Conversion crisis - Conservative Rabbi's problematic understanding

YNET just published an essay by Rabbi Professor Golinkin - leading Conservative rabbi and scholar regarding the conversion crisis - in which he repeats the false claim that normative halacha does not require acceptance of mitzvos and that this view is unique to chareidi poskim.

Furthermore, this ruling will deter all future conversions. If a conversion can be annulled many years after it is performed, it means that all conversions are conditional – so why bother converting at all? This ruling is a desecration of God’s name, which makes a mockery of thousands of converts and hundreds of teachers and rabbis who have worked so hard to convert them.

This episode shows once again that the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which was founded by Religious Zionists, is now a haredi institution opposed to all lenient approaches within Jewish law.

He relies on Rabbis Feinstein, Grodzinsky, Sternbuch, Auerbach, Kuk, Schmelkes, Yosef, Kanievsky, Shach and Elyashiv. Almost all are Haredi rabbis who are opposed to modernity, Zionism and the State of Israel

Finally, the haredi position has already led to an absurd situation: he who is strict regarding conversion is lenient regarding intermarriage. In the past, this was a Diaspora phenomenon, but now, with the mass aliyah from the Former Soviet Union, if we do not convert the Russian immigrants, they will marry our children and grandchildren!

Rabbi Sherman’s ruling is based primarily on one major premise: A convert must accept all of the mitzvot before converting and observe all the mitzvot after converting. If not, he is not Jewish and his conversion can be retroactively annulled. Furthermore, judges who performed conversions without this requirement, are ipso facto disqualified from serving as judges. [...]

Rabbi Ouziel (1880-1953), first Sephardic Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel, explained as follows: “It is clear from (Yevamot 47a-b) that we do not demand of him to observe the mitzvot and it is also not necessary that the Bet Din know that he will observe them, for if not, no converts will be accepted in Israel, for who will guarantee that this gentile will be loyal to all the mitzvot in the Torah! Rather, they instruct him in some of the mitzvot so that if he wants he should go away and so that he cannot say later ‘if I had known I would not have converted’. And this is before the fact, but after the fact - if they did not instruct him, it is not indispensable… (It) is permissible and a mitzvah to accept converts even though we know that they will not observe all the mitzvot because in the end they will observe them...”

Other prominent Orthodox rabbis who have taken lenient approaches towards kabbalat mitzvot include Chief Rabbi Unterman and Rabbis Kluger, Mashash, Moshe Hacohen, Berkowitz and Angel.

Thus the entire “house of cards” built by Rabbi Sherman rests on just one card: that all poskim agree that all converts must accept all mitzvot. Indeed, this is the position of most Ashkenazic Haredi rabbis since the year 1876. But it is not normative Jewish law. Normative Jewish law for 2,000 years has followed Yevamot that a convert accepts the halakhic system and its rewards and punishments, not all of the mitzvot which he has yet to learn.

============================

I sent in the following comment which was published:

Article shows a shocking ignorance of halacha It is unfortunate that YNET publishes an article which displays such a willful distortion of halacha - and the halachic process. It is reasonable to assume that Rabbi Dr. Gollinkin - who is known for his intelligence and familliarity of Jewish sources has read the standard work on geirus by Prof. Finkelstein of Bar Ilan.which clearly refutes the assertions made here. Rabbi Dr. Golinkin talks here about the normative halacha as if it exists independently of the consensus greatest rabbinic authorities. Has he forgotten the rulings of Rav Herzog on these matters? Those Orthodox rabbis he cites are not in the ball park as halachic authorities - and he well knows it. We are not just talking about chareidi rabbis. He should look at volume 19 of Techumin - a religious Zionist publication - and he will discover that they also agreed to the requirement of acceptance of mitzvos. Even such an influential moderate MO Rabbi such as Ravi Shlomo Riskin has rejected the views based on the leniencies espoused by Rav Uziel in an article in Tradition 1974.

Conversos (anusim) vs. Ethiopians - which is more Jewish?

I just received the following comment from Gabriella222. While I am not sure the meaning of the end of the comment. The beginning is clearly asserting that descendants of conversos have a right to being acknowledged as Jews while the Ethiopians don't. It is also clearly not based on an understanding of halacha but on the assertion that since the ancestors of anusim were clearly Jews while the Ethiopians were probably never Jews the descendants of anusim are merely publicly acknowledging their Jewish status while the Ethiopians are claiming to be Jewish when they are clearly not.

Once you factor in halacha the reverse could be argued. The descendants of anusim have very little if any evidence of matrilineal descent from Jews and thus their status is a presumption that they are not Jews at all. On the other hand the Ethiopians at least has Rav Ovadiah Yosef who claims that they are full Jews and don't need to convert. It is only because almost every major posek in recent history views their claims as doubtful that Rav Ovadiah Yosef suggests that they have geirus l'chumrah.

I am making this into a post - since I think that others - including Rabbi Manny Vinas also agrees with this view and thus further discussion can be helpful. Also she asserts something which I don't believe is supported by any authoritative source -that woman are on a higher spiritual level than men. Any sources to that effect would be appreciated.

Bottom line - Gabriella is making some clear assertions - which I don't think have halachic significance but I am open to being convinced otherwise.

