BREAKING! ISRAEL'S HAREDI-CONTROLLED HIGH RABBINICAL COURT RULES ALL CONVERSIONS DONE BY CONVERSION AUTHORITY HEAD RABBI HAIM DRUCKMAN INVALID –– THOUSANDS OF CONVERTS AND THEIR CHILDREN NOW NEED TO RE-CONVERT

All I can say is…

… I told you so.

The Jerusalem Post reports:

In an unprecedented decision, the High Rabbinical Court of Israel has declared invalid all conversions performed since 1999 by Rabbi Haim Drukman [pictured at right], the head of the Conversion Authority.

The decision occurred after the court rejected an appeal of a ruling by Ashdod's Regional Rabbinical Court rendering a woman's conversion invalid.

In a 50-page decision, a panel of three high court judges ruled that all conversions conducted since 1999 by Rabbi Drukman, who heads the Conversion Authority, and another rabbi must be declared invalid.

They also ruled that it was permitted to retroactively cancel the conversion of someone who does not observe the Sabbath.

Finally, the high court ruled the Jewish status of the woman questionable and ordered that she and her children must be added to the list of me'ukvei nissu'in (people who cannot marry under Jewish law). Out of extra caution, her husband was also added to the list of illegal marriages despite his being a Jew by birth.

The story began in the course of divorce proceedings between the woman, who was converted by Rabbi Drukman's court 15 years ago, and her Jewish-born husband. After issuing her a get (Jewish divorce document), one of the judges at the Ashdod Regional Rabbinical Court inquired about her conversion and her Jewish observance.

On the basis of the ensuing discussion, the judge ruled the woman's conversion invalid, and in consequence, that her children, who were born after her conversion, are not Jewish.
As the decision was made after the court had already granted the woman a get in accordance with Jewish law, the court proceeded to write a document stating that the get was unnecessary, since the woman's marriage was also invalid under Jewish law.

The verdict rendered the Jewish status of thousands of converts retroactively invalid, and requires them to convert a second time.

Rabbi Drukman said the ruling was "cruel" and added that it was made without counseling Chief Spehardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar.

[Hat Tip: FriedFalafel.]

Comments

[Yochanan Lavie]

Much as I love Israel, sincere converts should make yerida and live as Jews in America (Austrailia & Canada are good alternatives; Eurabia and South Chavez-erica are not).

[Bartley Kulp]

Is much as I do not agree with Rav Druckmans liberal policies which I could see would admit plenty of non-sincere converts, but to make a blanket ruling that all of his conversions are pasul is going to far. Hundreds of sincere converts must be living in terror because of this. What is even worse is they have to read about it in the newspaper. For those people the high court is has transgressed against gerim.

Unless it is found that Rav Druckman is on the take or something of this line. This is an arbitrarily unjust ruling.

[David]

Gee, I almost wish I were the child of a convert, if only so I could chuck this asinine business as an act of protest against these clods.

[Bartley Kulp]

I understand that the rabbinate actually does not have the resources to to properly evaluate potential converts so many of these rabbonim are clutching at straws. So rather than making draconian scorched earth edicts in order to salvage a situation that is not working.

The I personally believe that anything that goes on in a beit din has to be above all political considerations or the integrity of their rulings may be called into question. It is not any beit din's job to convert people for social demographic considerations. It is time to dissolve the rabbinate. Let individual private batei dinim decide these issues as they always have.

Is much as I do not agree with Rav Druckmans liberal policies which I could see would admit plenty of non-sincere converts, but to make a blanket ruling that all of his conversions are pasul is going to far. Hundreds of sincere converts must be living in terror because of this. What is even worse is they have to read about it in the newspaper. For those people the high court is has transgressed against gerim.

Unless it is found that Rav Druckman is on the take or something of this line. This is an arbitrarily unjust ruling.

