Court compels mikvehs to allow Reform, Conservative conversions

Those who wish to convert to Judaism outside the state-run Orthodox apparatus may use public mikvehs (ritual baths) during their conversion process, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

The Supreme Court, in its capacity as an appellate court for administrative affairs, ruled that the Religious Services Ministry, which operates the public mikvehs in Israel, had discriminated against Reform and Conservative groups by denying them access to the ritual baths. The three-justice panel was chaired by Chief Justice Miriam Naor.

The court said that the ministry's decision to allow only Orthodox conversion in the mikvehs was a form of discrimination against other streams that have their own private conversion apparatuses. It added the ministry's claim that "such mikvehs were only for Jews" was inconsistent with its own policy of allowing non-Jews to use the baths during the Orthodox conversion process.

"The state has set up public ritual baths as a service to the general public, and this includes conversion," the court ruled. "Accordingly, it may not discriminate against those who wish to use those services."

The court added that the ministry's claim that this would force it to recognize private conversions was unfounded. "The bathing itself has no bearing on the legal status of those conversions; neither do the views held by the converts," the justices wrote.

Attorney Orly Erez-Likhovski,who represented the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism during the court proceedings, said that the "court rejected the state's claim that those who take part in non-Orthodox conversion may be denied access to mikvehs because they are not part of the state-sanctioned conversion process; it further ruled that the state must treat the hundreds of converts who take part in the non-Orthodox conversion each year with equality." Executive Director of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism Gilad Kariv praised the decision and said it was a "significant step toward full recognition of Reform and Conservative Judaism in Israel."

Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef lambasted the Supreme Court over its decision, saying it was "scandalous." He added that the "Reform Jews are undermining the Jewish character of the state, and only uphold the Halachah [Jewish law] when it is convenient to do so."

According to Yosef, "The court's decision helps a handful of people while simultaneously dealing a crushing blow to tens of thousands of Jews who want to lead Jewish lives according to the Halachah and preserve the real Jewish identity of this nation."

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