Gabriella222 has left a new comment on your post "European rabbis invalidate conversions done by Rav...":

In the first place I am not sure what you are speaking of since there are conversos from all over the world given that Sephardic Jews traveled the earth trading.The conversos have a right to come back to Judaism. But since the Ethiopians were brought to Israel there has been a difficult problem in Judaism. The Ethiopians when asked to convert called the state of Israel racist and whether their modern origins were Jewish is nebulous at best. They associated conversion with gentiles and conversion to be negative for their community. Even though their community read a "sacred" book in Amharic that I dare say the majority of rabbis could not translate and there was circumcision among the females.Circumcision of females is not a Jewish ritual and that should have sent chills down the spines of the whole Jewish world.They had holidays that had nothing to do with Judaism of the Torah.Somehow they did not know that Rut was a convert and that her grandson it was King David whose city they were brought to.Conversion was looked upon as negative among black Ethiopians and the essence of where they were coming and the holiness of the city of Jerusalem, how King David sacrificed was lost on them.

Moving on to the particulars of the case, women are at a higher spiritual level than men because we bare children. Women are responsible for lighting Shabbat candles including praying for the temple to be rebuilt, taking of challah and keeping the mikvah.If they choose to pray beautiful!

I have been reading that a convert wanted a divorced and was questioned about whether she was religious. I think that rabbis and Jewish men in general better need to start telling the truth about whether they are respecting their wives decisions to keep mikvah. I have worked in a referral agency for Jewish women where we frequently got calls of abuse from women who were even being raped in their marriages. If a woman is going to to keep mikvah her spouse must agree.I am trying to be delicate. If a man will not listen to your desire to keep the family pure what are you to do?

Next issue, Judaism is a religious and not a race. There are too many Jews not raising their daughters to be religious . They run off to college fornicate, do everything imaginable thing and then seek marriage. Some of my own friends have entrapped men into marriage who later divorced them to marry converts. If you are not keeping the laws of G-D then you deserve the consequences. I am sick and tired of the hypocrisy of rabbis who will not even bother asking are you a virgin, do you light candles,take challah when dealing with women who want to be married.

Outreach (kiruv) programs & intermarried couples - the reality

The following excerpt appeared on Interfaithfamily.com

A Jewish Soul: Orthodox Outreach and Interfaith Families

By Barbara Pash (Associate Editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times)

With his unfashionable spectacles, black beard and plain black yarmulke, Rabbi Zev looks every inch the Talmudic scholar. But as the rabbi of the Chabad at Johns Hopkins University, he's encountered some situations never envisioned in the Shulchan Aruch.

One of his students is the president of a traditionally Jewish fraternity. He regularly attends Chabad events, often brings his fraternity brothers with him and mentions his grandfather-the-rabbi. But because his mother is not Jewish, Chabad and other Orthodox organizations do not consider him Jewish.

Another student, a freshman with an Irish-sounding name, is Jewish to Chabad, even though she was raised Catholic. Once she entered college, she acted on her Jewish grandmother's admonition to explore her Jewish roots, and is doing just that at the Chabad house. [...]

With an intermarriage rate hovering at 50 percent nationally, Orthodox outreach organizations like Chabad and Aish HaTorah are having to grapple with their approach to intermarried couples and their children. How do you "spread Judaism in the widest possible manner"--Chabad's stated mission--if hundreds of thousands of members of your potential audience have a non-Jewish parent? How do you "provide opportunities for Jews of all backgrounds to discover their heritage" (Aish's mission), if nearly half of these Jews are married to non-Jews?

"In reaching out to Jews, you encounter a large number whose spouses are not Jewish or whose children are not halachically Jews. You have to deal with it. It's part of everything you do," says Rabbi Yitchok Lowenbraun, national director of the Association for Jewish Outreach Programs, a Baltimore-headquartered international organization of Orthodox outreach groups including Chabad, Etz Chaim and Aish HaTorah.

Within the parameters of halacha, Jewish religious law, Rabbi Lowenbraun prefers the individual approach. So, it appears, do others in the Orthodox outreach field.

"There isn't a set formula," says the rabbi, who spent 18 years as Atlantic Seaboard regional director for NCSY, an Orthodox youth group. "Do we turn away interfaith couples? The answer is an emphatic 'no.' We deal with them as a couple."

The Orthodox position on interfaith marriage is that it is unacceptable, a violation of halacha. But by that same law, if the mother is Jewish, the child is Jewish regardless of upbringing; if the mother is not Jewish, the child is not Jewish. [...]

Rabbi Gopin's attitude is that he does not question the motives of interfaith students who attend Chabad activities. Their parentage often comes out in conversation and he knows that things can get sticky. Halachic status is a delicate topic, filled with the potential for hurt feelings and resentment. He has not, for example, raised the subject with the fraternity president.

"If I were doing marriages, it would be more of a pressing issue," he says. "But in terms of the Shabbos table, of taking classes…" his voice trails off.

Nonetheless, the rabbi does represent an outreach organization whose efforts are aimed at Jews. That's where he focuses his time and attention, not on non-Jews.

"I don't say, 'You're not welcome here,' but I can't pursue that relationship," says Rabbi Gopin, although, he adds, he is willing to help anyone interested in learning about Judaism.

Rabbi Gopin is by no means alone in this approach. Rabbi Eli Backman, who runs the Bais Menachem Chabad Jewish Center at the University of Maryland College Park, says basically the same thing.

Rabbi Backman says the question of Jewish identity comes up in many different situations. "We target our programs to Jews," he gives an example, but students of all backgrounds come to Chabad events, and some are searching for their identity.

"They remember attending a Passover seder at the grandparents. They may have heard something" about the family history, Rabbi Backman continues.

"We have conversations" that, depending on their circumstances, touch on conversion, he says. "As a traditional organization, we won't compromise on halachic values."

Rabbi Backman teaches a class on Jewish spirituality and kabalah, and the question of Jewish identity comes up frequently. The rabbi says he tries to be "sensitive and open" in his responses.

"You have to deal with emotions and feelings and not throw text at people. You don't say, 'This is what it says in the book and have a nice day.' This is a person's identity," he says.