Posted by: Bartley Kulp | May 02, 2008 at 08:40 AM

I have not had time to learn the fifty page teshuva written by the bais din. Since you obviously have (since no one smart enough to work a keyboard would be stupid enough to comment based on a few lines in a newspaper) could you please explain on what they baswed thier psak so we can conduct an informed discussion?

[a very very ennoyed jew who has had his fill !]

Barley Gulp
i don't know who u are, what you are saying and why.
but these wicked people are animals.
if they are the gatekeepers of judaism, they can take their phoney faith and shove it up their own filthy butts.
their synagogues are whorehouses, and long live agnosticism.
fortnately, they themselves ain't jewish. neither the phoneys who call themselves chassidim of any stripe nor any post r' moshe feinstein or post r' jdb soloveitchick litvack. i will pray for their speedy encounter with malakh hamoves. sincere ger mincere ger my glorious ass. may they all drop dead tomorrow when facing aron hakodesh.
those of them who will not go to shul tomorrow for sickness or otherwise, may the plague run to their home and take them propmtly "hem uvneihem haneveilos uvnosseihem the prostitutes unsheihem the depraved whores vesalmideihem the thieves baagooleh uvizmen korev!"

[Rav Elyashiv does Hannah Montana]

Next, they are going to nullify all rabbi Herbert Bomzer conversions (why the hell he got a goyshe name ?) count my words.

[Michelle]

B"H

Of course this happens during the Omer. We never learn, do we?

The decision goes beyond Rabbi Druckman, by the way, to include dissolving the Jewishness of ANY convert who does not keep Shabbat (by whose standards, they didn't say).

OK, so if three people saw a convert who was wearing makeup on Shabbat and go to their local Beit Din to report the woman is not "Keeping Shabbat" because she is wearing makeup, or some man drove his dying friend to the hospital on Shabbat so he is "not keeping Shabbat," or let's suggest that your guests saw you squeeze a rag, or pick up a stick from the ground, or accidently flip the light switch as you left the bathroom --Poof! There goes your conversion!

Imagine a man who wants a quick divorce from his wife and kids--he just has to accuse his convert wife of not keeping ONE law of Shabbat ONE time. Wow. There is no potential for abuse there at all, right?

OMGD. This is completely insane.

[Dr Fred]

If this is an accurate reporting of this "ruling" it should be a wake-up call . This Taliban-like trend is malignant and will cause long term harm to Judaism world wide.

[tat]

I can't believe this. I am in an conversion program now and some of my friends are worried about this things happening to us. That we have to go through so much frusttration and stress in order to convert al pi halachah is worthwhile, if the idea is that you are Jewish from the moment you come out of the mikvah. But to retroactively un-convert someone is essentially causing baseless hatred against the jewish community. Does anybody see this? And then there is the added worry that some converts believe that they will never Jewish enough, only to find out that indeed when it comes to retroactively un-converting someone that essentially is true. The idea that you are only Jewish until I say so and that (one's Jewish identity) can be taken away at a moment's notice. How evil!

[Anon]

Before you say you told us so, why not post a copy of the tshuvah. The JPpost has been known to mischaracterize rabbinical court rules before.

[Sephardic-Male]

more reasons to leave Judaism

[BaltimoreYid]

BS"D
My wife is a gioret 'al pi halacha.' I think it would do many of us a lot of good if these "leaders" addressed the numerous crises facing us today: corrupt kashrut, child molestation, money laundering, etc. If I have my life turned upside down by these clowns, I swear I will leave Yiddishkeit and become an agnostic. At least then I won't be embroiled in this whole stinking political mess. One more thought, how about these poor converts offer huge donations to the rabanute? Then you will see this crises fade quickly; kesef mitahare mamzarim!

[jewishwhistleblower]

>Before you say you told us
>so, why not post a copy of
>the tshuvah. The JPpost has
>been known to
>mischaracterize rabbinical
>court rules before.

