Controversial Conversion Law Would Be Frozen Under Deal With Ultra-Orthodox

Image by Mayyim Hayyim Community Mikveh
(JTA) — Government sources in Israel said the ruling Likud party had reached a deal with Haredi coalition partners on the future of conversions to Judaism in Israel.
The deal entails preserving the current status quo on conversion in Israel for six months, with parties working for and against state recognition for conversions without Orthodox approval suspending their judiciary and legislative efforts for that period, the Jerusalem Post reported on Friday.
Haredi parties in Israel are promoting legislation in Israel’s Knesset, the parliament, that, if passed, would grant the Chief Rabbinate a total monopoly on conversion. It would preempt judicial intervention by stating that Israeli law does not recognize Reform and Conservative conversions done in Israel, as well as those of non-state, independent Orthodox rabbinical courts.
Meanwhile, the Reform and Masorti, or Conservative movements of progressive Judaism are seeking to obtain a ruling favorable to their goals from the High Court on a petition they filed to grant non-Orthodox converts recognition by the state.
Both in the Haredi and the progressive movements, an agreement was reached to suspend these efforts for until 2018.
In the meantime, Prime Minister Benjamin Netyanyahu is to appoint a committee to review the issue and present alternative arrangements.
The fight by progressive streams of Judaism in Israel and their allies for recognition of their conversions is part of a larger struggle for equal status in the Jewish state as the Rabbinate, which is an Orthodox body whose court system is part of the Israel judiciary, acting as family courts for Israeli Jews.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
News Why Zohran Mamdani believes he’ll win over Jewish voters, as Israel critic surges to second behind Cuomo in NYC mayoral race
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Campus encampments return one year later, and pro-Palestinian protests spark 15 arrests
-
Fast Forward Israeli left-wing group suspended at University of Haifa after protesting the war in Gaza
-
Fast Forward Jordanian national in Florida sentenced to 6 years for targeting businesses he believed supported Israel
-
Fast Forward A ‘Golden Dome for America,’ inspired by Israel, is part of Trump’s 2026 budget request
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.