To Rabbi Mayer Pasternak, executive director of Aish HaTorah, an international Orthodox outreach organization, it's a matter of definition.

"To Reform and Conservative, the focus of outreach is to non-Jews, specifically the interfaith. Our focus is to Jews. There might be overlap but the definitions are totally different," says Rabbi Pasternak, who runs the 25 Aish HaTorah branches from his base in Baltimore. [...]

Aish HaTorah runs a variety of educational programs, online and community based. It does not have separate programs for non-Jewish spouses or children of interfaith marriages. At its programs, "non-Jewish spouses are not told to leave but they are not necessarily encouraged to come," he says, unless their presence somehow benefits the Jewish spouse.

As for children of interfaith marriages, "if people think they are Jewish but are not [halachically], let them participate but at a certain point, they are told they need to convert. If they are not interested in doing that, they are encouraged not to continue participating," he says.

Like the others, Rabbi Pasternak has met children of interfaith families who are halachically Jewish but not raised as such. "Catholics, Protestants, we've had them in our programs," says the rabbi. His attitude is, "I am not going to chase after people who were raised Christian."

Rabbi Shlomo Porter is director of Etz Chaim Center for Jewish Living and Learning, an independent multi-faceted organization that operates outreach programs in two centers in Baltimore, for Shabbatons, religious services, educational programs, a college network and initiatives in local senior centers.

A 28-year veteran of outreach, Rabbi Porter, an Orthodox rabbi, says that over the years, the attitude of the Orthodox towards intermarriage has changed, a recognition of the reality of the American Jewish community.

"It's no longer, this Jewish person who married out of the faith is rejected," says the rabbi. "Most Orthodox organizations have two policies. One, the public or group policy, is against intermarriage. But the second is an individualized policy, or how to deal with individual couples" who respond to outreach efforts.

Etz Chaim does not have separate programs for the intermarried. Rabbi Porter has seen situations where the Jewish spouse is eager to learn about Judaism, and the non-Jewish spouse is not. He has also seen the opposite, where the non-Jewish spouse wants to learn and the Jewish spouse is being dragged along.

"It can cause conflict," he says. "Sometimes, it does end in divorce. And sometimes, it ends with both becoming observant."

Rabbi Shmuel Kaplan is Maryland regional director of Chabad Lubavitch. He oversees 18 Chabad centers around the state. Like Rabbi Porter, this long-time veteran of outreach programs has noticed a change in attitude among the Orthodox.

"I came to the Maryland in 1974 and we openly challenged intermarriage. We weren't afraid to condemn it. We were not concerned about alienating people," he says.

"Now, we run into intermarriage all the time. Today, we may be offending people."

Still, it's no secret that Chabad is an Orthodox organization. When people come to an event, Rabbi Kaplan maintains, they know what they're getting into. Indeed, that may be the reason interfaith couples and/or children of interfaith marriages choose a Chabad program. [...]

Using name of adoptive father or Jewish father

The question was raised whether a convert who has a Jewish father can use his father's name. Below are some teshuvos from Igros Moshe which discuss an adopted child using his stepfather's name. There is also a teshuva of the Minchas Yitzchok regarding a convert using his Jewish father's name instead of saying "son of Avraham". This is not to be taken as a definitive list - but merely to show some of the literature involved in the matter. Obviously a rav needs to be consulted for actual halacha.

שו"ת אגרות משה יורה דעה חלק ד סימן סה

יב. במה שיכולים לקרוא לאדם שהוא בן מי שגדלו

והמקור שיכולין לקרוא לאדם שהוא בן המגדלו, הוא בסנהדרין דף י"ט ע"ב שהקרא כתב חמשת בני מיכל, אף שהיו בני מירב, ועוד קראי. והגר"א בחו"מ סימן מ"ב ס"ק מ"ב ציין זה על הרמ"א שם בסעיף ט"ו, שכ' מי שמגדל יתום בתוך ביתו וכתב עליו בשטר בני, או היתום כתב על המגדלו אבי או אמי, לא מקרי מזוייף וכשר הואיל וגדלוהו ראוי לכתוב כך.

שו"ת אגרות משה אבן העזר חלק א סימן צט

בחתן שאין ידוע שם אביו איך לכתוב בכתובה.

ובדבר חתן שאין ידוע שם אביו אם לכתוב בכתובה שם בעלה השני שמגדלו כאב או לכתוב אברהם אבינו או לכתוב שם אמו או שמו לבד, הנכון לע"ד לכתוב בנוסח כזה בן מי שנשכח שמו ונקרא בן פלוני שגידלו ובשעת הקריאה תחת החופה כנהוג אם ירגיש כתר"ה שאין זה כבוד להמגדלו יוכל כתר"ה לדלג התיבות הנוספות אבל בכתיבה יכתבו כאשר כתבתי. כי לכתוב בן אברהם אבינו אי אפשר שהרי יאמרו שהוא גר ואינו חתן זה ולא תוכל לגבות ממנו בשטר זה ונמצא שהיא כתובה פסולה. ואין לכתוב שם האם או שמו לבד משום דיאמרו שהוא שתוקי או אסופי ויוציאו לעז על זרעו. ולכתוב שם שגידלו לבד אף שיש מקום לכתוב סתם בן על המגדלו כדאיתא סברא כזו מ"מ לכתחלה אין לעשות כן אלא לכתוב דברים מפורשין כדבארתי, ידידו, משה פיינשטיין

שו"ת אגרות משה אבן העזר חלק ד סימן כו

ב. ולענין גט שנכתב בו שם האב על שם מי שגדלתה או שגדלו כשלא ידע שם האב ליכא קפידא כל כך מאחר שמוחזקת בשם בת איש זה וגם בתורה מצינו כהא אליבא דרמב"ן (במדבר פרק כו פסוק מו) דשרח לא היתה בת אשר אלא בת אשת אשר ומ"מ קראה הכתוב בת אשר וכהנה עוד הרבה, אבל לכתוב טוב להזכיר בפירוש בגט בת פלוני שגדלתה כבתו אבל במקום עיגון יש להתיר גם בסתמא.

