Israel’s Supreme Court once again made a decision for the State of Israel that more properly should lie in the purview of the nation’s parliament, the Knesset.
The nine-justice panel this week handed down a ruling on a 2003 petition by the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism demanding the court revoke a law requiring Jewish parents and their adopted children to have the same religion.
Israel, as defined by its Declaration of Independence and enshrined in the Basic Laws which serve as the country’s form of constitution, has since the rebirth of the Jewish State done a very delicate dance between the various issues that raise the blood pressure of the various different sectors, from the most strictly observant / haredi Jews to the most liberal / secular in the population.
It’s also important to know that non-Orthodox conversions are not recognized by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate. The State argued in its brief that mandating Orthodox conversions is in the best interest of such children later in life — when they want to marry — since the Chief Rabbinate only recognizes Orthodox conversions.
Orthodox conversion has until this point been deemed the only form of conversion acceptable for the adoption of non-Jewish children by the state’s Children Protection Service.
In response, the non-Orthodox sector submitted a petition to the Supreme Court, demanding the justices revoke the state’s legal ruling.
Which it now has done.
The Court has now decided that every case of adoption of a non-Jewish child, of which there were several dozen last year, must be examined individually.
In accordance with the ruling, the requirement for an Orthodox Jewish conversion of such children will no longer be mandatory.
Content by JNS was used in this report.
