Why didn’t the RCA do this?
A local nonprofit assisting Jewish converts is for the first time planning to take the Chief Rabbinate of Israel to court for not preventing the retroactive annulment of conversions, Anglo File has learned. The organization’s founder asserts “back room” talks convinced him such outside pressure would give rabbinate leaders the impetus to address the issue on its own.
“We’ve cooperated with the rabbinate for years, building a dialogue and trust with them, but the situation cannot be allowed to go on,” said Rabbi Seth Farber, the U.S.-born founder of the Jerusalem-based assistance organization ITIM, which is preparing a petition to the High Court of Justice against the rabbinate.
Numerous Jews over the past years whose conversions had already been approved by the rabbinate, have encountered officials – primarily municipal rabbis and rabbinical judges – denying their religious status, asserts Farber. In the petition’s draft, Farber asks the court to order the rabbinate to ensure that all of its employees and representatives fulfill their duties, namely recognizing all Jews with rabbinate-approved conversions as such.