While I have not read the ruling, there is nothing to contradict the Jpost account and the account is in line with past and currents attacks on Rabbi Druckman's conversions. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the Jpost report.

see:
http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/article/956/
http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5766/BMD66adruckmn.htm
http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5765/VYR65adruckmn.htm
http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5768/TZV68aconvert.htm

[Baltimore Ema]

As a convert, I have a piece of advice for others in Israel whose Jewishness has been erased summarily: Live life as you have been, hold your head high, IGNORE these ridiculous rabbis, DO NOT "RECONVERT", and think about supporting the efforts of the Israel Religious Action Center, which is working to ensure that no one bunch of haredi goons have their stranglehold on this process. Once a Jew, always a Jew!

[Jake]

RCA where are you?

Basil dear, whats going to happen to all previous converts?
Herschel is going to use his intimat eknowledge of the jewish community and his history of pastoral counciling to make deisions? Whoops thats right he has no history, he is an academic.

Well we will have to leave it up to haGaon Mordy shlita who can't decide if child abusers should be turned over to the goyish enforcers of American law.
But at least R. Mordy has pupik experience.

Hey going to check their milah? Is Kolko gonna be on that beit din?

The ramification is not only for Israel but. world wide.

[rabbidw]

It is time to eliminate all state funding to ALL religious institutions. No money for yeshivot. No money for mikvaot, no money for beit kevarot. No official cheif Rabbinate. Let them raise their own funds from their own sources. They have power with no responsibility. Money = power. o money, no power. Enough is enough.
And say what you want about the RCA, they operate on donations, not government funds.

[Dr Fred]

We'll see if the worm turns or if it's just a worm after all.

[Dr Fred]

This from rabbi Angel;

We read with horror that the High Rabbinical Court of Israel has upheld a lower court decision which declared invalid all conversions performed since 1999 by Rabbi Haim Drukman, head of the Conversion Authority of Israel.

As Orthodox rabbis, we believe that this decision is motivated by political interests rather than by the search for Halachic integrity and religious truth. The outcome is morally repugnant, and is an outrage to Rabbi Drukman and his colleagues who are attempting, within the confines of Halacha, to resolve a fundamental challenge to the social and religious well-being of the Jewish State - the religious integration into the Jewish People of hundreds of thousands of Russian non-Jews living in Israel as full citizens, loyal to the State and to the People of Israel.

This decision is an abuse of rabbinic power, highly detrimental to the well-being of the Jewish people.

We affirm that all those who have converted under the aegis of R. Drukman and the Conversion Authority of Israel, are Jewish without question. To oppress them by casting doubt on their Jewish status is a sin of the first magnitude, an express violation of multiple Biblical commandments.

We urge the State of Israel, the worldwide Orthodox Rabbinate and the Jewish people at large to repudiate this decision of the High Rabbinical Court of Israel; to affirm the Jewishness of all Halachic converts; to treat all converts with the love and respect to which they are entitled according to the laws of Torah.

Rabbi Avraham Weiss and Rabbi Marc D. Angel, Co-Chairmen, International Rabbinic Fellowship

Rabbi Saul Berman, Chairman, International Rabbinic Fellowship Geirut Committee

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Chief Rabbi of Efrat

--
Rabbi Marc D. Angel, Founder and Director
Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals
8 West 70th Street
New York, NY 10023
212 362 4764

[Treifalicious]

"Much as I love Israel, sincere converts should make yerida and live as Jews in America" - Yochanan Lavie

Done. This decision ensures that I will NEVER return to Israel to live. They probably will revoke my citizenship anyway.

As someone who converted through the Beit Din L'Giur in 1999 I am one of those people whose conversion stands to be revoked.(how else could I have converted in Israel? I asked how I can convert to Judaism, they pionted me in the direction of Ulpan Giur. Something like 2000 - 3000 people converted in these Rabbinate-sponsored conversion classes every year. . That's betweem 18,000 and 27,000 people - marriages annulled, children suddenly not Jewish, peopel then also losing citizenship and having to leave the country. 18-27,000 lives turned completely upside down) It hasn't really sunk in yet.

