Posted on 12/30/2002 4:34:38 PM PST by naine
Sharon: Jewish conversion process should be shortened
Secular Jews shouldn't immigrate to Israel, Shas minister says
By Aluf Benn
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday that the process of converting to Judaism should be shortened, in response to Health Minister Nissim Dahan's remarks that secular Jews should not immigrate to Israel.
"It should be possible for anyone who wants to become a Jew to do so," the prime minister said at yesterday's weekly cabinet meeting.
During the meeting, Dahan's comments were sharply criticized by ministers Natan Sharansky (Yisrael b'Aliyah) and Yitzhak Levy (National Religious Party).
Israel Radio reported earlier yesterday that Dahan said Diaspora Jews should not immigrate to Israel if they think that they would be unable to adopt a religious lifestyle once they got here. Dahan's comments before a convention of World Orthodox Jewry in Jerusalem drew fire from the convention delegates, who were discussing the Jewish nature of Israel.
Dahan explained that he feared the erosion of the state's Jewish identity, adding that the presence of Jews in the Diaspora was a result of God's benevolence. "We prefer a Jew overseas to a gentile in Israel," Dahan said.
Rabbis and Jewish community leaders denounced Dahan's statement. Minister Levy said that Jews should be encouraged to immigrate to Israel without any connection to the political or religious situation in the country.
"Dahan's statements are a complete distortion of Judaism," MK Zevulun Orlev (NRP) said. "The mitzva of immigrating to Israel is unconditional, and (Dahan's statements) are a heresy against Zionism. I doubt whether a cabinet minister who says such things and encourages people not to immigrate to Israel can be a member of the government."
Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor said yesterday that he hoped Dahan would soon retract his remarks. "Such statements have not been heard since the beginning of Zionism. His statement is a serious anti-Zionist utterance," Meridor said. "The minister chose to encourage Jews not to immigrate to Israel - against the policy of the Israeli government."
Following up on Dahan's comments, Shas Chairman and Interior Minister Eli Yishai said that Diaspora Jews who are considering immigration must be told that there is a danger that Israel will become a secular country with a secular government.
"If Israel is losing its Jewish character and becoming a secular state, should we bring here the Jews of the Diaspora, who keep the Torah in their communities, so they can be assimilated in a place where churches are built?
"It is better to stay Jewish anywhere else, and not to come to Israel to assimilate," Yishai said. "When the state was established, Ben-Gurion told our parents and grandparents that a Jewish state will be established, and they came to Israel. Today, you can ask our parents whether they would have come here had they known that [Shinui Chairman Yosef] Lapid would destroy the Jewish state and form a secular government with [Labor Chairman Amram] Mitzna. The answer is simple: They would have preferred to stay in Morocco, Tunis and Iran and to remain Jews."
Yishai warned of the implications of a secular government: "A secular state will bring, according to Sallai Meridor, hundreds of thousands of goyim (gentiles), who will build hundreds of churches and will open more stores that sell pork. In every city we will see Christmas trees. This is what Yosef Lapid and Amram Mitzna want."
Yishai also said that the Law of Return must be changed to ban gentiles from immigrating.
Translation: Please let Israel be overrun by Islamic suicide bombers that want to commit genocide against us. At least they don't eat pork like those evil Christians!
Good thing not all Israelis think like Yishai.
Conversion is governed by the specific provisions of Jewish law. The head of a secular government has absolutely no role in this matter, any more than he could say "the rules for declaring food kosher should be relaxed sot any food can become kosher."
Why is it that the secularsits can't keep their hands off religion? Who is Sharon or Perez to decide on rabbinical matters?
They are politicians and may consider changing the immigration policy if they so choose; that is their spehere. I was appalled at the words of Perez that he "will decide who the rabbis are."
Wherever they are, the secularists can't be and let others be: they burn churches and sinagogues. And then they accuse the "fundamentalists" of being intolerant.
Jeremiah 31:6-9
6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.
7 For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.
9 They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
***
In all seriousness, what kind of goyim would come in droves? A: Zionist Christians, who more than likely would happily "adopt a religious lifestyle once they got here", because
They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them
Ephraim = melo hagoyim
It's a shame they're not this tolerant about converting to Christianity...
This may actually be a positive developement. It possibly is the realization by the secular politicos that their star is in decline and that Observant Jews are becoming a demographic force.
The only reason for these types of statements by Sharon, et al, is because there is a tidal wave of observant Jews coming towards them. It is completely Israeli to try to change the rules of the game by these sorts of statments and attacks on the fundamentals of Judaism. Sharon is hardly the first Israeli leader to attack his observant brethren. With the birth of every new baby to a religious household, the old guard is viewing its own marginalization.
Yes, but these provisions are themselves subject to varying degrees of interpretation. In Israel conversion and marriage are controlled by the Orthodox. Sharon's remarks, nor any Israeli law, can change the Jewish laws. But Sharon can change the Israeli governments definition of who is a Jew. And he can appeal to the Beit Din (Religious court) to reexamine the issues of conversion.
At one time (a long time ago) it mattered not whether your mother of father was a Jew -- either would do. Now it is matrilinial.
To become a Jew in Israel, one has to undergo a rigorous lifestyle change, and depending on which sect you choose so goes the type of change. To become a Jew in the USA, depending on which sect and which branch (orthodox, conservative or reform), you may not have to change your life much.
But the Orthodox will not accept a reform or conservative conversion. The result is a lot of confused people, a lot of unhappy people, and a lot of people who want to be Jews but do not accept the Orthodox interpretation of Halacha.
As in the days of yore, there were the Pharisees, Saducees and other sects of Jews. Each sect adopted different interpretations of Jewish law. There needs to be more unanimity.
Before I ramble too much, there is a question of priority. If the Orthodox believe that having more Jews is a priority, they will change their rulings to permit easier conversion, and hope that those who convert will slowly come closer to living a Torah life. The way it stands now, they want proof that you will live a Torah (as defined by them) life BEFORE you will convert. And in many respects it is a double standard, because even the Orthodox recognize the principle that no Jew is perfect, and that one of the purposes in life for a Jew is to spend the life becoming a better Jew one step at a time.
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