Cabinet okays conversion reform bill, sends it to Knesset

The cabinet approves Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana’s bill to reform the state-sponsored process for converting to Judaism.

The proposal is meant to introduce greater competition in religious conversion, allowing not only the national rabbinate to approve conversions — as is the case today — but also regional and municipal rabbinates. However, critics argue that the reform may ultimately have little impact as those local authorities are ultimately controlled by the national rabbinate and other provisions of the bill may similarly keep final say in the hands of the chief rabbi.

Having been approved by the cabinet, the bill will now head to the Knesset for a first reading. If it passes, it will then head to committee for further review and potential changes, before being brought back to the plenum for a second and third reading.

The proposed reform has drawn sharp criticism from ultra-Orthodox figures, including the chief rabbi, as well as some in the national-religious camp.

In a tweet following the approval of the bill in the cabinet, Kahana hails the reform as “history.”

“Together we have taken a step toward preserving the Jewish identity of the State of Israel: a state-sponsored conversion law, in accordance with Jewish law, under the auspices of the rabbinate,” Kahana says.