Citing a budget shortfall, the Education Ministry has decided
to close down the network of Orthodox-sponsored conversion
schools it has been funding, telling teachers they are being
dismissed at the end of this month, according to a recent
article in the Jerusalem Post. In practice, this means
that the only courses for conversion to Judaism will be those
run jointly with the heretical Reform and Conservative
movements within the framework of the recommendations made by
a commission headed by former Finance Minister Yaakov
Ne'eman.
The Education Ministry and the Finance Ministry exchanged
accusations over who is to blame for the closure of the
conversion schools. The director of the rabbinical courts,
Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan, said that in 1999 about 4,000
conversions to Judaism were performed in Israel, of whom 90
percent studied in the Education Ministry's network. About 45
percent of the conversions were new immigrants from Ethiopia.
According to Ben Dahan, the number of annual conversions has
increased fourfold since the beginning of the 1990s.
Until now the conversion candidates studied in about 90
courses that were given by the religious kibbutz movement,
the Or Etzion institutions headed by National Religious Party
MK Rabbi Chaim Druckman and others. The salaries of the
teachers, totaling some NIS 6 million a year, were paid by
the Education Ministry out of its budget for Hebrew
ulpanim as part of the adult education department. The
ministry announced this year that it would not allow new
conversion classes to be opened because immigration was
larger than anticipated. As a result, the budget for Hebrew
classes was increased and no money remained for the
conversion classes.
Those most acutely affected by the ministry's decision will
be the Ethiopian immigrants, who have nowhere else to turn
for conversion. The Education Ministry is now trying to find
a way to reopen at least the 25 courses that were attended by
Ethiopians. In addition, if the closure decision is not
revoked, new immigrants from the former Soviet Union and
elsewhere will have no option but to attend the joint
conversion institute which is funded by the Religious Affairs
Ministry. This year the institute had about 20 graduates.
Next year it plans to open about 100 classes for some 2,000
new immigrants.
The Vaad HaRabbonim Haolami LeInyonei Giyur headed by HaRav
Chaim Kreiswirth has basically confirmed the substance of
this report, adding that it has received in its offices
copies of the dismissal notices to some of the Orthodox
teachers. The joint conversion institutes continue to
function and several candidates have already completed the
conversion process. This is in direct breach of a Kol
Korei that was issued two years ago, signed by all
leading Orthodox rabbonim including both of Israel's Chief
Rabbis, prohibiting any recognition or cooperation with those
joint conversion institutes.
The Vaad spokesman said that the decision of the Education
Ministry was ideologically motivated so that the joint
institutes will have full control of the conversion study
process. Furthermore the Vaad has learned that the funding by
the Ministry of Religions to the joint conversion institutes
is transferred by a clerk who is a direct subordinate of the
Chief Rabbis, even though they signed on the Kol
Korei.
Even more serious is the fact that the Chief Rabbinate Office
has already approved several conversions of graduates of a
joint conversion institutes performed by Rabbi Chaim
Druckman's beis din in Or Etzion, even though that is
also in total violation of the Kol Korei.
The Vaad is in contact with the gedolei haposkim to
take steps to deal with this deteriorating situation. In
light of the fact that a broad range of Orthodox rabbonim
signed against the joint conversion institutes, it is
expected that every effort will be made to ensure that the
Kol Korei will be properly implemented.
