Due to Rabbi Lau's refusal to sign conversion certificates: Hundreds of immigrants are expected to lose their rights | Israel today

Hundreds of new immigrants from the Menashe tribe are expected to lose their absorption basket and their rights, due to the Chief Rabbi's announcement of the cessation of conversion proceedings in Israel.

This is what the Minister of Absorption, Pnina Temano Shata, warned today (Wednesday), in her urgent address to the Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, in which she asks him to intervene in the crisis immediately.

These are new immigrants from India, who are expected to leave the absorption center in the Galilee landscape in a few days.

They have completed the conversion process and are just waiting for the official certificate signed by the Chief Rabbi.

However, following Rabbi Lau's announcement that he will no longer sign the conversion certificates, the immigrants will not receive the conversion certificates, which is a condition for Israeli citizenship and the absorption package attached to it.

"If they do not receive the conversion permit these days, hundreds of immigrants will find themselves without the possibility of receiving assistance and government responses, such as: absorption basket, rent assistance, employment integration and more, until God forbid reaching a state of deprivation," wrote Temano Shata Levant.

Chief Rabbi David Lau.

His refusal could endanger the status of hundreds of immigrants, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon

She further noted that "in the Torah with Israel, it is often commanded to love Hagar, not to grieve him or even to harm him. "Severe and disproportionate to them."

Temano Shata asked Bennett to intervene immediately in the crisis: "As the person in charge of the safety and basic rights of the new immigrants, I will ask you, as head of the ministry responsible for the conversion system, to prevent serious harm to the new immigrants and allow them to receive conversion certificates."

Earlier, Minister of Religions Matan Kahana attacked Rabbi Lau's announcement.

"It hurts and regrets the intention of the Chief Rabbi to stop the conversion in Israel only due to the failure to extend the tenure of an official. The move will harm immigrants from Ethiopia, soldiers seeking to convert and thousands of other converts."

Kahana added: "With the intention of reaching as broad an agreement as possible, the government and the coalition are currently promoting a conversion law that will allow Israelis who wish to do so to convert according to Jewish law."

He called on the Chief Rabbi to reiterate his intention to stop the conversion in Israel and to continue the commandments in order to reach agreements in favor of state and halakhic conversion.

Minister Kahana's entourage accuses Rabbi Lau of "using an illegitimate tool," adding that "stopping all conversions is an 'atomic bomb' and the most harsh tool against converts. This is an immoral and unjustified act."

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