As someone who sat through these classes in some ways ther were a joke - many people were NOT sincere at all. One couple with a guy from South America converting actiually put up a CHRISTMAS TREE and drove regularly on Shabbat. I would see women in my class during the day in shorts and tank tops and then later that same day see them in class with long skirts and long sleeved shirts. And these were not people like many of the Russians who treated the whole thing with naked, utter and total contempt. I felt like such a frier for actually overhauling my wardrobe and wearing the long skirts all day every day, keeping kosher and keeping Shabbat. Later on, when asked about conversion by others, I would say, "If you really want to be Jewish you will wear the long skirts and at least try to keep kashrut and Shabbat." I encouraged Orthodox conversion, discouraged Reform conversion and still do to this day.

But afterwards, you cannot police people for the rest of their lives. To do so would turn the State of Israel into a fascist police state. Sure, first they have religious police to look after converts, but then they will start policing the general public, making Israel like Saudi Arabia and Iran which DO have religious police (for an idea of how people deal with religious police, see the movie Persopolis and see what happens after the Ayatollah Khomeini takes over. Basically, everyone starts leading double lives. The whole thing becomes a poinless cat-and-mouse-game).

In the Jerusalem Post in one of the talkbacks there was one guy who said he would gladly go back to Christianity and wants his foreskin back. I cannot say the same. I can never go back to being a Christian. I had lived as a Jew for some SIX YEARS before I had even started the conversion class. I did not need the class in order to pass the oral exam before the Beit Din.

What about the people, like my roommate, myself and others who really were sincere? What if someone was no so into it at first but then became very observant afterwards? Jewish religious observance is fluid over the course of one's life.

The only real way to do thsi woud be to go back over every single conversion, all 18-27,000 of them and do some sort of KGB like detective work to try to figure out if they were sincere at the time. But they don't want to do that because they are ultimately a bunch of lazy bureaucrats and prefer to just invalidate every conversion done in Israel over the past 9 years, upending thousands of lives. These rabbis will find themslves in the dustbin of history like the Sadducees in the not so distant future.

But in the meantime, if I am not Jewish anymore, who am I?

[FriedFalafel]

I would like to add that I heard Rav Druckman's comments on the radio, and the High Court NEVER INVITED him to give deposition about himself and about this matter before pronouncing their verdict. Rav Druckman was invited to the court only AFTER the psak was given, at which point he told the court they should posul themselves because they obviously weren't behaving like proper dayanim. I know Rav Druckman quite well and he is a man of utter honesty and impeccable character, not to mention the fact that he's acting to save Israel from demographic disaster. If only the Charedim had a couple of people like Rav Druckman who really care about Klal Yisrael, Charedi society would be in much better shape it is, definitely better than the intellectual bankruptcy it has reached.

[Treifalicious]

Wasn't the Beit Din L'Giur originally set up by none other than Rav Goren? I suppose the Haredim have no regard for him either. Who was I kidding?

[R]

I think this is sad news and shows what sort of people run these high courts. They are obviously not doing G-d's work, it's all for their own personal agendas.
I am really disgusted at how they feel they can treat people

[Neo-Conservaguy]

We all knew this was coming, and perhaps it's a good thing. It's time to separate the men from the boys - either stand up and do something, or Am Yisrael will continue suffer under the regime of these evil would-be rulers and their would-be lapdogs, the RCA.

There is, simply put, no halachic basis for this decision. There is ample halachic basis for the opposite position, that of affirming conversions even in rather curious situations. As one of the members of Kadima stated (paraphrased), since there is no existing law allowing such un-conversion, we now appear to have a new reform movement in Israel - the haredim.

[Bartley Kulp]

The high court itself concedes that the rabbinate is not a competent authority when it comes to conversions therefore it must be disbanded. Between nullifying its own divorces and it conversions it can no longer be taken seriously.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Neo: There are heretics on the religious right as well as the religious left. Chareidism and Chassidism are Reformations of Judaism. (Or better yet, deformations).