פסקי דין - ירושלים דיני ממונות ובירורי יהדות ה עמוד רא

וממה שלא חילקו בהלכה בדינו של הגר, משמע שהוא הדין בגר שאביו ישראל ואמו נכרית שאין להזכיר שם אביו מולידו אלא בן אאע"ה. אלא שיש להסתפק האם ה"ה כשגדל אצל אביו. דהנה כתב בתשו' מיימוני לס' משפטים סי' מח בשם מהר"ם, הובא ברמ"א בשו"ע חו"מ סו"ס מב, יתום שכתב בשטר שם אביו המגדלו, לא מיקרי מזוייף וכשר, הואיל וגדלוהו ראוי לכתוב כך, וכתב בהגר"א שם שכן מבואר בגמ' סנהדרין יט ב וכי מיכל ילדה והלא מירב ילדה, מירב ילדה ומיכל גידלה לפיכך נקראו על שמה, ללמדך שכל המגדל יתום בתוך ביתו מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו ילדו. ועי' פת"ש שם בשם התומים והחת"ס על סברת הכנה"ג אם דוקא כשאין למגדל בנים אחרים או אף כשיש לו בנים אחרים. וי"ל שה"ה בגר שגדל אצל אביו הישראל אם הזכיר שם אביו המגדלו כשר אע"פ שלא כתב בן אאע"ה. אך י"ל שלא אמרו כן אלא בישראל יתום ולא בגר, וביותר בגט, כיון שבהעלמת היותו גר עלול לצאת מכך תקלה של היתר נישואין שלא כדין. וכן מסתבר.

פסקי דין - ירושלים דיני ממונות ובירורי יוחסין ז עמוד תקכד

וגר שאביו ישראל, עי' שו"ת מנחת יצחק ח"א סי' קלו שהרב השואל הביא ראיה מדברי הרמ"א בשו"ע אבהע"ז סי' טו סעי' י דלחומרא נקרא ע"ש אביו, ושיש לזה ראיה מהכתוב ויצא בו אשה ישראלית והוא בן איש מצרי, דאע"פ דולדה כמותה נקרא אחרי אביו, וכן י"ל להיפך דהיכא דהוא מנכרית ואביו מישראל אע"ג דהולד כמותה יקרא בן פלוני. והמנחת יצחק מסיק דאין ראוי להקרא בנו ולשנות משאר גר (וכ"כ בשו"ת שמש ומגן ח"ג סי' נא שגר שכתב שם אביו הישראל, ולא כתב בן א"א הוי מזוייף מתוכו, וראוי לכתוב גט אחר). ועי' שו"ת לבושי מרדכי ח"א אבהע"ז סי' לח שהוכיח מגמ' יבמות קא בעובדא דרב יהודה שהיה גר, ובתוס' שם כתבו דר"ש בר יהודה הוא בן רב יהודה הנדוואה דאמרו בקדושין כב ב דגר שאין לו יורשין הוה, שנתגייר הוא ואביו, ומוכח דאפי' מי שנתגייר עם אביו נקרא על שם אביו.

Honoring non-Jewish congregants - Reform & Conservative

Some rabbis using services to honor non-Jewish congregants

by sue fishkoff
jta

During Yom Kippur services this year, Rabbi Larry Raphael of San Francisco’s Congregation Sherith Israel will invite his non-Jewish congregants up to the pulpit and thank them for casting their lot with the Jewish people.

Using a blessing ceremony written two years ago by Rabbi Janet Marder of Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, he’ll tell them, “You are the moms and dads who drive the children to Hebrew school. You take classes and read Jewish books to deepen your own understanding, so you can help to make a Jewish home.”

Offering his “deepest gratitude” for those who are raising their children as Jews — 26 percent of the parents of his religious school students — he will ask the rest of the congregation to rise and say the blessing that begins, “May God bless you and keep you.”

Last Yom Kippur, the first time Raphael did this, 50 people came forward. The congregation was “in tears,” says its executive director, Nancy Drapin.

As intermarriage rates continue to rise, and more intermarried families join congregations, increasing numbers of non-Orthodox rabbis are looking for ways to acknowledge the non-Jews in their midst.

While Conservative and Reconstructionist rabbis tend to be more low-key about it, Reform rabbis like Marder and Raphael have come up with a wide variety of ways to express gratitude ranging from festive meals to public ceremonies.

Many chose to do their honoring during Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur services, both because of the prestige conveyed by those special days, and because that’s when most of their congregation show up. Marder did her first public blessing on Yom Kippur morning in 2004.

“I’d encountered so many families through the bar and bat mitzvah process where the non-Jewish partner had been so dedicated,” she says. “I thought it was important to make a public acknowledgment.”

She was concerned that some people would not want to be singled out. But the ceremony, which took place in front of thousands of people, turned out to be “a far more moving and powerful experience” than she’d expected.

In November 2005, at the Reform movement’s biennial, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, urged Reform congregations to honor their non-Jewish members publicly, especially non-Jewish parents raising Jewish children, even as he also urged greater emphasis on conversion.[...]

Rabbi Moshe Edelman, leadership development director for the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, says he hasn’t heard of Conservative rabbis publicly thanking the non-Jews in their congregations.

