By Tomer Zarchin, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
May 19, 2009

In a historic ruling, the High Court of Justice on Tuesday ordered the state to allocate resources to organs affiliated with non-Orthodox streams of Judaism who perform conversions.

"All streams of conversion have the same purpose - the cultural and spiritual incorporation of Israeli citizens and residents into the society and community in Israel," Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch wrote in the ruling.

The panel of judges - which included Beinisch, Miriam Naor, and Edna Arbel - heard a petition which was filed by the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, which specializes Reform conversions.

The IMPJ argued that the Absorption Ministry has discriminated against it in its stringent criteria that it uses to determine who is entitled to monetary grants. The state's grant policy is more lax when dealing with private bodies that perform Orthodox conversions, the movement told the Court.

A committee formed in 1997 by the current justice minister, Ya'akov Ne'eman, recommended that an institution for the study of Judaism be established so as to prepare would-be converts for the necessary procedures in the rabbinical courts.

The state sought to accomodate the large number of new immigrants who arrived in the country during the 1990s. Despite holding Israeli citizenship, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of olim are not considered Jewish by religious law.

The Ne'eman committee proposed that the new Judaism institute recognize the three main streams - Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative.

(translated from Hebrew)
Gilad Kariv, Director of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, praised the decision which he defined as "precedential and important." According to Kariv, "the High Court of Justice is signaling that there is more than one way to convert and that every Israeli citizen can decide what their entrance route to the Jewish people will be." He added that he hopes the government will respect the Court's ruling.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ARTICLE IN HAARETZ


CLICK HERE FOR THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE IN HEBREW