[emeslyaakov]

Rav Yoseph Dov Soloveitchik from Boston and YU (a so called religious Zionist, not an alleged hareidi) held that the most important aspect of giyur (conversion to Judaism) is a sincere acceptance of Mitzvos.

Rav Moshe Feinstein (definitely from the Hareidi camp) ruled both l'halachah and l'ma`aseh (both theoretically and in practice) that if a convert immeditely after the conversion violates the Sabbath or other important well known mitzvos, it is as if we are witnesses that the acceptance of the Mitzvos (a standard, required part of the conversion ceremony) was not sincere and therefore the person is not Jewish and never was. I am personally familiar with such cases in which Rav Moshe ruled that the child of such a "convert" must undergo a new conversion.

Druckman and his cohorts were selected and paid by the government to help israel assimilate the hundreds of thousands of nonjewish Russians, Ethiopians, etc. which the government and the so called Jewish Agency brought in.

In America, so called orthodox rabbis knowingly perform conversions for insincere candidates either because they are paid for it directly or due to pressure from powerful or rich shul members. In Israel, it is possible that Druckman has some twisted ideological basis for this, but he is definitely getting a salary to do these so called conversions.

And even if there is a halachic basis which disagrees with Rabbis Soloveitchik and Feinstein, that does not mean the the Chief Rabbinate or its batei din are obligated to follow that other opinion, they are supposed to examine a case on its merits and decide accordingly.

Once the Beit Din decided that Druckman uses unacceptable standards for acceptance of a convert, the Beit Din ruled that all of his conversions are not accepted.

For a conversion to be valid, there are two requirements. Not only must the convert go through the three steps (circumcision, mikvah and acceptance of mitzvot) these steps must be done in front of a kosher Beit Din. It could be (and no I did not read their teshuva) that the Beit Din in this case and the Rabbinic Supreme Court hold that a Beit Din under someone who has unacceptable standards is an invalid beit din and therefore all of its conversions were invalid, or it could be that they feel that it is analagous to a shochet who has standards which are too low. After a while, you can't re-examine all of the cows.

I know a number of people who went through several conversions, even several orthodox conversions because questions were raised later about the previous conversion. Those who were sincere did it and were glad to settle the doubts. Here, most of the ranting and raving (as usual) is by people who presume to speak about halachic topics without having any knowledge on the subject. As for "Rabbis" Berman and Weiss who commented above, they are not following the derech of their rebbi Rav Soloveitchik, and I am fairly certain that they did not examine the cases of all of the 100's or thousands of "converts" that Druckman did and are therefore making a blanket statement that sincere acceptance of mitzvos is not a requirement for conversion.

They can certainly make such a statement, but that does not mean that others have to agree with them.

Note that because of such issues and difficulties, and because of the problems of assimilation and intermarriage, the Syrian Sephardic rabbinate does not accept any conversions at all. The child of a convert will not receive any rights or priveleges in a Syrain Sephardic Synogogue.

In some places such as Ireland (at least when I was there) no conversions were done locally because of the pressure which might be brought to bear on the local rabbi.

[Shmarya]

The most telling part of the above comment is that every haredi rabbi is referred to as "Rav," but Rabbi Druckman, who is a Religious Zionist rabbi, is referred to as "Druckman."

Haredim are a pox on Judaism.

[a very very ennoyed jew who has had his fill !]

hey, all those wondering what drives f.s.u immigrants to israel to turn neo nazi thugs, have none further to blame than the so called 'rabbis' thugs.
that is those parasite nefarious fossiles living from the public purse

[Neo-Conservaguy]

emeslyaakov, you are ignorant of the halachic history of the acceptance of conversions throughout the ages - until this age. There is a profound majority of rulings that accept conversions that are technically flawed in many ways. This current hard-line position on policing converts is largely unfounded in halachic history.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Neo: since when do fundamentalists care about history?

