Someone asked me why I posted on the Conversion Bill, now postponed for six months. It’s controversial. People will complain.
I am a Reform rabbi. For me, this is a big issue. For my congregants, it is a big issue. For the future unity of the Jewish people it is a big issue. For Israel, it may well be an existential issue on many levels, but not the least of them being that this bill is a step, a leap for some, down a path that could significantly weaken the bond between American and Israeli Jewry!
So many of American young Jewish adults say simply, “How can I believe that Arabs are not discriminated against in Israel when Reform and Conservative Jews are?” Worse, our young people and no few older ones ask, “How can I argue for Israel to be a Jewish state when ‘Jewish’ does not include me as Jew?” This is a huge problem that will be dramatically exacerbated by anything that promotes Orthodox Judaism as the official religion of Israel and as the only acceptable Judaism. Israel ceases to be a “Jewish state” and becomes an “Orthodox Jewish state.” At that point, we will have grave difficulty maintaining Israel as a priority for the vast majority of American Jews much less have trouble keeping it high on the list. That is a dangerous line to cross. There must be a better way.
I wonder, is one reason for the discrimination against Reform and Conservative Jews in Israel a form of appeasement from secular Jewish Israelis? Are they saying “I don’t really care about these Rabbinic matters – they don’t really concern me. So why not let the Orthodox win on this – it will keep them from going after something I really care about, like driving on Shabbat.”
Is there anyone with a better sense of Secular/Orthodox Israeli relationships who could fill me in?
It is the case that coalition after coalition has simply ceded religious issues to the Orthodox minority partners in the coalition so that they could gain votes to pass legislation on the Economy and other major issues of normal governance. The religious issues have never really approached being existential ones. My belief is that this one is getting there and that Israelis really do not understand just how bad things are among American Jewish youth. They hardly identify with Israel and are far less likely RIGHT NOW to advocate for it as strongly as their parents and grandparents have. If you add in this legislation and potentially more similar legislation that would consider them clearly second class Jews you will almost certainly risk alienating them, beyond any doubt weakening the ability of pro-Israel organizations. This path cannot but eventually result in less support both financially and in votes.
Forgive me, Rabbi Kaufman, as I have no wish to cause any pain. My mother comes from a Reform family and my father a”H from a non-observant (that is, by Conservative standards) Conservative family. But it seems to me that your objection about dividing our people is aimed in the wrong directiojn.
First, I hope that you are explaining to these young adults that Israel DOES recognize the vast majority of them as Jewish (as does every Orthodox Jew). According to the Torah a Jew who is Reform, Conservative, or unaffiliated is no less a Jew. Anyone who tells a young Jewish adult “Israel (or Orthodox Jews) will not recognize you as Jewish because you are not Orthodox” is either woefully and willfully misinformed, or is (chas v’sholom) deliberately trying to stir up hatred between Jews. I assume that you are in neither category and that you have been correcting their mistaken impression.
There is of course on major exception — anyone who was not born to a Jewish mother and never converted would not be recognized as Jewish — by Israel, by Orthodox Judaism or for that matter by Conservative Judaism. I’m sorry; it was the Reform movement, against the heartfelt warnings of your fellow Jews, who decided to depart from millennia of Jewish law and tradition by adopting patrilineal descent. Even some Reform Rabbis on the HUC faculty (including a friend of mine’s advisor) warned that the change would further split the Jewish people, and that the supposed justifications for the patrineal descent were unsupportable by the standards of the Reform movement as well. (My friend wrote his senior paper at HUC on that very topic.)
Which then leads us back to the original question of what is a valid conversion. For millennia, conversion required ritual immersion, bris milah (for males), and acccepting the yoke of the Torah and Mitzvos without reservation. A would-be convert who says “I accept all the mitzvos of the Torah except X” is turned away. But then Reform decided that many of the mitzvos were no longer binding. For a time, Reform even taught that some of the mitzvos were to be discouraged. And Reform also decided that immersion and milah were unnecessary for converts. Conservative Judaism, though still requiring immersion and milah, also took an abbreviated view of what the mitzvos are, and will convert people who intend e.g. to break shabbos, eat non-kosher food, wear shatnes or to marry someone who is prohibited by the Torah from marrying a convert.
In short, Rabbi Kaufman, the Torah unites the Jewish people. Departing from the Torah’s standards causes division. Please do not blame us for the divisions that we did not create. The Orthodox world does not have the power to change G-d’s Torah. But you have the power to heal the division by coming back to Torah, and, with your evident concern for all Jews, leading others back as well. Please come back — we are waiting for you and we need you.
