 |
 |
ORTHODOX RABBINICAL CONVERSION COURT
REQUIRES IMMIGRANT WOMEN FROM THE FORMER SOVIET UNION
TO SIGN COMMITMENT
NOT TO SERVE IN THE ISRAEL ARMY
AS A CONDITION OF CONVERSION
Several women, new immigrants from the former Soviet Union, have complained that they were required to sign commitments not to serve in the Israel Army (the IDF) as a condition for obtaining an Orthodox conversion by the Orthodox Rabbinical Conversion Courts. They were told that "a Jewish woman cannot observe all of the required Orthodox religious laws when serving in the Army" and thus it was implied that their conversion might be voided if they served in the Army. Thousands of Israeli Orthodox men and women have served in the Israel Army where kosher food is provided for all and Jewish law is adhered to by those who so desire. All this is supervised by the Army Chief Rabbinate which is apparently not strict enough for the Ultra-Orthodox Rabbinical Conversion Court. The women feared that if they violated the commitment, that the Orthodox Conversion Court could latter annul their conversions to Judaism. In a previous case several years ago, a young, new immigrant couple who had been converted to Judaism by an Orthodox Rabbinical Conversion Court had their conversion to Judaism canceled by the Court when several years latter they moved to a Kibbutz of the Shomer Ha'Zair Movement, which does not keep a Kosher kitchen. The couple's children, born after their conversion, also automatically lost their status as Jews.