[Dr Fred]

shmyara: Interesting that that our "esteemed" friend emeslyaacov didn't mention rabbi Angel or put his title in quotation marks. Why is that?

[Shmarya]

Sam ereason he referred to every haredi rabbi as "Rav" and to Rabbi Druckman as simply "Druckman."

[Dr Fred]

Shmarya: I suspect it's because R' Angel cites respected Sephardic authorities that demonstrate that many of the excessive stipulations for conversion are products of 19th C Eastern Europe and are no means universal to world Jewery.We simply have to distance ourselves from that fetid world .

[Yochanan Lavie]

Dr. Fred: A Conservative-Jewish friend of mine produced buttons, as a gag, that said: "Proud to be a Litvak." He was referring to a philosophy rather than an origin. (Meaning, his approach was intellectual rather than emotional). When he offered one to me and I declined, he said in horror: "So you're a Chosid?" (meaning emotional/mystical). And I said I rejected that dichotomy. I am a Sephardi (philosophically; ethnically I'm not). Ashkenazim offer a Hobson's Choice of dry-as-dust legalism or airy-fairy emotional mysticism. The Sephardic approach is rational, but disdains Litvak pilpul with its convoluted logic. It takes tefillah seriously, and not as burden that interrupts learning. And there are strains of Spanish-Sephardic and Teimani Judaism that reject most kabbalah.

I love the Yiddish language, but with food, music, and hashkafa, Sephardim have us beat. Unfortunately, Sephardi and Mizrachi Jews are becoming Ashkenazified, even adopting the penguin coustume ill suited for the Middle East. They are neglecting their minhagim and hashkafot in favor of farkackte Europe. What a shame!

[Aryeh]

We should eventually phase out conversions altogether. There are too many reasons for goyim to convert. In the time of the First Temple, there were no conversions, even with the King of Israel having Moabite yichus.

[Yochanan Lavie]

I strongly disagree. Converts make the best Jews, and thanks to assimilation we are dying out. Plus, too much inbreeding aids genetic diseases.

[Zonah]

Many Jews who underwent conversion because of recent ancestor's leaving Judaism over the years, or other circumstances that led to alienation from Judaism, are aware now that Israel will never be their home, and they are not welcomed in Israel as citizens and in the Jewish community. Why should I strive to immigrate to Israel when I am not wanted or even thought of as "real" Jew. This is a perfect example of government and religion mixing. Israel's flaw, and more problems to come, in my opinion. Something stinks here.

[Ariel Sokolovsky http://www.moshiach.ws]

B"H
Shmaryah writes:

The most telling part of the above comment is that every haredi rabbi is referred to as "Rav," but Rabbi Druckman, who is a Religious Zionist rabbi, is referred to as "Druckman."

Haredim are a pox on Judaism.

Posted by: Shmarya | May 04, 2008 at 04:31 AM

A pot is calling the kettle black.
There have been a number of posts and comments when you have done the same thing referring to the Lubavitcher Rebbe by just 1st and last name to underscore your lack of respect for him.
As far as EmesLYaakov he is also a student of Rav Soloveichik and a graduate of Yeshivah University Rav and a Dayan.
Many years ago he demonstrated that commitment to uncompromising observance of Torah is more important for him than money
by quiting his job as an accountant in response to a demand to shave his beard to be promoted to a partner in his firm. He moved to Eretz Yisrael and continued learning Torah (see his comment here :
2006/06/source-of-jewish-morality-and-psak_19.html#c115240052407111611">http://jewishpolygamy.blogspot.com/2006/06/source-of-jewish-morality-and-psak_19.html#c115240052407111611.
Thus it is understandable why he would have
little respect for government puppet rabbis who is use very questionable leniencies to
do the bidding of their puppet-masters.

[Shmarya]

For a "dayan," he shows a remarkable ignorance of halakha.

You do, too. But no one in their right minds would expect otherwise.

[yehuda123]

Once again some of you never have read any piskai halacha on conversion by Sefardic Hachamin. See Rabbi Marc Angel.

