Future foreigners’ conversions in doubt
Out of concern that Israel will be labeled a proselytizing nation, the Justice Ministry this week asked Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar to stop converting citizens of foreign countries. But Amar is proving reluctant to do so.
In a meeting on Sunday, attorney Harel Goldberg of the Consultation and Legislation Department in the Justice Ministry requested that Amar halt these conversions. Goldberg had sent a letter to Amar more than a month ago warning of the legal problems involved with the practice. But an aide to Amar who deals with the conversions said that, together with the ministry, they still hoped to find a way to continue the practice. Legal experts in the ministry and in the Attorney-General’s Office have opposed drafting any regulations that would give a religious authority the power to convert citizens of foreign countries. Read Article
