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After a six-year battle, the Israeli high rabbinate finally released the list of foreign rabbis whom he recognizes for conversion and divorce purposes.
The lists contain only the names of orthodox rabbis, because the religious institution does not recognize other Jewish movements.
The conversion and divorce lists have been published (in Hebrew) on the official website of the State of Rabbinate in recent days. A third list of rabbis recognized for the purpose of marriage has not yet been published.
>> Click here for a complete list of approved rabbis for the conversion ■ Click here for the full list of approved rabbis for divorce
Foreign nationals who marry in Israel must prove that they are Jewish if their parents were not married under the auspices of the rabbinate. As a rule, such certification is provided by their rabbis gathered at home. Rabbis of congregations abroad also provide certification letters for converts and divorce.
Therefore, it is essential to know which rabbis are on the approved lists. Until now, however, these lists have been kept secret.
ITIM, an Israeli organization that helps people challenged by the Israeli religious bureaucracy, is spearheading the campaign to force the rabbinate to publish them. ITIM has repeatedly asked the Rabbinate over the last six years to hand over the lists, even going so far as to threaten him with taking legal action if he did not comply with them.
Two years ago, ITIM represented an American woman whose conversion by a New York rabbi, Haskel Lookstein, had been rejected by the Rabbinate. Lookstein had also converted Ivanka Trump, daughter of President Donald Trump.
Lookstein appears in the new list of rabbis recognized for conversions. This does not include Flatbush's Vaad Harabanim – a rabbinical court that has converted thousands of people over the years.
Most rabbis of both lists reside in the United States. The lists also include rabbis who are not members of the Rabbinical Council of America, the main organization representing Orthodox rabbis in the country.
The founder and ITIM executive director, Rabbi Seth Farber, called the publication of these lists of "victory for transparency".
At the same time, he said, they were "far from perfect". For example, the lists do not clearly indicate whether individuals converted by rabbis who do not appear on the lists will be deprived of their Jewish status. It is also not known whether rabbis or rabbinic courts that are not on the list can appeal.
The lists contain the names of rabbinic courts around the word recognized by the rabbinate, as well as the names of individual rabbis in each rabbinical court.
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