Beersheva Chief Rabbi Yehuda Deri announced that mikvaos in his city are for Orthodox tevila only, stating he will not permit a Reform convert and a Reform beit din make use of the city’s mikvaos. Deri states that he is not going to permit a Reform convert to use a city mikve and plans to defy the High Court’s ruling.
Rabbi Deri’s statements are in response to the recent Supreme Court ruling ordering a Beersheva mikve to permit a Reform convert toivel in that mikve in the presence of a Reform beis din. The ruling is viewed by many as official recognition of Reform conversions.
Religious parties in Knesset; Yahadut Hatorah, Bayit Yehudi and Shas has already announced that are joining forces to combat the High Court ruling. They plan to push a bill that will compel mikvaos in cities to adhere to the rules of local religious councils in the hope of circumventing the court ruling.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
Reform is not Judaism.
since when did the reform movement use mikvaos? it is clearly an attempt by their priests to attack the olam HaTorah.
drugcommish — Thank you for your thoughtful and constructive comment. It is so nice to hear people thinking about matters in a reasonable manner. More seriously — what do you suggest? Suppose that the state says, we will only continue supporting you if you follow the rules. Then, do you say, ok, we won’t take your money and pay for this ourselves? Right now they are receiving money from the state for the mikvaose. Actually, even R’ Deri shlit”a is a government employee. drugcommish, what do you suggest happens?
#1.
Are you speaking from experience?
The so-called reform are Jews whose only difference from you and me is the number of mizvot they keep.
All Jews keep at least a few mitzvot. In time, hopefully, we will all find a way to keep more of them.