Chief Rabbi David Lau. Photo: Wiki Commons.

JNS.org – The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) announced that it has reached a “historic” deal with the Israeli Rabbinate on determining the “Jewishness” of Jewish immigrants to Israel.

The agreement between the RCA, the largest organization of Orthodox rabbis in America, and Israeli Rabbinate comes following a controversy over the refusal of the Israeli Rabbinate to recognize the conversions of Rabbi Avi Weiss, an RCA member.

The new agreement allows individual RCA rabbis to prepare “Jewish status letters” on Jews who seek to immigrate to Israel. These letters will then be immediately recognized by the Israeli Rabbinate.

“Since the earliest days of the RCA we have worked together with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. We are proud that we can expand that partnership to better serve our constituents and resolve issues that might appear before the Chief Rabbinate,” RCA President Rabbi Leonard Matanky said in a statement.