Conversion bill in Israel causes widespread confusion, concern for Jews everywhere else.

It isn't easy to become Jewish. Or it wasn't easy to become Jewish, but it will become easier to become Jewish. Or it's easy to become Jewish but it isn't easy to stay Jewish. Or it's easy to stay Jewish if your rabbi likes you. Or maybe not. Or

maybe yes. But it all depends on whom you ask about a bill governing conversions to Judaism that could become law in Israel. It is sparking discussion and widespread concern among Jews in the rest of the world.

The bill would empower Israel's local rabbinical courts to conduct conversions, making it easier for more than 300,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union to become Jews, and prevent rabbis from invalidating conversions, as they currently are able to do.

That's according to its sponsor in Knesset, David Rotem, an Orthodox resident of Efrat. He is a member of Yisrael Beiteinu, Israel's second largest political party, a secular, nationalist group dominated by Russian immigrants, and led by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

The bill would also make law the current practice of not recognizing Conservative and Reform conversions in Israel.

Charedi political parties support the bill, which would give the final say on conversions to the Chief Rabbinate, which they control. That's a sticking point not only for the Conservative and Reform movements but even for some Orthodox Jews, as well. Critics also worry that the bill would alter the Law of Return, making people who undergo non-Orthodox conversions ineligible to become Israeli citizens.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes the bill, he told his cabinet on Sunday. Giving authority over Israel's conversions to the Chief Rabbinate will "tear apart the Jewish people," he said. Natan Sharansky, the preeminent Russian immigrant, now head of the Jewish Agency, also opposes the bill.

A "state-proclaimed' definition of Jewishness is dangerous not only for the Jews of Israel, but also for world Jewry," according to Conservative Rabbi Morris Allen.

"It's that difficult mix of politics and religion that we have in Israel," said Rabbi Kenneth Hain of Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence. "The positive side of it is that it will enhance the ability of the 350,000 Russians in Israel to convert, while not sacrificing the halachic requirements. The system, as it is, is very difficult."

Fears that non-Orthodox converts who want to go to Israel under the Law of Return would be affected are unfounded, Rabbi Hain asserted.

"While this does seem to alienate the Conservative and Reform movements, the reality is that this is maintaining the status quo. This is all about making sure converts have the ability to convert and their conversions will not be revoked at a later time by some rabbinical court," he said. "It will make the conversion process less of a bureaucratic maze that one has to get through and really make it [m]uch more meaningful. They'll be able to work with their local rabbis and maintain that relationship through that process and beyond. That's what you really want."

Alana Newhouse, editor-in-chief of Tablet Magazine, offered a more cynical interpretation in the New York Times.

The bill was the "desire of a small group of rabbis to expand their authority from narrow questions of conversion to larger questions of Jewish identity," she wrote. "Even if you are Orthodox - and especially if you are Modern Orthodox - your rabbi probably doesn't make the cut. (Don't believe it? Go ask him)."

In contrast, Rabbi David Stav, founder of Tzohar, an Israeli organization that works to bridge gaps between religious and non-religious Israelis, said he supports the bill, but believes the clause giving the Chief Rabbinate the final say on conversions was inserted by charedi elements in the government to ensure that the bill would fail.

"Placing final authority in the hands of the Chief Rabbinate [w]as a means to incite the anger of the Reform and Conservative communities," he explained. "While this response of World Jewry is certainly understandable, if the law does not pass, the primary victims will be those very Jews who want to see a more moderate and open approach in how Jewish conversions are handled."

Confused yet?

A statement by the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) was lukewarm. The legislation "may not be perfect," it said, but "we who live in North America must recognize that it does contain much to commend it. It is important to note that it was proposed and is championed by a secular political party whose constituents are the ones most directly affected by its outcome, and also has wide support among many in the Religious-Zionist camp."

Rabbi Avi Shafran, Director of Public Affairs for Agudath Israel of America, declined to comment.

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Chief Rabbi of Efrat and founder of the Ohr Torah Stone institutions called the bill "misunderstood."

"It can be excellent especially in terms of solving the problems of conversions for the close to 400,000 Russians from the former Soviet Union who are in need of conversions," he said.

Rabbi Riskin, who is to speak at Congregation Beth Sholom in Lawrence this Shabbos, planned to fly home for a day to meet with Sharansky.

"I hope to be able to persuade him that this conversion bill is important," Rabbi Riskin explained. "There has been a change in the last week and a half that should make it very palatable to everyone."

Jonathan Sarna, the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University, who is currently on sabbatical in Israel, called the bill a "disgraceful effort to divide the Jewish people at the very moment when we most need to strengthen the value of Jewish peoplehood."

"It is untimely and will only serve to alienate non-Orthodox Jews from the Jewish State," he said. However, he doesn't believe that the bill will pass.

"Most likely it will be postponed, as similar bills have been in the past," Sarna explained. "Then, in a few years, the crisis will be back."  [Editor's note: Sarna was right. On Thursday, July 22, the legislation was put on hold for six months.]

The need for conversion reform is pressing to some.

"This is about a serious internal Israeli problem. Namely: what do we do with this large population of Israelis many of whom are willing to give their lives for the country," Rabbi Hain explained.

"The conversion issue is a social bond for Israeli society," Rabbi Stav told The Jewish Star. "We have half a million Jewish people that need to be assimilated."

Empowering local rabbis would decentralize and streamline the conversion process, making it easier for the 300,00 Russian immigrants to convert. Giving the Chief Rabbinate control of conversions "doesn't change anything," Rabbi Stav said. "Until now, they were responsible, but it was de-facto and not official. This bill makes it official."

"I'm saying this to you as a religious man," MK David Rotem told the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz. "If I ever get to heaven, it will be because of this law."