The Tzohar Rabbinical Organization fiercely attacked the Supreme Court decision approving the recognition of non-halakhic conversions saying it will impact the very Jewish future of the State, and blaming “power brokers” associated with the Chief Rabbinate for allowing this decision to go ahead.
“Those very power brokers who want to control who comes in and out of Israel’s borders and seek control over Israeli conversions completely based on their limited worldviews without any desire for dialogue, they are the ones completely responsible for this decision. This is a position that now has the potential to impact on the very future of the Jewish State - both in the years ahead and for the long term and we will have no one else to blame but those who were opposed to dialogue for allowing this to occur.
"This is a decision which can still be changed if we allow local city rabbis and rabbinical councils to perform conversions as has always been the accepted form.
"This process must be open to accepting the wider approaches to conversion that are wholly possible within the norms of halakha,” they said.