Identity Crisis: Face to Face with Chief Rabbi David Lau

Photos: Elchanan Kotler

Last week, Israel’s High Court recognized conversions conducted by Reform and Conservative clergy for the first time in history. Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi Rav David Lau reacted to the bombshell decision with pain and disappointment. As the president of the Chief Rabbinate, and as someone experienced in the issues of marriage and conversions , he foresees the precedent-setting decision having troubling implications for the country’s Jewish identity.

But he also highlights the ruling’s limitations. “Without, of course, detracting from the severity of the scandalous ruling, it has nothing to do with marriage and divorce. Its only relevance is determining who is eligible for citizenship under the Law of Return. This is stated explicitly in the ruling, and it is clear that all the state’s dayanim and marriage registries will continue to function according to halachah.”

So what problems does the ruling pose?

“It will allow someone who has undergone a Reform or Conservative conversion to receive immediate Israeli citizenship. The country will then be flooded with people considered halachically non-Jews. Inevitably many Jewish citizens will want to intermarry with them, without even knowing they are not halachic Jews. This ruling basically imports the culture of the United States — with all the ills of rampant assimilation — directly to the Holy Land.

“This begs the question: If Israel enables anyone who wants to come here and get citizenship to do so without a problem, what makes it a ‘Jewish state’?”