RaP - important conversion articles

"New rules have Diaspora converts waiting on Israel"

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/07/07/1006367/new-rules-have-diaspora-converts-waiting-on-israel

"Rabbi offers unorthodox solution to civil marriage debate"
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1098606.html
Religious Zionists war against Haredim on Conversions:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1245184921517

"Zionist rabbis break law for converts".

This is a really important article that covers the situation from the perspectives of the Haredim to the Religious Zionists in Israel, including mentioning EJF and responses to it. It is truly a Conversions War.

Rabbinate converts 60 active missionaries

Arutz Sheva

The Chief Rabbinate has been given a list of more than 60 recent converts to Judaism who continue to believe in Jesus – and are active missionaries.

Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifshitz, chairman and founder of the anti-missionary and anti-assimilation Yad L’Achim organization, met in recent days with Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and provided him with the list. Rabbi Amar was reportedly “shocked” at seeing that the Chief Rabbinate had authorized the conversions

An immediate solution was found for the future, however. Rabbi Lifshitz presented Rabbi Amar with a list of 17 questions that should be asked of any prospective convert. Under the assumption that the missionaries will either not lie straight out, or that the specific questions will help detect the lies, it is hoped that missionaries will be spotted and weeded out from the conversion rolls.

Yad L’Achim had prepared the list of names, ID numbers and addresses of more than 60 people who were active in missionary groups before, during and after their long conversion process to Judaism. The "converts" were then accepted as members of religious communities, and their children were accepted into religious schools. [...]

Proselytizing - Purpose of countermissionaries

JPost

I am completely misunderstood. As a countermissionary, people think that it's my goal in life to make people miserable, to persecute poor Christians living in our country and to tell people what they should believe. Nothing could be further from the truth. People think that a countermissionary's raison d'être is to destroy freedom of religion and to create within Israel a state similar to that of the Muslim countries that surround us, where no one has any freedom to believe anything other than those beliefs held by the thugs who hold power. Again, wrong. Some people think I hate Christians. Wrong also.

Believe it or not, the purpose of a countermissionary is ultimately to improve Jewish-Christian relations. As it says in Robert Frost's poem, "Mending Wall," good fences make good neighbors. By teaching Jews why we are not Christians and by teaching Christians to respect our boundaries, we improve relations between the two faiths. Blurring the lines between the two faiths doesn't serve to bridge the gap caused by fear and misunderstanding; it weakens Judaism and causes Christians to have less respect for the Jewish people. Breaking down the walls breaks down the distinctiveness and the different callings of each faith system, and only fosters more hatred and fear.

The purpose of the countermissionary is to strengthen the Jewish people and to teach Christians that we have reasons for choosing to reject their faith. When they can understand and accept this, we can progress to a level of rejecting their faith without rejecting them as people, and the two peoples can live side-by-side in mutual respect and understanding, agreeing to disagree.

WHEN WE say that it should be illegal to proselytize in Israel, we are not saying that a Christian doesn't have the right to believe as he wishes or even to worship God as he sees fit. What we are saying is that a Jew has the right to live in the Jewish state in freedom, without needing to worry about being harassed by someone trying to convince him that his faith is not good enough, that he needs to accept Christianity's concept of God to be able to even have a relationship with God in the first place, or that his child will be convinced to abandon the faith of his forefathers.[...]

Conversion - What is a Reform ger?

Ora asks the following:

What is the difference between no Giur and a non recognised Giur?

A young man is fascinated by some aspects of judaism. However, orthodox judaism poses some problems of philosphical and of practical nature. (e.g. He does not want to oppose homosexuality, his wife is not jewish and he does not want her to convert because of him, he lives far from the synagogue he wants to attend and would have to drive to go there, he does not really believe in "exclusivity" of religion, i.e. that all other religions but judaism are false)

But he considers a reform giur, since reform judaism is the religion he would like to choose for himself, because it addresses the problems he has with orthodox judaism.

Now: anyway, a reform Giur is not recognised. So it will be considered null and void by orthodox rabbinate. So there is no problem that the person will not be shomer mitzwoth. Is it therefore legitimate for him to convert (reform), knowing that his reform giur has "limited validity"? In other words: Is reform judaism a legitimate way of being mekaim 7 mitzwoth bney noach?

Proselytizing as a reality tv show

JPost

Have you heard the one about a rabbi, an imam, a priest and a Buddhist monk?

It's no joke, but rather Turkey's latest reality show, which brings together leaders from four religions who attempt to convert non-believers to their respective faiths.

Penitents Compete features select religious authorities seeking to make believers out of 10 atheists - on camera.

Istanbul-based television station Kanal T plans to launch the show in September.

The prize for the converts? A trip to a holy site of the winner's newfound religion: Muslims will go to Mecca, Christians to the Vatican, Jews to Jerusalem and Buddhists to Tibet.

But the religious establishment and personalities are neither amused nor impressed. Jewish authorities, for example, are vehemently opposed to the program, since according to Halacha, active proselytizing is forbidden.

As a Jew, it is against our world outlook to seek to proselytize," Rabbi David Rosen, director of the American Jewish Committee's Department for Interreligious Affairs, told The Jerusalem Post. "We respect other people's attachment to their faiths."

Rosen added that proselytizing is dubious by nature and could be destructive to the religion and its reputation.

Rosen is also opposed to the show from a more universal perspective.

"I think it's very tasteless," he said. "Matters of faith, profession and lifestyle commitment are not something that should be decided on a reality show."[...]

Chareidi Protest - media reporting & perception of violence

YNet reports

In a rare move, an ultra-Orthodox protestor sat in front of the cameras in Jerusalem on Saturday night in order to explain the position of haredim protesting for the past few weeks against the opening of a parking lot in the capital on Shabbat.

The protestor, who identified himself only as Moshe, spoke about one of the less violent demonstrations this week: "Within the haredi community it was stressed that the protest will only be for adults. The haredi community in general does not use violence.

"The violence last week and until now was only from youth on the fringe. No one has picked up a rock or thrown anything in the haredi community, even not objects such as were described in the secular press, like diapers and such."

"We come, we yell 'Shabbes' (Yiddish for Sabbath) because it is painful for us. This is what we will continue to do. What the lead scholar of the religious court tells us," explained Moshe. [...]

Rav Sternbuch/ Parah Adumah

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