Have a good Shabbos.
I am Israeli, and I agree completely. I am agnostic, and therefore neither Orthodox, Conservative or Reform (although if I was a believing man, I’d probably be Conservative).
I can talk about how this bill came to be – because the conversion authorities in Israel are abandoned to ultra-Orthodox fanatics who have no problem with labeling anyone who deviates from their path a non-Jew.
I can explain how, with more than a million Olim from the former USSR, many of whom are considered by the above authorities to be non-Jewish and have to go through hell just to have their conversion “ratified” – and even then it could be taken away at a whim, not to mention the fact that even forcing them to convert in order to considered Jewish is an insult in itself – and how the suffering these Olim have went through had indirectly resulted in this bill, which is basically a dirty political trade-off: the Russian Olim will have an easier time “converting”, but every Jew who isn’t an Orthodox will, in exchange, not be recognized as Jewish, turning Israel into a de-facto “Orthodox Jewish state”.
I can complain how this is an immoral, insane and eventually suicidal policy, and that this is not the reason Israel was re-created.
I can even be controversial and say part of the blame lies with the Conservative and Reform movement who had not embraced Zionism until the 1970s, effectively abandoning the religious authorities in Israel to be taken over by these fanatics.
But all this will be pointless. This bill is wrong, plain and simple. We are one people, one nation, and to undermine that is to undermine the very principle that Israel is standing on. I intend to fight this bill with every breath in my body, alone if I must.
I would, however, humbly point out that the best way to stop this insanity is by having the Conservative and Reform communities be much more active in Israeli life, from making more Aliyah to having social involvement to understanding the political system and how bad things are here in the religious aspect. You can’t expect to have almost zero influence in the daily affairs of the one Jewish state in the world and then be surprised when things like these happen. This is your country too, so fight for your rights to it, and you will find plenty of supporters. The meddling of the Orthodox and especially the ultra-Orthodox parties in the daily life of the average Israeli citizen had turned many Israelis away from Orthodoxy (which is a shame in itself, as many deeply Orthodox Jews are some of the finest people I have ever known and do not deserve to be connected in any way with these morons) and from religious life itself, because the presence of any alternatives to Orthodoxy is almost nil. This is a void that can and should be filled with other forms of Judaism, but that cannot happen if no one is there to fill it.
Thank you for the comments so far.
There are many issues that may be brought up. First, I am fairly certain that the Reform movement in Israel does NOT recognize patrilineal descent. The American Reform Movement does. The Central Conference of American Rabbis has written a responsum concerning its decision which may be found at http://data.ccarnet.org/cgi-bin/respdisp.pl?file=38&year=carr. Replying specifically to Yankev, I would say that if the only thing that will permit those who are now Reform to be treated with respect and allowed to practice Judaism in a democracy as they see fit is to become Orthodox, then this will never happen and the Jewish people are headed for a catastrophic split, not simply a significant difference of opinion.
My fear is that we are further in that direction than most people are willing to admit. Most Israelis simply have no idea just how alienated from Israel most young American Jews feel. I have to work tremendously hard to get people to listen when I speak out in defense of Israel when it is accused. I have to pursue minds to reach when I advocate on its behalf. The more Israel allows an unjust system to stand, much less acts to strengthen it, and does so with the explanation that “if only there were more Reform Jews in Israel,” the worse the situation becomes. “Be like me and I will accept you” are not the words of a democratic country or a democratic people. Those words anger American Jews. Those words threaten the existence of the bond between American Jews and Israel and ultimately between America and Israel.
There is a huge gap in the understanding of the problem between Israelis and American Jews. Israelis say, “It’s no big deal. Nothing is really going to change much.” American Jews say, “THAT is precisely the problem. Nothing is going to get better either.” If there are TEN Jews in Israel being discriminated against on account of their religion, it is a travesty for the Jewish people. If there are 10,000 it threatens catastrophe. It need not be a million for it to be wrong and it is wrong. And the only people who can change it are Israelis, not American Reform Jews.
Meanwhile, there is another flotilla coming and a UNHRC committee and I will be standing up in defense of Israel. I will be speaking out against her critics on behalf of her people, my people.
My son at 17 went to various churches and temples. He listened, read and researched.
One day he came to me and said he was converting to Judaism.
That out of all the religions, it was the only one to speak not only to his soul and heart, but also to his mind.