Conservative outreach has deepened in other ways this year, he notes. Camp Ramah, the movement’s summer camp, has begun admitting pre-bar and bat mitzvah-age children of non-Jewish mothers, and the executive vice president of USCJ, Rabbi Jerome Epstein, urged the same policy this year at Conservative religious schools.

But these changes are aimed at bringing intermarried families closer to the community in order to encourage conversion. That’s quite different than honoring non-Jewish parents who don’t convert.

Half Jews II - or Patrilineal Jew or Israeli

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post Half Jews:

i'm a "patrilineal jew" which according to you is no jew at all. i don't identify as anything other than that - i'm not "half" something or other, i am that i am - ibri, israeli.

according to your hashkafa someone whose great great great maternal grandmother was jewish, and has no knowledge or concern for yahdut and masorot is a jew. this is hard to understand. i am coming to israel (sorry!), and i think rather than doing conversion i will join the karaite movement. it is a hard decision because i grew up to know and respect rabbinic judaism but of course was always rejected by it - i don't blame anyone for this - zeh pashut kacha.

the reason i do not want to do giyyur is because it has a degrading and insulting aspect - the halacha states that my father is not my father and i cannot call myself "ben ----". i do not object at all to tevilah and hatafat dam but only this grave disrespect to my father's, mother's and my honour. someone from two non-jewish parents who wants to convert is lucky in this regard because they will not have to worry about this issue.

all the best, i hope that you will consider these thoughts i have shared with you. please have some rahamim and keep in mind that of course there are people whose identity is confused (both those children of intermarriage from jewish mothers but of course, probably more from jewish fathers) and rather than belittling, judging or laughing about it maybe consider the pain that such people may feel, and the desire for some true refuat nefesh.

Prisoner Deal Reopens an Israeli Wound

New York Times reports:

NAHARIYA, Israel — Israel is a tale of family tragedies lived out within small distances.

Consider the Harans and the Goldwassers, two families in Nahariya linked by shocking killings nearly 30 years ago that have returned anew to break mothers’ hearts.

Their stories have reopened wounds in a nation that expects on Wednesday to swap a prisoner held responsible for the deaths of three members of the Haran family for the remains of a Goldwasser son taken hostage just across the border in Lebanon in 2006.

Soon after midnight on April 22, 1979, Samir Kuntar, 16, a Lebanese Druse, slipped from a small boat onto one of Nahariya’s beaches along with three other fighters from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. That bloody night is seared into Israel’s national consciousness, one of the great tragedies in a country marked by them.

The four men killed a policeman and broke into an apartment building and kidnapped a young father, Danny Haran, and his 4-year-old daughter, Einat, taking them to a nearby beach. Mr. Kuntar was found guilty of murdering Mr. Haran in front of Einat, then turning to the child and crushing her skull against a rock with the butt of his rifle.

Smadar Haran, Danny’s wife, hid in the apartment’s crawlspace with the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, accidentally smothering her to death in an effort to stop her from crying out.

Now, almost 30 years later, Mr. Kuntar has lived to intersect with another family’s fate, the Goldwassers.

Against a backdrop of indirect peace talks with Syria, Israel is preparing to trade Mr. Kuntar and other Lebanese terrorists in a prisoner exchange with Hezbollah, which captured Ehud Goldwasser and another army reservist, Eldad Regev, in a cross-border raid that started the war between Hezbollah and Israel two years ago. Syria has always been one of Hezbollah’s main patrons, along with Iran.

The deal has stirred an especially painful debate in Israel, where the captured reservists, Mr. Goldwasser and Mr. Regev, both university students, have been declared dead. Though Israel has a history of trading large numbers of prisoners to receive captured soldiers, the prospect of exchanging the country’s most despised prisoner for corpses has raised hackles. There is also considerable mistrust of Hezbollah and fears that its seeming success in obtaining Mr. Kuntar’s release will only encourage it to attack again.

Hezbollah has said it carried out the 2006 raid in a bid to win the release of Mr. Kuntar, whom Hezbollah celebrates as a hero. Past attempts to secure his release include the hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship in 1985.

[...]

In the Lebanese city of Sidon, preparations are under way for a festive return for Mr. Kuntar. The central square is decorated with pictures and banners welcoming him home as a hero.

The swap is scheduled to take place on Israel’s side of the border at Rosh Hanikra. The town’s antenna towers are visible in the distance from Nahariya, where Mrs. Haran and Mrs. Goldwasser will be waiting for their shared tragedy to come full circle.

Half-Jews I - Children of intermarriage who want to be bicultural

Sue Fishkoff / jta , Jerusalem Post

The Jewish world has a problem with the way Renee Kaplan defines herself: half-Jewish.

Kaplan, a television producer in her mid-30s, is the daughter of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother who was raised Jewish.

"I've had endlessly to defend my half-Jewishness
- resist rabbis who wanted to convert me, resent Jewish men who didn't want to date me," she writes in "Half/Life: Jew-ish Tales from Interfaith Homes" (Soft Skull Press, 2006).

Kaplan says she rejects anyone who deems her dual identity inauthentic.

She is among the increasing number of adult children of intermarriage who consider themselves half-Jewish. While the Jewish religious denominations have varying views of what makes someone Jewish - the Conservative and Orthodox streams count as Jews only those with Jewish mothers, whereas the Reform Related Resources:
Overlooked by outreach and Reconstructionist movements sanction Jewish lineage from either side - the denominations are united in their opposition to the notion of one being half-Jewish.

You either are or you aren't Jewish, they hold.

Yet the "half" term is gaining currency, particularly among those with Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers. The phenomenon is encouraged by Web sites, books and groups that celebrate or support these self-proclaimed half-Jews, from www.halfjew.com launched to establish "an identity for HalfJews," to the short-lived student group at Brown University called "The Half-Jew Crew."

