June 26, 2017

The International Rabbinic Fellowship expresses its deep disappointment in the recent Israeli cabinet decisions to suspend implementation of the Kotel Compromise approved last year by the government as well as the decision to support legislation that would outlaw any conversions done in Israel outside of the Conversion Authority of the Chief Rabbinate.

We reiterate our support for the Kotel Compromise fashioned by Jewish Agency Head Natan Sharansky and supported by the Beit Hillel rabbinic organization. 

As we wrote last year in our statement: "The plan, which like any compromise, can be improved upon (e.g. creating a space for Orthodox women's groups that do not want to engage in full egalitarian prayer but do want to read from the Torah) is a positive step forward to making the Kotel a public place where all Jews can experience the presence of the Divine according to the dictates of their conscience." 

As R.Benny Lau stated this week: "The Western Wall is not a sectarian property. We must give everyone a sense that it is their home. It is the heart of the Jewish people." 

We also share in the sentiments of Beit Hillel, Tzohar and others that putting up more roadblocks to legitimate halakhic conversions in the State of Israel is a step back that harms the unity of the Jewish people and is harmful to the long-term interests of the State of Israel.