An Important Message from Gilad Kariv – President and CEO IMPJ
Dear Steve,
I hope you have been enjoying the summer and finding time for some vacation and relaxation. I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you recent developments in our movement.
First and foremost, last night, the Israeli government passed an unheard of before bill: subverting a Supreme Court decision, the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) parties pushed a bill to effectively ban non-Orthodox, i.e. Reform and Conservative converts from bathing in municipal Mikvaot (ritual baths). We cannot stress enough the magnitude of harm that this bill causes. The bill allows municipal councils to sign agreements with the State regarding convert bathing in Mikvaot, but refuse to do that same with other bodies, with the explicit goal of subverting the recent Supreme Court decision, mandating religious councils to allow Reform and Conservative converts to bathe in public Mikvaot.