Many children of intermarriage say they simply cannot turn their backs on the non-Jewish half of their identity. Their rabbis may say they are Jewish, but in their hearts they are also whatever grandma and grandpa are.

This openness to multiple identities is particularly true among college students, according to Daniel Klein and Freke Vuijst, who interviewed hundreds of students for "The Half-Jewish Book" published in 2000.

Klein says those who call themselves half-Jewish "feel they are a combination, they are an amalgam, they are bicultural."

A 2005 survey by Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life found that 48 percent of college students who consider themselves Jewish come from intermarried homes. It's from this population that a new subculture is emerging of "people who draw from both sides of their heritage and synthesize their cultural halves into a remarkable new identity," the authors write.

It's something to celebrate, not hide, they argue.[...]

Some self-proclaimed half-Jews feel anger as they struggle for a sense of belonging in Jewish denominations that reject their dual identity.

In 2006, outreach activist Robin Margolis launched the Half-Jewish Network (www.half-jewish.net), an online community where those with some family connection to Judaism can express themselves openly whether they identify as Jewish, half-Jewish, Christian or nothing.

"A lot of these people have been greeted by organizations where the first demand is 'make a choice,' and if they don't, they're not welcome," says Margolis, who attends a Jewish Renewal congregation.

The Reform movement, which accepts Jewish patrilineal descent, does not allow children in its religious schools to receive education in a second religion.

Some half-Jewish activists believe demography will prove a stronger force than tradition. [...]

"We'll be the majority of Jews in this country by 2030," Margolis says. "Then the playing field changes. If we're the majority, we'll decide who's a Jew."

Missionaries disguised as Jews - Rabbi Emmanuel Feldman

How to reply when the doorbell rings

Jerusalem Post

Many years ago, while a rabbi in Atlanta, I answered a knock on my door one Shabbat afternoon. Standing in front of me was a fine-looking couple - obviously non-Jewish.

"Shabbat Shalom, rabbi," they said, and asked to have a word with me.

I sensed that they were missionaries and asked them what the subject was. They replied that they wanted to talk to me about the "Son of God."

I suggested that while I respected their personal beliefs, in Judaism there is no such thing as a son or mother of God, that ours is a very strict monotheistic faith, and that our God is one, not two, and not three. I added that before attempting to convert Jews, they should consider converting Christians to Christian teachings, because throughout history, Jews had seen very little of Christian love and of turning the other cheek.

End of conversation.

WELL, AT least they were honest. Today, missionaries are much more subtle.

For one thing, they often pose as Jews themselves. And, most significantly, they do not initially ask Jews to accept Jesus as the son of God, nor mention that in Christianity, Jesus is worshipped as a divine being. [...]

Temples of the Jews in Egypt

Aside from the Third Temple of Julian the Apostate there were also two Temples built in Egypt.

The papyrus path from the Jerusalem Post

It is not well known that there were two Jewish temples in ancient Egypt. They do not form part of our traditional history, which concentrates on the going down into Egypt and the coming out of it, as based on the Torah accounts, for which there is little or no contemporary corroboration. But the two temples, though well attested by contemporary sources, have received little attention from our tradition.

One of these temples has been known about for nearly 2,000 years from Josephus Flavius and the Talmud, and its site was claimed to have been found just 100 years ago, but it has now been lost again. The other was never known of till just a hundred years ago and its site has only recently been discovered. The first is the Temple of Onias at Leontopolis dating to about 200 BCE, and the second is the Temple of Elephantine dating to 300 years earlier, to about 500 BCE.

Josephus describes the Temple of Onias as being both like and unlike that of Jerusalem. In his Antiquities, he says it is like Jerusalem, but in his Wars of the Jews he says that Onias built it like a fortress with a tower 60 cubits (30 meters) high. Who was this Onias? In Hebrew his name is Honiah and this name was carried by several high priests descended from the famous Shimon Hatzaddik. Our Onias was probably Honiah IV, who was prevented from following in the footsteps of his father, who had been supplanted by Jason, the high priest who started the process of Hellenizing Jerusalem that led eventually to the Maccabean revolt.

Honiah IV went off to Egypt and started the Temple at Leontopolis, with the agreement of Pharaoh Ptolemy IV and his queen Cleopatra I (not the famous Cleopatra VII), in an area somewhat north of today's Cairo. That would have been in about the year 170 BCE. Ptolemy IV was keen to have the support of Honiah, who brought with him a military force to reinforce Egyptian rule in southern Palestine, and was happy to allow him to erect a Jewish temple.

This temple had legitimacy in the eyes of the Talmud, as it was set up by the son of a traditional high priest and it fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt..." (19:19). The Mishna tells us that a sacrifice vowed in Egypt could be redeemed at Leontopolis, but a kohen (priest) who had served in Egypt could not officiate in Jerusalem, though he was allowed to eat the truma (priestly food) there (Menahot 13:10). This temple stood for more than 200 years and was destroyed by the Romans in 73 CE, shortly after their destruction of Jerusalem.[...]

Golem of the Maharal - Fact or Fiction/Oral history

There is a fascinating article from Dei'ah veDibur regarding the historical reality of the Maharal's Golem. It deals with many of the issues connected to our previous discussion of the nature of the dispute between the Gra and the Chassidim as well as the issue of the Ger Tzedek. In particular it wrestles with the issue of the veracity of oral traditions which are unsupported by other sources. Below are some excerpts. I also included similar concerns expressed by Prof. Marc Shapiro.

