The controversial Giyur Bill of MK (The Movement) Elazar Stern passed the Ministerial Law Committee and was on its way to second and third votes in Knesset but it is now meeting opposition.

The bill, which is opposed by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, seeks to permit civil service city rabbis to convene batei din to perform giyur towards facilitating the process and removing Chief Rabbinate control. In addition, Stern’s bill would recognize non-Orthodox conversions too.

Using Bayit Yehudi’s veto power on matters of religion, Minister of Religious Services Naftali Bennett is calling on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to halt the bill. Bennett wants the current version replaced with his version, which only recognizes frum conversions. Seeking to impress on the prime minister the seriousness of the situation, Bayit Yehudi MKs on Wednesday, 17 Adar II refused to enter the plenum to take part in a number of votes that are unrelated, simply using the opportunity to display coalition defiance.

After a number of hasty meetings and involvement of the prime minister, a compromise was reached. As such, the bill will not be voted on during the first days of the Knesset summer session and during the upcoming weeks, efforts will be made to reach agreement on a version of the bill viewed as acceptable by Bennett and Stern alike. The MKs then agreed to return to the plenum and vote with the coalition, with both sides claiming victory.

Eida Chareidis Ravaad HaGaon HaRav Moshe Sternbuch Shlita spoke out against the giyur bill on Purim, warning of the danger of such a bill chas v’sholom passing into law.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)