Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on March 8, 2015

Yitzak Yosef Says Won't OK Municipal Rabbi Moves By JTA

Published February 20, 2015.

One of Israels two chief rabbis said he would not recognize conversions performed by municipal rabbis despite a government directive validating them.

A recording of Yitzhak Yosef vowing to block the conversions was published Wednesday on the website kikar.co.il. The Sephardic chief rabbi said he would withhold his signature, which is still required to complete the process.

They went ahead and made a law that municipal rabbis can perform conversions and then went over my head, Yosef said.

The chief rabbi of Jerusalem can perform conversions, the chief rabbi of Shoham can perform conversions they already converted a few people in Arad, he said. The chief rabbi has the authority to stop this. I gave an order to the head of the [chief rabbinates] conversions department that all the conversions they are now performing, I wont sign them, I wont approve, I wont sign something that is contrary to Halacha. Halacha is religious law.

In November, the government adopted legislation that ended the monopoly on conversions held by the chief rabbinates conversions department.

The chief rabbinate and its chief rabbis, as well as municipal rabbis, are public servants in Israel.

Following the recordings release, Elazar Stern, an Orthodox member of the Israeli Knesset who has led attempts at reforming the conversions establishment, called on Yosef to resign .

The chief rabbi is forgetting that decisions made by the Israeli Knesset are his sole source of authority, Stern, a lawmaker for the Yesh Atid party, was quoted as saying on the news site Srugim.co.il. If he is unwilling or unable for some reason to follow the states laws and the resolutions of its government, than he has only one choice: Resign.

Here is the original post:

Israel Chief Rabbi Vows To Defy Conversion Law

Category: Sephardic
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