Adath Israel joins the Conservative/Masorti Movements and pluralistic Jews around the world and in Israel in applauding the decision of Israel’s Supreme Court, to recognize Conservative/Masorti and Reform conversions for the purpose of the Law of Return. This is not a partisan, political, nor denominational stance, but rather an articulation of Israel’s most critical historic calling.
The Law of Return was NEVER intended to rely on halachic (legal) definitions of “who is a Jew”; rather, it was a statement of broad peoplehood, the tie that binds us as Jews, in all our diversity. Still today, but especially at the inception of the Law of Return, in the wake of the Shoah and at the earliest moments of the Founding of the Jewish State, Israel was intended to be declared a homeland for all Jews, in our ancestral homeland. This Supreme Court decision re-affirms Israel’s commitment and connection to klal Yisrael, the wholeness and interconnectedness of the entire Jewish People.
