Editing Conversion to Judaism (section)

===1978–1983: Denver program, patrilineal descent ===
In [[Denver]], Colorado, a joint Orthodox, Traditional, Conservative and Reform Bet Din was formed to promote uniform standards for conversion to Judaism. A number of rabbis were Orthodox and had ''semicha'' from Orthodox yeshivas, but were serving in synagogues without a [[mechitza]]; these synagogues were called ''traditional Judaism''. Over a five-year period they performed some 750 conversions to Judaism. However, in 1983 the joint Beth Din was dissolved, due to the unilateral American Reform Jewish decision to change the definition of Jewishness:<ref name="Wertheimer, A People Divided">{{Cite book|last=Wertheimer|first=Jack|title=A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America|publisher=University Press of New England|year=1997}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=The move was precipitated by the resolution on patrilineality adopted that year by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. This decision to redefine Jewish identity, as well as the designation of Denver as a pilot community for a new Reform out reach effort to recruit converts, convinced the Traditional and Conservative rabbis that they could no longer participate in the joint board...the national decision of the Reform rabbinate placed the Traditional and Conservative rabbis in an untenable position. They could not cooperate in a conversion program with rabbis who held so different a conception of Jewish identity. And furthermore, they could not supervise conversions that would occur with increasing frequency due to a Reform outreach effort that was inconsistent with their own understanding of how to relate to potential proselytes.|author=Wertheimer|source=A People Divided<ref name="Wertheimer, A People Divided" />}}

Specifically, in 1983, the [[Central Conference of American Rabbis]] passed a resolution waiving the need for formal conversion for anyone with at least one Jewish parent who has made affirmative acts of Jewish identity. This departed from the traditional position requiring formal conversion to Judaism for children without a [[matrilineal descent|Jewish mother]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/reform-movement-s-resolution-on-patrilineal-descent-march-1983|title=Reform Movement's Resolution on Patrilineal Descent (March 1983)|website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org}}</ref> The 1983 resolution of the American Reform movement has had a mixed reception in Reform Jewish communities outside of the United States. Most notably, the [[Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism]] has rejected patrilineal descent and requires formal conversion for anyone without a Jewish mother.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=840313&ct=1051515|title=The Establishment of Reform Judaism in Israel|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304114546/http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=840313&ct=1051515|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref> However, in 2015 the majority of Britain's Assembly of Reform Rabbis voted in favor of a position paper proposing "that individuals who live a Jewish life, and who are patrilineally Jewish, can be welcomed into the Jewish community and confirmed as Jewish through an individual process."<ref name="jpost1">{{cite web|last=Lewis |first=Jerry |url=http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/UK-Reform-rabbis-accept-patrilineal-descent-409298 |title=UK Reform rabbis accept patrilineal descent - Diaspora - Jerusalem Post |date=17 July 2015 |publisher=Jpost.com |access-date=2015-07-19}}</ref> Britain's Assembly of Reform Rabbis stated that rabbis "would be able to take local decisions – ratified by the [[Beit Din]] – confirming Jewish status."<ref name="jpost1"/>

The end of the joint Beth Din program was welcomed by Haredi Orthodox groups, who saw the program as illegitimate. Further, Haredi groups attempted to prevent non-Orthodox rabbis from following the traditional requirements of converts using a ''mikveh''. In the Haredi view, it is better to have no conversion at all than a non-Orthodox conversion, as all non-Orthodox conversions are not true conversions at all according to them.<ref>''Fifth Anniversary of the Mikveh of East Denver'', Hillel Goldberg</ref>