Conversion Authority head Rabbi Haim Druckman has received a letter from the Prime Minister's Office notifying him of his dismissal due to the fact that he has turned 75 and thus passed the age of retirement.
The dismissal comes at a particularly sensitive time, after a panel of rabbinical judges wrote a halachic ruling overturning a conversion by Druckman, and implied that all his conversions should be annulled.
The ruling, while not automatically revoking the hundreds of conversions Druckman performed, has still alarmed many converts who had gone through the process under Druckman's tutelage.
Chairman of the Knesset's Constitution, Legislation, and Law Committee, Menahem Ben Sasson (Kadima), asked the Prime Minister's Office Thursday to find a way to extend Druckman's position. According to Ben Sasson, Druckman's remaining in office is important "especially in these hard times, when there is a crisis regarding conversions."
During an emergency meeting of the committee, all MKs present expressed full confidence in Druckman.
According to Likud MK Yuri Edelstein, removing Druckman from office would seriously harm the little faith left with immigrants considering conversion.
"This will be seen as the government's surrender in face of a haredi attack against the conversion authority and the converts. This is another one of the government's poor attempts at survival by pleasing extreme orthodox circles, which anyway do not recognize the state's authority to convert. [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert should take an exceptional step and cancel [Druckman's] dismissal forthwith."
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Olmert needs the support of the Ashkenazic charedim, Rav Elyashiv's people in particular, in order to give away the Golan to Syria. The payment: axing Rav Druckman.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, nobody living in Israel is the least bit surprised by this kind of stuff.
But in the end it will all backfire. Either Rav Druckman will be reinstated and his conversions recognized by the rabbinate. Or Tzohar will step in to do its own conversions, and to marry those who have already converted.
If the latter, it is not much longer before we have civil marriage in Israel. Which might be for the best from a Torah perspective, when each person can choose whichever rav he wants to marry him and whichever beit din he wants to convert him.
Who are the true voices of Torah? Let Am Yisrael decide freely, without the government/rabbanut interfering in their choice.
No political position should dictate the voice of Torah. No official rabbanut should exist to be used as a sledgehammer against the RCA and later against Rav Druckman. On this, the historical position of the Badatz is the correct one. Let the People of Israel decide themselves between the Badatz, Rav Elyashiv, and Tzohar.
Rav Druckman should be blessed until 120 in good health, mazal and beracha; to see only smachot and nachat from his family and communities.
ReplyDeleteThe people of Israel are sick of sending their children off to be cannon fodder in endless wars.
ReplyDeleteThe Arab nations do not want Crusaders in the Middle East converting their children or ours.
Calling a million Christians "Jews" is not the solution to anyone's problems, not politically and CERTAINLY not religiously for the future survival of the Jewish people.
In this case there is not a conflict between the desires of haredim and most non Haredi Israelis.
No Jew wants to be a pawn in the War of Armageddan and the main thing that Christians bring to Israel is a zealous hatred of Arabs who are monotheistic Noahides.
(Sephardic Rabbis say that one chooses Muslims over Christians if one must choose because Muslims are monotheists and Christians are idolaters).
We must live as Jews among our Levantine neighbors (which Jews did for 800 years pre- State).
An Israel without any religious governance is NOT appealing to our Arab neighbors who are themselves governed by Islamic law. Listen to the Arabic media in Arabic (find one of the tens of thousands of Arabic speaking Jews in Israel to help you), the Arab nations have respect for RELIGIOUS Jews.
If you allow Israel to turn into another Crusading "democracy" (Christian) you will surely ignite the war that Christiandom is hoping for, the war that will wipe out the Jewish people (chas v'shalom) and allow the Holyland be captured for Christiandom a goal they have been fighting and dying for over 2000 years.
"A 1998 fatwa (religious ruling) issued by bin Laden jointly with militant Islamic leaders from Egypt, Pakistan, and Bangladesh provides an insight into the sources of his anti-Americanism.( 9. Al-Quds Al-Arabi, February 23, 1998, www.ict.org.il).
The document calls "on every Muslim...to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it."
True, bin Laden uses language like "the Zionist-Crusader alliance" that sweeps in the issue of Israel, but the primary justification for doing so is that "for over seven years the United States has been occupying the lands of Islam in the holiest of places, the Arabian Peninsula, plundering its riches, dictating to its rulers, humiliating its people, [and] terrorizing its neighbors." ....
U.S. forces are specifically described as "Crusader armies spreading...like locusts."
http://www.ict.org.il/index.php?sid=119&lang=en&act=page&id=1397&str=al-quds%20al-arabi
"Throughout bin Ladin's public statements and declarations is one fundamental and predominant strategic goal: the expulsion of the American presence-both military and civilian-from Saudi Arabia and the entire Gulf region. Bin Ladin and the WIF he created did not forget what they saw as crimes and wrongs done to the Muslim nation: "the blood spilled in Palestine and Iraq.... the massacre of Qana, in Lebanon_ and the massacres in Tajikistan, Burma, Kashmir, Assam, the Philippines, Fatani, Ogadin, Somalia, Eritrea, Chechnia, and in Bosnia-Herzegovina." Yet it is worth noting that the Palestinian issue was given no special prominence."
(If you are wondering what happened in Iraq, consider that there are now 100,000 hard working Christian missionaries there providing "aid" to war scorched Iraqis and their children. Jesus and a cup of tea, Gee Thanks!! for destroying my country!)
Don't take my word for this, read Christian websites, hey are not hiding their agenda for the Jewish people nor are they hiding their "accomplishments" throughout the Arab world. Google John Hagee, Israel's most outspoken "advocate".
The first thing that came up in my search was:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20080522/cm_thenation/15322778
"God sent Hitler to help the Jews get to the promised land. Because God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel."
I would think that cruise ships would have been a better method of transport than trains to Auschwitz.
wow, was this 14 years ago already?
ReplyDeleteWhere is the protest from Chareidim, who isnist that you can never revoke a Rav's empoyment?
see Rav Moshe's letter
https://www.kedem-auctions.com/en/content/letter-revealing-opinion-union-rabbis-opposing-dismissal-rabbi-unterman-favor-appointment