Chief Rabbi Amar moves to resolve conversion issues - Haaretz

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Thu., August 16, 2007 Elul 2, 5767

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Last update - 10:07 14/08/2007

Chief Rabbi Amar moves to resolve conversion issues

By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Jewish World Correspondent

Israel's Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar has decided to appoint a committee of rabbinical court judges (dayanim) to examine the array of religious issues that have been delaying the conversion of thousands of immigrants.

The committee of three dayanim will look into the requirements for religious observance which have proved a stumbling block for many would-be converts and try to formulate clear rules in the matter.

Amar's decision followed an agreement with the director general of the Immigrant Absorption Ministry, Erex Halfon, to accept the recommendations of an inter-ministerial committee established five months ago and headed by Halfon, which dealt with reorganizing the entire field of conversion.

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Halfon's committee is scheduled to present its conclusions in a week. These are expected to include setting up a unified conversion authority that would operate under the auspices of either the Immigrant Absorption Ministry or the Prime Minister's Office.

The authority would likely encompass the special conversion courts, which would grow and employ more dayanim. The authority would also finance the various frameworks for preparing converts.

The prime minister will appoint the director of the authority, but in practice this will be a confidant of the chief rabbi. The latter is also supposed to set the standards for the new authority pertaining to halakha, or Jewish law.

The director will evidently be former Knesset member Rabbi Haim Druckman, who is currently head of the conversion courts.

According to government figures, there are some 300,000 immigrants who came to Israel under the Law of Return but are not recognized as Jews.

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1.	The requirements for conversion must be minimalist	03:31	\|	AV	14/08/07

2.	Understanding Israel.	03:44	\|	Maureen Ann	14/08/07

3.	#2 Jews but not Jews	05:42	\|	Yehudit	14/08/07

4.	#3 Yehudit. Thank you for your post.	07:03	\|	Maureen Ann	14/08/07

5.	#3 = only partly correct	07:14	\|	Jon	14/08/07

6.	#3, Yehudit	08:48	\|	Cipora Julianna Kohn	14/08/07

7.	Law of Return ....	09:29	\|	Rav King	14/08/07

8.	MAUREEN ANN.simple,they do not become suicide bombers.	09:32	\|	PETER SM	14/08/07

9.	No easy answers	10:02	\|	Joseph	14/08/07

10.	CONVERSION	10:23	\|	colin	14/08/07

11.	Reform and Conservative conversion	10:38	\|	Yonatan	14/08/07

12.	AV - You are on crack	10:44	\|	RightClick	14/08/07

13.	Arabs Decided	10:51	\|	dave	14/08/07

14.	#3, Jehudit	11:24	\|	Cipora Julianna Kohn	14/08/07

15.	THE THIRD TEMPLE	12:27	\|	Jay A Friedman	14/08/07

16.	I would opine	12:35	\|	Avi yerushalmi	14/08/07

17.	RightClick...what?	14:32	\|	Maimon	14/08/07

18.	Cipora prefers Hitler decides who is a Jew, but not the Rabbis???	14:55	\|	Marc Levi	14/08/07

19.	Conversion of the Masses	15:00	\|	Yaakov Sullivan	14/08/07

20.	to dave	15:02	\|	Puhi	14/08/07

21.	Jewish Grandpas/ President Sarkozy	15:07	\|	Fortune	14/08/07

22.	Maureen Ann on Definition of Jew	15:13	\|	Yaakov Sullivan	14/08/07

23.	#16	15:22	\|	Avi Yerushalmi	14/08/07

24.	SULLIVAN.@22	15:52	\|	PETER SM	14/08/07

25.	Jewish Conversion Issues	16:25	\|	James Weinberg	14/08/07

26.	Conversion and State	16:25	\|	Leo	14/08/07

27.	Jewish Conversion Issues 2	16:32	\|	James Weinberg	14/08/07

28.	PETER SM, there is nothing misleading	17:20	\|	Yaakov Sullivan	14/08/07

29.	Conversion in the 21st century is ingenuous	17:32	\|	Avi Yerushalmi	14/08/07

30.	Interesting, discussions in true Jewish form. I like it	17:38	\|	David	14/08/07

31.	Conversion	17:42	\|	Zamarah	14/08/07

32.	30 David on your note...	18:11	\|	bat yam	14/08/07

33.	to Maureen in Australia	19:06	\|	Hilda	14/08/07

34.	What is needed	19:08	\|	danite	14/08/07

35.	"Yaakov"	19:08	\|	Danite	14/08/07

36.	For the love of Moses!	19:51	\|	Akiva	14/08/07

37.	The Talmud and Rambam are EXTREMELY LENIENT on conversions	20:00	\|	AV	14/08/07

38.	Exactly, Danite	20:14	\|	Hal	14/08/07

39.	O`Sullivan on Burials	21:39	\|	Ari ben Yisrael	14/08/07

40.	#37 Reply to AV on Talmud and Rambam	21:56	\|	Joseph	14/08/07

41.	Government of Israel now legislates Jewish law	22:01	\|	Pete	14/08/07

42.	Re: #5 Jon	22:05	\|	James	14/08/07

43.	AV #37	22:11	\|	Avi Yerushalmi	14/08/07

44.	Hal on Conversions #38	22:30	\|	Yaakov Sullivan	14/08/07

45.	Real Jews are a rapidly dwindling minority in Israel/Palestine	22:32	\|	keith	14/08/07

46.	Further to the question of separation of "Church" & State	22:49	\|	Peter	14/08/07

47.	Jews or Judaics?	22:58	\|	hala	14/08/07

48.	lex sanguinis and ius sanguinis	01:51	\|	DJStahl	15/08/07

49.	RE #31 "All those who reject idolatry are Jews"	19:10	\|	DJStahl	16/08/07

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