Sharon: Jewish conversion process should be shortened

Haaretz ^ | December 31, 2002 | Aluf Benn

[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.

[Words]

Those things, because they combine meat and dairy/egg products, are of course strictly off limits.

The recipee of beef-stroganoff was a little revised not to include anything of dairy products
Tasty:)

[Cinnamon Girl]

You can eat egg and meat together, crystalk. Egg is not dairy.

[crystalk]

So, why no mayo on a fleshik sandwich then already?

[Cinnamon Girl]

I put mayo on a fleishig sandwich all time. Regular mayo is parve. Eggs are parve.

[monkeyshine]

I don't know that it's "lots" of people, but some have. Here are some links:

http://www.ottmall.com/mj_ht_arch/v36/mj_v36i54.html

http://www.irac.org/article_e.asp?artid=15 (last paragraph)

[monkeyshine]

Are you kidding? I think "thou shall put mayo on roast beef" is a commandment.

[Cinnamon Girl]

Thank you for taking the time to find some links for me, monkeyshine. Having read them, neither one substantiates anyone's claim that rabbis are retroactively nullifying conversions. The first source merely discusses whether it is possible halachically (which isn't supported) and the second source, is from a "Progressive Jewish" action committee in Israel, and again, doesn't give any real reports, but merely claims, for obviously biased reasons, that Orthodox rabbis are giving people a hard time for no reason and yanking conversions willy nilly.

It sounds a lot like this whole discussion is based on some angry rumors by non-observant Jews who just don't like Halacha.

[malakhi]

Interesting discussion, thanks for the ping.