Uploaded January 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Historian and Bar Ilan Associate Professor Rabbi Dr. Jeffrey Woolf joins Eve Harow to speak about the controversial legislation being drafted in Israel to return conversion authority to city and local rabbis and away from the centralized Chief Rabbinate. Religious Minister Matan Kahane has tread into the fray to try to solve the pressing issue of (mainly descendants of Russian immigrants) Israelis who are not Jews according to the accepted Orthodox framework. Rabbi Woolf is a judge on a conversion court and he backs the reforms, with reservations, but others do not and it’s unclear if they will pass given the divisive political atmosphere in the Knesset. No definitive answers but a thoughtful and informative discussion with a very learned individual, devoted to Torah and Judaism, who is not afraid to give his opinion on a sensitive topic.
Historian and Bar Ilan Associate Professor Rabbi Dr. Jeffrey Woolf joins Eve Harow to speak about the controversial legislation being drafted in Israel to return conversion authority to city and local rabbis and away from the centralized Chief Rabbinate. Religious Minister Matan Kahane has tread into the fray to try to solve the pressing issue of (mainly descendants of Russian immigrants) Israelis who are not Jews according to the accepted Orthodox framework. Rabbi Woolf is a judge on a conversion court and he backs the reforms, with reservations, but others do not and it’s unclear if they will pass given the divisive political atmosphere in the Knesset. No definitive answers but a thoughtful and informative discussion with a very learned individual, devoted to Torah and Judaism, who is not afraid to give his opinion on a sensitive topic.
