The Reform movement in Israel has filed a court petition against the Jerusalem Religious Council, saying the council discriminates against those who wish to convert and join the Reform and Conservative movements.  Would-be Reform converts who identify themselves as such are turned away from public mikvaot (ritual baths), which are used in the final stage of the conversion process.

The Israel Religious Action Committee (IRAC), the Reform movement’s legal wing, filed a suit in 2006 over the policy.  The Supreme Court told the group to petition against individual religious councils.  IRAC officials said the lawsuit against the Jerusalem council would be the first in a series of similar petitions.

Rabbi Menachem Blumenthal, the head of public mikvaot in Jerusalem, confirmed that the religious council only grants access to converts approved by the Chief Rabbinate.  Mikva employees do not check for identification at the buildings’ entrance, he said, and only those who identify themselves as planning a Reform or Conservative conversion are denied access.