Israel’s chief rabbi: If a Reform convert weds a Jew, the marriage is invalid

6 March 2021, 10:58 pm

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Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzhak Yosef speaks during a Shas party election rally at the Yazdim synagogue in Jerusalem on February 29, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Israel’s Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef has chastised the Reform movement following the High Court’s ruling this week recognizing Reform and Conservative conversions to Judaism performed in Israel for the purpose of granting them citizenship.

“What is Reform conversion? It isn’t Jewish,” Yosef says in footage aired by Hebrew media. “If a Reform convert comes before me after marrying a Jewish woman, I’ll send her away without a divorce. She doesn’t need a divorce, the marriage is invalid. They have nothing, no mitzvahs and nothing else.”