Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, a leading religious Zionist rabbi and the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Hesder Amit Oron Shaul, explained to Arutz Sheva why he does not support the conversion bill which was initiated by the haredi parties.
“I really prefer that there will be one body – the Chief Rabbinate – that deals with conversion,” Rabbi Cherlo said. “We are one nation, one state, and therefore there should be one process of conversion.”
“My problem is that in order to fulfill this mission, it has to be as inclusive as possible. You can’t be a Chief Rabbinate and at the same time adopt the most extreme the most extreme opinions in halakha,” he said.
Rabbi Cherlow said that the Chief Rabbinate must confront the issues facing the Jewish communities both in Israel and in the Diaspora, including assimilation and intermarriage, and that the Chief Rabbinate cannot serve only a small minority of Jews in Israel.
“If you want to be the Chief Rabbinate on the one hand, but to be a rabbinate only for a very tiny part of the observance of Judaism, then it is a contradiction, and therefore it will fail.”