The Golem of Prague — Fact or Fiction?

by Binyomin Y. Rabinowitz

The Maharal's Greatest Feat

HaRav Meir Arik zt'l was once asked whether the Maharal of Prague really made a golem. He replied that he didn't know the answer to the question but that the Maharal's having produced a talmid like the Tosafos Yom Tov was a far greater feat! (Zer Zahav, p. 40, Bilgoray 5693 (1933)

Whether or not the Maharal ever made a golem remains unclear. Doubt arises mainly from the failure of the principal historians of the times to mention a word about the subject. In his forthcoming book, Rabbi Yitzchok Nachman Eshkoli (author of Tzaar Baalei Chaim Behalochoh Uve'agoddoh) discusses the nature and laws governing creatures — such as a golem — created according to Sefer Yetziroh. His new book contains many fresh details about the golem story and this article presents his main conclusions about the episode.

In recent years, controversy has once again raged over the veracity of stories that have been published about the Maharal's creation of a golem. Irrespective of the accuracy of these particular tales, it is clear that many holy tzaddikim of previous generations did possess knowledge of the secrets governing the creation of men and animals, based on Sefer Yetziroh.[...]

Fact or Fiction?

It is unclear whether or not the Maharal ever made a golem. The main ground for doubt is the fact that none of the major historians of those times breathe a word on the subject. How, for example, could the famous historian HaRav Dovid Gans, author of Tzemach Dovid (Prague, 5352 [1592]) have entirely omitted to mention it or even to allude to it? He lived in Prague at the time and was in fact a talmid of the Maharal. (Reb Dovid was born in 5301 [1541] and was niftar in Prague on the fifth of Elul 5373 [1613], approximately four years after the Maharal's petiroh.)

How did the Chido zt'l, fail to document the episode in his sefer, Sheim Hagedolim, which recounts the praises of gedolei Yisroel throughout the generations? In the same sefer he doesn't omit to mention that Rav Eliyahu Baal Shem zt'l, the rov of Chelm, created a man using Sefer Yetziroh.

The dayan HaRav Meir Pereles of Prague was a relative of the Maharal's who recorded all his kinsman's biographical information in a Megillas Yuchsin (genealogical record), without mentioning a word about the golem. (Rav Meir wrote the Megillas Yuchsin approximately one hundred years after the Maharal's petiroh, "at the request of the elder Rav Yeshayohu Katz, brother of the great gaon HaRav Naftali Katz, author of Semichas Zekeinim" who were grandsons of the Maharal. Only the editor of the 5649 (1891) edition of Megillas Yuchsin mentions that the Maharal made a golem. Neither is there any mention of the golem on the Maharal's gravestone.

Neither Korei Hadoros (by Rabbi David Konforto zt'l) nor Seder Hadoros (by Rav Yechiel Halperin zt'l) contain the slightest hint of the Maharal's having created a golem.

Amazingly, the first written testimony to the episode only appears 230 or 240 years after the Maharal's petiroh. The first stories about the golem of Prague appeared in a book written in German in 5612 (1852). The story was briefly mentioned fifteen years earlier, in 5597 (1837), but that writer also expresses reservations about its veracity.[...]

Similar views were expressed in Prof. Marc Shapiro's critical review "Of Books and Bans" concerning the Making of a Godol published in the Edah Journal:

Another serious shortcoming is his use of sources–in particular, the hundreds of personal communications he records. While oral history can be valuable, it has to be used carefully and must yield when faced with documentary evidence to the contrary. The haredi culture is in many respects an oral culture, with stories of gedolim told and retold, and with this come distortions and falsehoods. Kamenetsky at times shows that he is aware of this, but only when the oral history is contradicted by another version of oral history or by a reliable written source. Otherwise, he chooses to rely on all sorts of tales. It is one thing when oral history focuses on an event or an oral exchange witnessed by a particular individual–and there are numerous such examples in the book— but often Kamenetsky will record a story he heard from X who heard from Y who heard from Z, sometimes about an event that happened 100 years ago!

Clearly, this does not qualify as history. Again, if this were a book of hagiography, one would expect this type of thing. In that sort of book we would anticipate being told what R. Hayyim Soloveitchik said when he was on a train or how the Rogochover rebuked another gadol in the privacy of their hotel room. But Kamenetsky wants his book to be judged by the standards of historical scholarship, and in this respect it is sorely lacking.

This failure to recognize the unreliability of oral history leads Kamenetsky to take different versions of the same story and try to determine what actually occurred. While there is no doubt a kernel of truth in the basic story, a historian must acknowledge that at this late date it is simply impossible to come to any firm conclusions. Similarly, his detailed and tedious analysis of events, most notably the mission of Max Lilienthal in Russia (pp. 188-257), combine what is best about the book – a gathering together of widely scattered material – with the book's weakness, a reliance on stories and traditions, together with hypotheses, which, at the end of the day, have no basis

Chabad and EJF - Pioneers in lenient Orthodox attitude towards intermarried couples

Just came across the following article published on Interfaith Family Blog from the point of view of those who tolerate intermarriage. It claims that Eternal Jewish Family and Chabad - are leading a change in the Orthodox world to be more tolerant of intermarried couples in the hope of converting the non-Jewish spouse. They even cite Avi Shafran - spokesman for the Agudah as not being hostile to intermarried couples.

Cracks in the Orthodox Armor?

Jan 18th, 2008 by Micah Sachs

Our site is full of stories of people who encountered resistance to their interfaith relationships from Jewish family. But their problems pale in comparison to the rejection and ostracization experienced by Jews from the Orthodox community who are dating or married to non-Jews.

In her latest “In the Mix” column, Julie Wiener tells the story of “Ilana,” an intermarried Orthodox woman who “was urged to hide her children from her grandfather and tell him she was still single, for fear the news of her intermarriage would trigger a heart attack.” In the Orthodox world, intermarriage is one of the great taboos–perhaps akin to declaring yourself a racist in the secular world.

