Aliyah & Integration
Which conversions count
Only Chief Rabbinate conversions should count for marriage and personal status.
In 2021 the Supreme Court recognised Reform and Conservative conversions for the Law of Return. Personal status stayed separate.
What is at stake
Israel has no civil marriage. Jewish marriage and divorce run through state rabbinical courts under the Chief Rabbinate, which recognises only Orthodox conversion. The Law of Return, which grants Jews and their relatives automatic citizenship, is read more broadly. So a convert can become a citizen and still be refused registration as Jewish for marriage.
The case for
- A shared standard of personal status is what keeps one Jewish people able to marry across communities.
- Halakhic conversion requires acceptance of the commandments. Streams that do not require it produce converts many Jews could not marry.
- One recognised standard stops Israel from splitting into communities that no longer intermarry.
The case against
- Most Jews outside Israel belong to Reform or Conservative communities, and the people who convert there live fully Jewish lives.
- Welcoming an oleh as a citizen and then refusing him marriage tells him he is only half accepted.
- Giving one rabbinic body authority over everyone's personal status strains the bond between Israel and the Diaspora.
Both sides get the same number of points at comparable length. That is a rule of this site, not a coincidence.
What the next Knesset could decide
The Knesset can legislate on conversion and on who registers marriages, or leave the field to the rabbinical courts and the Supreme Court. Coalition agreements have repeatedly bound governments to preserve the Rabbinate's exclusive authority.