But at least we can be pleased that we have reached a point in the charadi world of the marginal that Gd no longer is in the equation. For them Hakodesh Borchu left the building.

Note that because of such issues and difficulties, and because of the problems of assimilation and intermarriage, the Syrian Sephardic rabbinate does not accept any conversions at all. The child of a convert will not receive any rights or priveleges in a Syrain Sephardic Synogogue.

And hence, the Brooklyn Syrians aren't Jewish.

Unfortunately, Sephardi and Mizrachi Jews are becoming Ashkenazified, even adopting the penguin coustume ill suited for the Middle East. They are neglecting their minhagim and hashkafot in favor of farkackte Europe. What a shame!

That is a shame and MUST be stopped.

There's a reason for you to stay, Sephardic-Male. We need all the help we can get to stop this Ashkenazification.

[Anon]

"Too many reasons for goyim to convert. . ."

Such as love of HaShem and a desire to serve Him as one of his chosen, ahavas Yisroel, identification with the Jews and a desire to bind themselves to the Jewish destiny. Yes, due to the prevalence of reasons like this, all conversions should be stopped.

We should eventually phase out conversions altogether. There are too many reasons for goyim to convert. In the time of the First Temple, there were no conversions, even with the King of Israel having Moabite yichus.

Posted by: Aryeh | May 06, 2008 at 10:57 AM

If there was ever a reason to consider stripping BORN Jews of their Jewishness, your post illustrates why it should be done.

Let's do it, starting with you.

[Fishbein]

I opened up the newspaper and found out I'm no longer a Jew. And it became clear to me what a fool I've been and what a self-evidently false religion this is. What kind of religion gives the power over the connection between an individual and God into the hands of black-hatted bigots who don't work, don't serve in the military, and suck the lifeblood out of the state of Israel. I was always thought of as a Jew by gentiles, because I look Jewish and have a Jewish name and a Jewish father, so I tried to be accepted as a Jew and converted, since the gentiles wouldn't have me. But that is an impossibility. I've had to suffer from antisemitism, because the same bigots who now are excommunicating me are persecuting the Palestinians. This rabbinical decision makes it clear how the Holocaust could have happened.

[LorettaFay]

There are only 13 million Jews in the ENTIRE world. We make it so freaking hard to become Jewish and to remain Jewish; then why are we adding more hoops to jump through from these archaic circus ring-masters?

They are no better than the Taliban, requiring medieval observances in a 21st century world.

GET REAL -- we are dying out - due to demographics and a lower Jewish birth rate than the Arabs. Make it simpler to become Jewish and definitely be more welcoming to outsiders. Christianity has us beat in the area of genuine hospitality and welcoming newcomers and interested guests to their houses of worship.

[PM]

I wonder how long it will take for various Jewish schools and yeshivos to kick children of those converts out.

Inasmuch as the end of the school year is about to end, I suspect that will happen before the next school year starts.

Last term tuition payments have already been made.

[L.G]

When a person goes through conversion he/she receives a Jewish soul and becomes equally Jewish to someone who is born with a Jewish soul. It is this soul which makes a person a Jew. So unless a way can be found to surgically remove the soul, Jewishness cannot be taken away from either a born Jew or a convert. A Jew is a Jew is a Jew. G-d alone can "cut-off a soul" (karet) as He alone knows the heart. In the days when the Temple stood, violators of the Torah could be sentenced to death (a rare occurrence - better a guilty person go free than an innocent person die). Currently, there is no Temple.

I can't believe what I'm reading!

Australia.

[SEACABOESTE]

I was living in Israel..I'm b'nei anusim sephardim... but I have to be honest... this is the end I can't belive...What happend to Israel? I have many Israeli-jewish friends.. and the most of them are ateist... and now I can understand why they dont belive in God... all thanks to the fucking head rabical...... Those rabbies are worst than Hitler,,, They are killing the jewish soul... I think God is goingo to put and end to this fake.... Judaism or talmudism