The progressive movements were
threatening to go back to the Supreme
Court, which had given the Knesset
until Feb. 10 to clarify the status of
non-Orthodox conversions.
Burg was the right man in the
right place to avert an explosion
between Israel and America, where
the majority of affiliated Jews are
non-Orthodox. As Jewish Agency
chairman, he personifies the bridge
between Israel and the Diaspora. His
father was a wily leader of religious
Zionism. He himself is a Labor
peacenick who advocates a separation
of synagogue and state; he wears a
kippah and sends his children to
Orthodox schools.
Last Saturday night, Burg invited
representatives of all three streams to
his Jerusalem home where they
worked until 3 a.m.
Their agreement was signed by
two Orthodox rabbis explicitly repre-
senting the chief rabbinate, and
Israel's leading Conservative and
Reform rabbis.
"We offer the Israeli public," the
rabbis wrote, "a proposal which pre-
serves the right of every person to be
registered in the registry of residents
and in one's identity card in a
respectable and uniform way, and
still allow access to conversion data
in circumstances in which such
access is required."
The ID card would nowhere speci-
fy that its holder was a convert, but
anyone wanting to know could easily
tell. The year following the yud would
be different from the date of birth also
recorded on the
card. The type of
conversion would
remain confiden-
tial. A copy of the
conversion certifi-
cate would be
stored in the pop-
ulation registry,
but only autho-
rized personnel
could see it.
"The fact that
the other conver-
sions will be rec-
ognized by the
state," empha-
sized one of the
Orthodox rabbis,
"doesn't mean that the Orthodox
authorities will accept them."
Although Burg maintained that
his proposals were "parallel" to
and not a substitute for the Ne'eman
framework, Ne'eman denounced
it.
"Technical solutions," he argued,
"will perpetuate the rift among the
Jewish people and create a situation
where converts will be labeled."
At Burg's news conference, howev-
er, a reporter from a Russian-lan-
guage paper could hardly believe
what he was hearing.
"Congratulations," he beamed,
"You've done it!"
For immigrants from the former
Soviet Union, the formula would be
a major step forward. An estimated
200,000 of them are not Jews. Under
Israeli law, they came as family mem-
bers of Jews, or descendants of a
Jewish grandparent. Many would like
to join the Jewish people, but not on
the stringent Orthodox terms.
For them, the Conservative and
Reform movements offer a palatable
alternative. And if the state accepted
their conversions, they'd take the
chance that their offspring might one
day run up against the Orthodox
rabbinate.
With the Jewish
Agency
chairman's help,
an agreement is
brokered at 3
a.m. Sunday.