c. 2007 Religion News Service

NEW YORK _ A landmark agreement between U.S. and Israeli Orthodox rabbis on conversion guidelines fell apart Monday (April 30) after Israeli rabbis signaled they want more control in deciding who can become an Orthodox Jew.

The Rabbinical Council of America, a U.S. Orthodox umbrella group, abruptly canceled plans to announce the agreement after dismayed American rabbis read a story in Monday’s Jerusalem Post indicating that Israel may not recognize North America’s conversion courts.

The announcement had been scheduled during the annual convention of the 1,000-member RCA here. Two RCA rabbis said they felt “frustrated” and “confused” by the the new hurdles.

Beyond the more immediate issue of deciding who can become a Jew, the dispute reflects larger tensions over how much control Israeli rabbis should have over Jewish life in the diaspora. Some non-Israeli Jews have said their members have gone to great _ sometimes humiliating _ lengths to prove their Jewishness in order to marry or to gain Israeli citizenship.

The sticking point appears to be whether Israeli rabbis will allow U.S. rabbis to approve their own judges to sit on conversion courts. Rabbi Yitzhak Peretz, an aide to Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar, told the Jerusalem Post that new judges would need to appear before a tribunal in Jerusalem in order to be approved.

The Israeli rabbis decided three years ago that they would no longer automatically recognize conversions performed outside Israel unless the officiating rabbi was on a short list of “accepted” rabbis.

In a letter Monday, Amar told Rabbi Basil Herring, the RCA’s executive vice president, that judges already approved will be allowed to continue, but new rabbis “will be required to meet the criteria we have set for rabbis throughout the world,” including the interviews in Jerusalem.

The agreement _ once differences are hammered out _ is intended to create a standardized process for converting to Orthodox Judaism that will be recognized in North America and in Israel.

In addition to new converts, beneficiaries would include Jews seeking Israeli citizenship _ automatically granted under Israel’s “Law of Return” to those with official proof of religious affiliation _ as well as people who consider themselves Jewish but were not born of Jewish mothers or converted by a recognized Orthodox court, Herring said.

Official proof of Orthodox Jewish status is needed for Orthodox weddings and funerals, and to enroll in an Orthodox Jewish day school, Herring added.

“This is frustrating, because we’re playing with people’s lives,” Herring said. “People are very, very anguished. We have people who have lived for 20 years as committed Jews, and all of a sudden they hear stories that say otherwise.”

RCA officials said the new rules on conversion judges contradict a 2006 agreement between the U.S. rabbis and the Chief Rabbinate, which authorized the RCA to certify its own conversion court judges. Herring added that the RCA is not willing to compromise on the issue.

The RCA had not heard any objections to the language in the agreement since its final version was drafted last month, said Rabbi Barry Freundel, an RCA board member. “We have not been aware of any problems in the last year,” he said.

Neither Peretz nor Amar could be reached Monday to confirm the new objections.

“Obviously, we want to have a partnership,” Freundel said. “We are confused. We want to talk to them and clarify this as soon as possible.”

_ Michele Chabin contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

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