Negative Judaism

The Chief Rabbinate in Israel continues to do everything it can to prevent progression, pluralism and openness. How else to explain that with almost every decision it makes, the rabbinate seems to prefer to turn people away from Judaism and religion, rather then embracing them. While unfortunate, this nevertheless has become the trend we have become accustomed to seeing from the offices of the country’s two chief rabbis.

The latest chapter in this sad saga was a recent decision by the Council of the Chief Rabbinate, stating that all conversions and divorces performed in rabbinical courts abroad must be approved by the Chief Rabbinate’s Department for Marriage and Conversion.

This was a sharp break from the major policy decision taken in 2018 after a protracted legal struggle, when the rabbinate recognized a published list of rabbinical courts abroad with authority to perform conversions and divorces.

Naturally those courts were all Orthodox, but at least it granted some flexibility for people trying to become Jewish outside the State of Israel.

Itim director Rabbi Seth Farber strongly criticized the recent policy change, describing it as a power grab to re-centralize the Chief Rabbinate’s authority over conversions and demanding that the decision be reversed.

The criteria published by the Chief Rabbinate in 2018 for recognizing rabbinical courts abroad state explicitly that “For rabbinical courts that have been approved by the Chief Rabbinate in the past, there is no need for additional examinations or investigations” into the conversion or divorce documents they produce.

The writing was on the wall for this reversal: though the rabbis who appeared on the 2018 list were all Orthodox, even that is not enough today for Israel’s religious rulers. They want complete control over everything that has to do with religion, not to make joining the tribe easier but so they can make it harder.

We shouldn’t have to say this, but the job of Israel’s rabbinate is meant to do the exact opposite. The chief rabbis, David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef, are no different than many of the other men who previously held their titles, who were also subordinate to ultra-Orthodox rabbis who preferred turning Judaism into a religion closed off from the world.

It is no coincidence. Knesset Members of United Torah Judaism often speak despicably about Reform and Conservative Jews. Two weeks ago, MK Yisrael Eichler said that Reform Jews “fake Judaism” and are worse than Christians. Speaking specifically about Gilad Kariv, a Reform rabbi who is now a Labor Party MK, Eichler said that he is “wicked,” using the strong Hebrew term “Rasha.”

This kind of talk, and these actions by the Chief Rabbinate, are reprehensible, but are unfortunately representative of the status of religion in the Jewish state of Israel. It is also something that is not going to change. In almost every constellation of a government that is being spoken about right now, the haredi monopoly over matters of religion and state will remain.

This means that conversions will still only pass through the rabbinate, unless the Supreme Court intervenes; a pluralistic prayer plaza at the Western Wall will not be built; some 400,000 Israeli citizens who are not halachically Jewish will not be able to get married; and restaurants that want to remain open on Shabbat will not be able to receive a Kashrut certificate, even though one issue really has nothing to do with the other.

For this situation to change, people have to demand it from their politicians. People have to want an open and embracing rabbinate, a pluralistic prayer plaza at the Kotel, and civil marriage. If it’s not demanded, then we can’t be surprised when none of it changes.

Only with such a demand will politicians consider alternative governments to the ones that include haredim, which continue to provide them with control over matters of religion and state.

As shown by the recent decision to reverse its use of the pre-approved list of Orthodox rabbis who may conduct conversions, the rabbinate is essentially showing that it trusts no one. No one can run Jewish rituals. No one but itself.

That needs to end.