The Conversion Law affair is snowballing, threatening to make the religious controversy concerning the legitimacy of conversion into the ax that splits the Jewish people in Israel and abroad. The widening rift between orthodox Judaism and more liberal streams of Judaism in the US could, first of all, change the targets of hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions, until now directed to the government and the Jewish Agency.
A large portion of the contributions will be channeled directly to Reform and Conservative institutions both in the US and Israel, and will significantly strengthen them. Government sources, including close associates of the prime minister, expect other wide-reaching ramifications such as collapse of the traditional structure of the US Jewish establishment, and, as aforesaid, a schism in the Jewish people, if no compromise between the streams of Judaism is found.
The conversion law only passed a first reading, but the immediate response was a series of declarations concerning the transfer of contributions from the Jewish establishment, primarily the UJA to other liberal concerns, such as the New Israel Fund. The significance for the Israeli economy is the transfer of an annual $400 million from state coffers and the Jewish Agency to other targets, not all of which are even in Israel
In general terms, the US Jewish establishment is a collection mechanism for contributions from the Jewish community and individual donors and the division of the contributions to three principal purposes: financing the mechanism itself, the welfare of the Jewish community, and contributions to Israel. The Israeli government and the Jewish Agency receive 30-40% of the contributions, which amount to an overall sum of about $1 billion annually.
"In the past two years, the trend of transferring the contributions not through the mechanism but directly to more liberal concerns acting to improve the standard of living, for instance the New Israel Fund, has increased," according to government sources. "In addition, the community is organizing almost everywhere to directly support goals that fit the perspective of the organizers. For instance, Jewish-Arab organizations or sister-city agreements like Los Angeles-Jaffa or Los Angeles-Lod."
According to the sources, when moneys are transferred directly for designated goals, "the Old Jewish Guard will lose its power, and the hierarchical structure will be in danger of collapse." If this happens, Jewish political power in Washington will also be weakened. These processes, by the way, are happening without the help of the conversion law, but the legislation brought them to the surface with renewed force, and they are expected to accelerate if no compromise acceptable to most of US Jewry, is found.
In the eyes of Conservative and Reform Jews, the conversion law closes the door for dialogue with Israel on the formation of a new perspective, based on the different, more liberal Jewish values. US Jews seek identity, values and interests in their connection with Israel. They believe Israel is only interested in their money and their political power, and the conversion law is one proof of how little their perspective is considered. In their view, the ratification of the conversion law at its second and third readings, will transform Israel from a focal point of liberal world Jewish identity to an orthodox-conservative focal point.
There are other opinions. "If we can sit down and compromise with Arafat, we can reach a compromise between orthodox and Reform Judaism, and in any case, this has no connection to investment in Israel," according to Izzy Tapuchi, a close associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who raises international investment for the prime minister. "I wouldn’t say investment is expected to decrease as a result of this. Investments are based on considerations of economic feasibility. When there is a change in government and policies change, there are always those who warn that investments will decrease as a result of the new policies."
The New Israel Fund estimates that US Jewish organizations and federations’ protests against the conversion law, will aid in raising money for the fund. This week, various Jewish organizations announced reduction of their transfers of funds to the UJA and increase of fund transfers to Reform and Conservative organizations in Israel.