At the same time, Rabbi Avi Shafran, the spokesperson for the ultra-Orthodox organization Agudath Israel of America (and a genuinely nice, if ideologically stringent, guy), tells Wiener, “intermarried couples from outside the community are, I think, increasingly seen by many Orthodox Jews as people not to be summarily rejected, at least if there is any chance of the non-Jewish partner’s sincere and halachic conversion.”

Indeed, there does seem a movement afoot among the Orthodox to accept an intermarried couple as long as the non-Jewish partner is dedicated to an Orthodox conversion. Its biggest proponent is the organization Eternal Jewish Family, which has organized conferences of Orthodox rabbis to set standards for the conversion of non-Jewish partners. This condition of acceptance is harsh, but it’s a big step for a community that once considered intermarriage one of the unforgivable sins.

On a related note, over on Jewcy, Tamar Fox talks about her conversations with friends who have started seeing non-Jewish boyfriends or girlfriends. She says, “I have seen all kinds of reactions to inderdating, from violent outbursts to ignoring the situation completely.” Clearly, she’s coming from a more traditional place than typical secular Jews, but she has some wise things to say about interdating. Her main point? If you’ve thought about and talked about the issues with your significant other, you’re on the right path.

Posted in Intermarriage

1. on 18 Jan 2008 at 2:29 pm1Hal

   [...]
   It is true that Eternal Jewish Family is proactively reaching out to intermarried couples–something that is still a matter of some disagreement within the Orthodox community. [...]
   

2. on 18 Jan 2008 at 2:48 pm2Micah Sachs
   [...]
3. on 20 Jan 2008 at 2:25 pm3h.

   to the Orthodox, interdating and intermarriage are pretty much unforgivable sins. if you are raised all your life to know that marrying Jewish is the most important decision you’ll ever make, then chances are pretty high that you’ll be looked at crooked if you don’t follow through. look at Noah Feldman, for example. he went to one of the most renowned yeshivas in the US, where he no doubt was lectured many times about the dangers of intermarriage. and while i’m sure Professor Feldman did his best to find a suitable Jewish mate, he ultimately chose love over tradition…and look at the controversy it caused. yet oddly enough, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (who isn’t exactly in favor of intermarriage) stood behind him throughout the entire ordeal. he may not have agreed with Noah’s decision to intermarry, but he felt that retaining him and welcoming his wife would be more productive than ostracizing them. and he’s right. the Orthodox are not immune to intermarriage like everyone assumes. although the intermarriage rate among Orthodox is less than 4%, it shows that even those who are staunch in their observance of Judaism can fall in love with someone from the outside, non-Jewish world. it’s rare, but it happens.[...]

   Rabbi Shafran is right. intermarried couples should not be written off so quickly, especially if there is the possibility that the non-Jewish partner has a sincere interest in converting and is not just doing it to “keep the peace”.

   Chabad seems to have the right idea. despite the constant rumors of Chabad attempting to convert non-Jewish partners, i’ve heard countless stories of interfaith couples entering Chabad houses with no problems. while Chabad does not approve of intermarriage, they recognize that we are all human beings and we are not all the same. in fact, on the Chabad.org website it clearly states that their educational centers are accessible to everyone, including “curious Gentiles.” does the non-Jewish partner ever convert in these instances? not always, but at least they know they have a place in the community where they can feel welcome and learn about Judaism all they want.

4. on 21 Jan 2008 at 11:43 am4Hal

   Micah,

   You raise a very good point, and I want to address it, because we certainly went through a rather lengthy period where we were exploring Orthodoxy, and my wife had not yet decided whether to convert. Were we welcomed? The answer is–it depends.

   Certainly, there were several Orthodox Rabbis and many Orthodox Jews who did welcome us even before it was 100% clear that this is where we were heading. And yes, there were others who were very clear that there really wasn’t a place for an intermarried couple who planned to stay intermarried.

   Although I understand why some would have a problem with this, we never did. First, there were enough people in the community who did welcome us and did give us encouragement. And in every case, even where a Rabbi was not so welcoming, we were always welcome to attend their synagogue, and there were people in those synagogues who invited us for a Shabbat meal–again, even where the Rabbi had taken a very clear stand. [...]

   For a long time before we ever looked into Orthodoxy, we were involved in a non-Orthodox synagogue. The people were all very nice. My wife was “fully accepted” although she hadn’t converted. But after a while, my wife wondered what the point would even be of converting if, in the eyes of the congregation, it seemed to be all the same anyway. In other words, while of course we must be welcoming to the intermarried and find a place for them, if we essentially treat the intermarried as if they are a conversionary family, then aren’t we in effect sending the message that the process of conversion is meaningless?

   The road to conversion is a process, and especially in the case of Orthodox conversion, sometimes a rather long process. I agree that it’s important that intermarried families have some space to explore that process, which means being welcoming in some form. As H. above pointed out, Chabad houses are very welcoming. I’ve seen a number of Chabad houses, and there are intermarried families in every one of them, something that goes against some of the conventional wisdom about intermarried outreach and where the intermarried will feel comfortable. And it’s not limited to Chabad. For a time, I had attended an Aish HaTorah weekly Torah study session. The Rabbi knew I was intermarried. He welcomed me. And there were others there who were either intermarried or children of intermarried who had not grown up with any religion and were trying to figure it all out. In my own synagogue now, there is an intermarried family where the wife is Jewish. She is completely involved, she sends the kids to day school, her husband does not intend to convert, and the family is welcomed just like anyone else. (I imagine this is, in part, because there is no halachic issue concerning the children and everyone deems it important that they be raised as Jews. If it were a Jewish husband, the issues would be different and there would probably be a different approach.) [...]