The Giyur Reform Law, which was supposed to be brought for a vote in the Knesset on Wednesday, was pushed off for two weeks after it became apparent that the bill wouldn’t pass due to the opposition of some coalition members, including the members of the Islamist Ra’am party. There has been an ongoing dispute regarding the giyur reform between Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana (Yamina) and the chairman of the Religious Services Committee Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beiteinu), with Kahana wanting to implement a plan allowing the Rabbanut to maintain some control over giyur and Malinonsky pushing a more liberal version of the law, which allows any hesder Rosh Yeshiva who hasn’t been certified as a Rav to form a Beis Din for giyur, without any input from the Rabbanut. However, two Yamina members, MKs Nir Auerbach and Yomtov Kalfon, said they would vote against Malinovsky’s version of the bill. In addition, Chareidi MKs, especially UTJ MK Yaakov Asher, placed great pressure on Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas not to support the bill and get involved in religious matters “just like Chareidim don’t get involved in Muslim religious matters.” Their efforts were successful and Abbas announced that he won’t support Malinovsky’s bill. Following a meeting between Kahana, Malinovsky and Auerbach, it was agreed that Kahana will submit a memorandum of law regarding the giyur reform plan in the next two weeks which will have the support of the coalition and if not, Malinovsky’s more liberal plan will be advanced. When the law is brought for a vote, the giyur proposals submitted by Malinovsky and Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz will be submitted together with it and be advanced in a quick process. Tur-Paz told Arutz Sheva on Wednesday that the giyur law will open the door to non-halachic Jews. “The giyur law is the opportunity to open the doors of the Jewish world to 400,000 Jews that aren’t recognized today according to halacha,” he said. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

The post Islamist Ra’am Party Saves The Day: Giyur Reform Law Delayed For 2 Weeks appeared first on The Yeshiva World.