U.S. Rabbis Seek Defeat of Israeli Bills

NEW YORK — Leaders of the Reform and Conservative branches of North American Judaism have asked members to mobilize against proposed legislation in Israel that would restore Orthodox rabbis’ exclusive right to perform religious conversions.

The bill would overturn a December ruling by the Jerusalem District Court that validated conversions by non-Orthodox groups within Israel. The government’s Interior Ministry plans to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

A related bill in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, also targeted by the North American Jews would nullify court decisions that allowed Conservative and Reform members onto municipal councils that administer religious programs.

Rabbi Jerome Epstein, executive vice president of the Conservative synagogue organization, said North American Jews “must use the power of our dollars” in the forthcoming campaign to elect a new Knesset. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Reform synagogue union, said, “Israeli politicians need to look beyond short-term electoral interests to the welfare of the Jewish people as a whole.”