Rabbi Benyahu Brunner was appointed head of the conversion system about a month and a half ago. The important role stands at a significant political crossroads: the transfer of the reforms of the Minister of Religions Matan Kahana, led by the conversion reform. Kahana chose not to extend the tenure of the head of the previous division, Rabbi Moshe Weller, in what drew threats from the chief rabbi.
“I knew I would have to give up”
“If I see that I am not moving anything and that I am dealing with things that are not related to me – I will leave, and I will obviously do so if they put me, in theory, into a confrontation that I do not want. If I feel I am doing something against Halacha “, Says Rabbi Brunner in an interview with Hanan Greenwood in Israel today.
On the head of the lineup, Rabbi Weller, Brunner says: “The rabbi and I are good friends, and we had very good collaborations. Rabbi Weller and I are in touch today, and he helps me very broadly. It was not an easy decision, and I was not looking for this job because I am very busy. “Also as a Dayan convert, both as the rabbi of the Safed Academic College and in my community in the city. I knew I would have to give up things that would be dear to my heart.”
“I have not yet met with Rabbi Lau”
Brunner says he was not harmed by the attacks against him after the appointment: “I understand that it is not personal. Rabbi Lau knows me well. Pain of a conversion court, the rabbi approved all my conversions. There was never a problem. My opinions. “
“I have not met with him since the appointment, I asked for a meeting with him and it has not yet come out,” the head of the conversion department reveals in an interview. “I understand that there are delays. I believe it will happen in the end. I am not against the Chief Rabbinate, on the contrary. I am a man of the Chief Rabbinate, and feel like an emissary of the Rabbinate.”
The law will not change
On Kahana’s reform he says: “Halacha is Halacha, and it will not change. Accepting the yoke of mitzvos is one of the most basic things in Judaism. We know that a person can leave the court when we are convinced that he is committed to all mitzvos wholeheartedly, and in life itself “There is no such thing as conversion without accepting the yoke of observance. The issue of conversion is an existential threat to me, not a privilege.”
The full interview in Israel this week