The money the Jewish Agency receives from the Diaspora doesn’t come from haredim. They support their own institutions, not communal campaigns, although they benefit from Jewish Agency handouts. However, if donors want to settle in Israel, their Jewish status may turn out to be unacceptable to the haredim.

Their rabbis dominate Israeli religious life in general, and matters of Jewish status in particular. Thus a highly respected Orthodox rabbi, Haim Druckman, who visited Canada recently, has been removed as head of Israel’s National Conversion Court for being “too lenient.” Ruthless rigidity often masquerades as pious authenticity.

The demand to reinstate him is behind the recent resolution by the Jewish Agency urging the government of Israel to establish an independent authority “to allow the conversion process to move forward.” Although many agency delegates wanted an explicit call for the acceptance of converts from all streams of Judaism, pragmatists hoped that this timid request may have some chance of success.

It’s a vain hope, because after Israeli elections next February, Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to form the government by giving more concessions to the haredim. Tzipi Livni has vowed that her party won’t sell Israel to the haredim and refuses “to pawn Israel’s future for the prime minister’s chair.” There’s even an attempt to form yet another political party to enable liberals to have their own voice in the next Knesset.

The haredi presence also interferes with the Diaspora. At a recent meeting of Orthodox rabbis in Europe, several spiritual leaders of small communities pleaded for greater latitude in accepting converts. Without such openness, these communities cannot survive, the meeting was told. But the large presence of Israeli haredi rabbis prevented a softening of the Orthodox position.

Those who proposed the Jewish Agency resolution didn’t have Europe in mind. They were thinking of some 300,000 Israelis who came to the country under the Law of Return, but whose Jewish status is unacceptable to the rabbis in power. A more moderate conversion authority would give them the legitimacy they deserve.

The ironies must not escape us. Non-Orthodox Jews may be good for giving money, but not necessarily for being regarded as Jews. The revival of Jewish life in Europe is apparently only for those who wear black hats and sheitels. And a substantial portion of Israel’s citizens are being denied their rightful place in Israeli society.

I’ve no problem with haredim who set standards for themselves and each other, however warped I may consider them to be. My issue is with the vast majority of ostensibly reasonable Jews around the world who put up with it in the name of pragmatism and unity. It’s time to say no to intransigence – and act on it!