Removing Barriers to Religious Freedom
In December, we mark the Maccabees’ fight for religious freedom, and this year we mark as well the beginning of the 40th year since communities throughout the world began their dramatic campaign to free millions of Jews who were held hostage in the former Soviet Union. Thousands were imprisoned for practicing Judaism. More were beaten for studying Hebrew. Applying to immigrate to Israel often meant loosing both job and home. Fortunately, tireless efforts by Jews throughout the world made this a universal cause. Eventually the Soviet Union’s iron gates were forced open. Large numbers of Jews began on the path to freedom and to their homeland, Israel.
Because religion was discouraged in the former Soviet Union, Jews rarely considered religion when choosing a spouse. Many Jews married non-Jews and many of the non-Jews who arrived in Israel with their Jewish spouses or parents now want to become part of our people. We should welcome them with great enthusiasm. We should honor their willingness to study and to commit themselves to becoming Jews.
The Jewish Agency for Israel’s Unity of the Jewish People committee, on which I proudly sit, meets every four months. For some time now, a major concern at those meetings has been how to handle the increasing demand for acceptable, authentic conversions to Judaism in Israel. The problem is particularly urgent for the estimated nearly 300,000 recent non-Jewish immigrants who would like to become Jews but have not been permitted to do so.
At recent meetings, the committee has heard about the frustration and searing pain felt by many people who live in Israel but are denied entrance into our Jewish community by a tiny group of small-minded religious functionaries. The three major religious streams – the Conservative, Orthodox and Reform movements – all are dedicated to resolving this crisis.
Major initiatives have evolved since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made this issue a priority for his government. The Israeli Defense Forces have developed special training programs to educate and inspire non-Jewish soldiers so that they can declare their conviction and choose Judaism. The Joint Institute for Conversion offers programs taught by representatives of the three main religious movements, which have attracted large numbers of would-be Jews who go there to study the sources that undergird our heritage. These programs are designed to lead to conversion. The tragedy, however, is that they never have been able to produce more than a few thousand converts a year because the rabbinic judges charged with the responsibility for performing conversions consistently have put stumbling blocks in the candidates’ paths. This is a source of embarrassment both to Israel and to the worldwide Jewish community.
This is not an issue that pits liberal against Orthodox Jews. There is, in fact, a broad agreement among us because we all accept the principle that conversions will be conducted according to Orthodox criteria, acceptable to Orthodox rabbis. The issue is not halakhah, but whether halakhah will be interpreted from a liberal or a brutally strict perspective.
Indeed there are significant numbers of Orthodox rabbis in Israel who would be able to maintain their integrity and embrace these people by welcoming them into Jewish life, just as Bet Hillel did to potential proselytes when Bet Shammai briskly pushed them away. They do not do so because they would be ostracized by their own peers.
The Conservative movement has been working to integrate people seeking to become part of the Jewish community in Israel through the important educational work of Machon Schechter and the Masorti movement. The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center sponsors a program known as Consensus, which brings together recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union to learn Torah and other Jewish studies in Russian. Consensus also provides a warm and nurturing atmosphere as it introduces them to Shabbat and the Jewish holidays. We are grateful to the many donors in our Southeast region who sponsor this program.
Whenever we have any contact with Israeli leaders, it is imperative that we let them know how much we care about allowing people who want to convert to Judaism to integrate fully into Jewish life in Israel. We must make clear that we will not tolerate any roadblocks or impediments.
Although it is disappointing that a solution has not yet been found, the unity committee is optimistic. Particularly at this time of year, when we remember the rededication of the Temple as we light the Hanukkah candles, we dedicate ourselves anew to finding that solution. We believe that Israeli society – including many government officials – has now begun to understand that if we do not learn how to welcome people who sincerely want to live as Jews, they will live in continual pain, Israeli society will suffer, and the Jewish world will be deprived. We must not permit this to happen!
Rabbi Jerome M. Epstein is executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
