We Support the Conversion Bill in Knesset

This petition was inspired by the words of Sephardi Chief Rabbi HaRav Shlomo Amar shlita who implored every Jew to try and influence Knesset members and ministers in regard to the conversion bill.

To the Government of Israel:

In light of the heated opposition to the conversion bill by the Reconstructionist, Reform and Conservative movements, we the undersigned, unequivocally state the following:

We learn in Dvarim 13:1 that nothing can ever be added or subtracted from the Torah that God gave, word for word, to Moses, our rabbi, the father of all prophets.

The Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist movements were created in order to thwart this principle, which Jews have sacrificed their lives to uphold for millenia.

The Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist movements complain that a proposed Israeli conversion bill that would give the Orthodox rabbinate monopoly on conversions to Judaism is disastrous to the unity of the Jewish people.

Although constituents of this movement are still Jewish people (with significant amounts of exceptions), hence still our blood, we must respect them. But we need not respect their demands.

There is no Jewish people without the Torah. The Torah delineated the laws of who is a Jew and who is not.

If people do not convert according to the Torah, they are not considered Jewish by Torah law. That means that all Orthodox Jews of all stripes will not hold of these converts as Jewish - the Orthodox, are included in the 'Jewish people' as well, are they not?

Please note the assimilation rate of these sects in America as per a 2001 study by the National Jewish Population Survey available here: http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/WillYourGrandchildrenBeJews/

Where the Orthodox intermarriage with non-Jews is 6\%, the Conservative rate is 32\%, the Reform rate is 46\% and the secular rate is 49\%. And that was in 2001.

If you let the Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist movements, most of whom are not even citizens or residents of Israel, dictate who is a Jew, it will only take a few generations for the specter of assimilation to rear its ugly head in Israel on a much greater scale than it is already.

Please note that you will find a majority of Diaspora Orthodox among the staunchest supporters of Israel, and conversely, please note that the anti -Israel yet still Jewish lobby Jstreet is filled with Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist Jews. The same people who run and fund Jstreet from America are the same people who are fighting the conversion bill.

These movements have a right to practice their religion any way they please. If they don't want to keep the Torah, that's fine, but they have no right to re-write it for everyone. They have no right to dictate to all of the Jews worldwide what a Jew is and demand that we all adhere to their precepts.

Torah Judaism has been with us for 3,323 years. The Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist movements came around a few hundred years ago because they didn't want to have to keep the stodgy old Torah. These movements are already dying out, while the Orthodox communities are thriving.

Do not let the Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist movements dictate to Israel who is a Jewish person, if you want there to be a Jewish people left.

Thank you.