The ruling represents a significant victory for the ITIM religious services organization which brought the legal suit and the Giyur K’Halacha independent, Orthodox rabbinical court which is seeking greater legitimacy for its growing number of converts, mostly from the former Soviet Union.

The ruling will not however influence the Chief Rabbinate’s stance which does not recognize the court’s conversions, meaning such coverts will still not be eligible for marriage in Israel since Jews can only marry through the Chief Rabbinate.

Interior Minister and Shas leader Aryeh Deri said in response that the ruling in no way constitutes recognition of Giyur K’Halacha’s conversions.

The Jerusalem District Court ruled last month in a decision published Thursday in favor of the IITM religious services organization’s demand that she be registered as Jewish, after the State Attorney’s Office said it no longer objects to a ruling because proposed legislation by the government appears dead in the water.

The woman in question converted through the Giyur K’Halacha independent, Orthodox rabbinical court for conversion in 2016, and then applied to be registered in the population registry of the Interior Ministry as Jewish in March 2017.

The right to be registered as Jewish was afforded Orthodox, non-state converts in a dramatic ruling by the High Court of Justice in 2016, which determined that non-Israeli nationals who convert in independent Orthodox rabbinical courts in Israel should be eligible for citizenship under the Law of Return.

By extension, this meant that the Interior Ministry would have to register all conversions through independent, Orthodox rabbinical courts as Jewish, but the ministry has steadfastly refused to do so until now. 

This led ITIM, which brought the initial petition to the High Court of Justice regarding non-state converts, to file a motion in the Jerusalem District Court in March this year to compel the ministry to comply with the 2016 ruling. 

ITIM director Rabbi Seth Farber welcomed the decision, saying that “it not only gives legitimacy and standing to the Giyur K’Halacha courts but also open the door to thousands of young families who wish to fully join the Jewish people and have rights in Israel like other Jews.”

Giyur K’Halacha describes itself as “the largest private orthodox conversion court in the world,” founded three years ago and with more than 55 rabbis serving on its courts.

The president of Giyur K’Halacha is one of the most respected arbiters of Jewish law in the religious Zionist movement, Rabbi Nahum Rabinovich, and the convert herself converted under the auspices of Rabbi Yehuda Gilad of the Ma’aleh Gilboa Yeshiva, in the summer of 2016.

“This is a Rosh Hashanah victory for immigrants, the State of Israel, and the Jewish people,” said Farber.

Deri said in response, however, that the ruling did not have any significance.  
“[The ruling] does not instruct the Interior Ministry or the Population Registry to do anything apart from declare the conversion for the purposes of registration, and does not constitute significant recognition of the conversion,” the interior minister said.

Although registry as Jewish in the population registry is mostly a symbolic status, Giyur K’Halacha and ITIM, which is closely associated with the court, see the legal status afforded to these converts by the High Court decision as crucial in their struggle to eventually pressure the Chief Rabbinate into recognizing them as well, and thus enabling them to marry in Israel. Readmore at JPost