Knesset committee to vote on compromise ritual bath bill

Coalition lawmakers have agreed to soften the wording of a controversial bill governing the use of ritual baths, or mikvehs, ahead of a Knesset committee vote Monday on a draft of the legislation that omits any mention of requiring women to immerse in accordance with Orthodox interpretations of Jewish law.

The bill by United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni — which seeks to circumvent the Supreme Court’s February 12 ruling that Israel’s non-Orthodox Jewish communities may use state ritual baths for their conversion ceremonies — would give regional religious authorities the discretion to bar individuals from using state ritual baths, regardless of any previous agreements.

As part of a compromise to secure the bill’s passage, the Jewish Agency has agreed to build up to four ritual baths for use by Israel’s Conservative and Reform communities, though the proposal has not yet been finalized.

“The Jewish Agency has agreed to fund and build up to four mikvehs for Reform and Conservative congregations as part of an overall compromise on the matter,” a Jewish Agency official said on Monday. “At the same time, the compromise has not yet been accepted by all the relevant parties and therefore has yet to be approved.”

A clause in the original bill, which was forcefully opposed by some coalition members, would have also forced all women using the ritual baths to do so by the standards of Orthodox Jewish law.

“It’s important to clarify that all reference to the methods of women’s immersion was removed [from the law] as we demanded from the start,” wrote Kulanu MK Rachel Azaria on Twitter on Sunday night.

Azaria was removed from last week’s Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee for demanding a copy of the new wording of the bill and accusing the proposed legislation of compromising religious freedoms.

“This law is about to harm hundreds of thousands of women who immerse themselves every month, according to Jewish law. It means that the rabbinate will tell women who are immersing themselves according to their mothers’ traditions that they are no longer legal,” said Azaria last Monday.

The bill in its current formulation would still allow local authorities to block individuals, including non-Orthodox Jews, from using the state-run ritual baths.

The Knesset’s Internal Affairs and Environment Committee was set to vote on the draft on Monday, ahead of its first reading in the Knesset plenum. As part of an agreement, the law will not be up for a vote until members of the coalition parties Jewish Home and Kulanu agree to its formulation.

Amanda Borschel-Dan contributed to this report.