Messiainic Jews encourage Messianic Ethiopian immigrantion

JPost reports: ( from Jersey Girl)

Under Operation Tikva, through which thousands of people in Ethiopia are provided with clean water, money for food and educational services, they are also reminded often that they are Jews and that the people of Israel are waiting for them.

What makes Operation Tikva different than other Jewish aid programs in Ethiopia, however, is that neither the Israeli government, the Jewish Agency for Israel, nor any other recognized aliya organization is involved in it. In fact, The Jerusalem Post has learned it is a program run by Messianic Jewish missionaries, and very few people in Israel even know about it.

It seems that while Israel has officially stopped encouraging the immigration of thousands of Ethiopians either via the Law of Return or the Law of Entry, other groups have taken up the task.

These Messianic Jewish missionaries continue to be active in far-flung villages of northern Ethiopia, telling local farming communities there that God, Israel and the Jewish people are rooting for them, even though their ancestral link to Judaism is tenuous at best.

Run by the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA), Operation Tikva is contravening the Israeli government's attempts over the last year to wind down official aliya operations in Ethiopia, and the project is being viewed in Jerusalem with alarm."I don't believe that we are working against the Israeli government," MJAA General Secretary Joel Chernoff, told The Jerusalem Post in response Thursday. "The political situation in Israel can always change and we believe that what has happened to these people is a major injustice," he said.

According to Chernoff there are between 50,000-70,000 Ethiopian Messianic Jews who are being discriminated against by the Israeli government based on their beliefs. Messianic Jews believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is their Messiah, but still consider themselves to be Jewish. Jews of other denominations do not consider Messianic Judaism to be a form of Judaism, but a form of Christianity. "These people are viewed by the government of Ethiopia and by their neighbors as Jews and are persecuted as such," argued Chernoff, adding that it all "boils down to the fact that Israel has decided not to accept Jews who believe in Jesus."[...]

Chabad revives dying Shuls

NYTimes reports:

To find the 10th man for a minyan, the quorum required in Orthodox Jewish services, some rabbis on the Lower East Side of Manhattan have been known in recent years to step into the street and stop passers-by. Are you Jewish? they ask.

It is a troubling notion for the remaining Jewish population of a neighborhood that in the 19th and early 20th centuries was the American portal for Jewish immigrants — hundreds of synagogues once thrived there — and where now a few dozen synagogues struggle in a place jammed with Indian and Thai restaurants and secular-minded young people.

So if there is trepidation among the older members of the weather-worn Community Synagogue on East Sixth Street about the changes coming with the start of the High Holy Days this week, it is leavened with a sense of forbearance in the absence of alternatives.

Starting this evening with Rosh Hashana services, Rabbi Simon Jacobson, a Lubavitcher rabbi from Crown Heights and founder of the Meaningful Life Center — a project known for blending religious teaching with tai chi, introductory kabbalah and Hasidic rap — will become a kind of Jewish mystic-in-residence at the traditional, Orthodox Community Synagogue.

Inspired by the movement known as Chabad, a Hasidic sect with a missionary tradition around the world, Rabbi Jacobson said he would offer his programs — which until now has he operated on an itinerant basis around the city — at the Sixth Street synagogue in hopes of creating “a spiritual Starbucks.”

The plan is to attract people, regardless of their faith, from all over the city, he said. But the goal is to restore Jewish identity to those estranged from Judaism and, if possible, to add them to the membership rolls of Community Synagogue.

Like many Lubavitchers, Rabbi Jacobson embodies a paradoxical mix of strictly conservative theology and a freewheeling, nonjudgmental hipster style. He is partial to drum circles. He is friendly with the Hasidic reggae-rap-klezmer artist known as Matisyahu.

Of course, this is not everyone’s cup of tea.“Is there tension because we love things the way they are and he wants to make everything completely different?” asked Ruth Greenberg, 90, a member of the congregation, which had about 250 members when she joined in 1950 and now counts not quite 100. “Not at all, not at all. We may not like each other, but that doesn’t mean there’s tension.” [...]

“This area used to be a place with a deli or a shul on every corner,” he said. “There are lots of young, unaffiliated Jews living here. They just do not go to synagogue.” In terms of Jewish practice, he added, “It is a kind of tundra, and we are trying to figure out how to resettle it.”

The partnership of the Lubavitchers’ outreach tradition with more conventional synagogues like Community has invigorated several declining congregations around the country, said Jonathan D. Sarna, a professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University.

Gary A. Tobin, director of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research in San Francisco, said such partnerships marked “the convergence of the two major trends in Jewish life: the expansion of the most successful movement in world Jewry, which is Chabad, and the undeniable fact that Jews are becoming birds of passage like everyone else, less likely to belong to a synagogue but still searching for the authentic religious fundamentals.”

Kiddush HaShem & Chillul HaShem

Yoma (86a): As it was taught: And you shall love the L‑rd your G‑d (Devarim 6:5). That means that the Name of Heaven should be beloved because of you. If a person studies Bible and Mishna and serves scholars and deals honestly with people – what do people say about him? They say, “Happy is his father who taught him Torah, happy is his teacher who taught him Torah. Woe is it to the people who don’t learn Torah because this man learned Torah see how wonderful are his ways and how refined are his deeds.”…

Rambam( Hilchos Shavuos 12:2): The sin of false oaths is amongst the most severe sins as we have explained in Hilchos Teshuva. This is so even though there is no punishment of kares or execution by beis din. Nevertheless there is the desecration of G‑d name (chillul HaShem) which is greater that all other sins.

Concerning the discussion regarding a man committing adultery or being unfaithful to his wife - the seriousness is not just a reflection of the punishment for the specific sin - but it also includes the fact that his behavior is a chillul haShem.

Convert father for welfare of the children

Melamed LeHo’il(2:83):If a Jewish woman marries a non‑Jew then according to halacha her children are complete Jews. Nevertheless the children will be attracted to follow after their father and they will end up sinning through no fault of their own. Therefore it is better for the beis din to commit a small sin to accept the father as a convert and to train him in the Jewish religion so that the children will turn out all right. Nevertheless it is necessary for the beis din to caution the father that he must keep and observe all of the Jewish laws in particular Shabbos and to only eat kosher food. It is a good idea to receive from him a promise instead of an oath concerning this.

Conversion - Anusim - Genetic basis?

Smithsonian Magazine: [referred by Jersey Girl]
One september day in 2001, Teresa Castellano, Lisa Mullineaux, Jeffrey Shaw and Lisen Axell were having lunch in Denver. Genetic counselors from nearby hospitals and specialists in inherited cancers, the four would get together periodically to talk shop. That day they surprised one another: they'd each documented a case or two of Hispanic women with aggressive breast cancer linked to a particular genetic mutation. The women had roots in southern Colorado, near the New Mexico border. "I said, 'I have a patient with the mutation, and she's only in her 40s,'" Castellano recalls. "Then Lisa said that she had seen a couple of cases like that. And Jeff and Lisen had one or two also. We realized that this could be something really interesting."

Curiously, the genetic mutation that caused the virulent breast cancer had previously been found primarily in Jewish people whose ancestral home was Central or Eastern Europe. Yet all of these new patients were Hispanic Catholics.

Mullineaux contacted Ruth Oratz, a New York City-based oncologist then working in Denver. "Those people are Jewish," Oratz told her. "I'm sure of it."

Pooling their information, the counselors published a report in a medical journal about finding the gene mutation in six "non-Jewish Americans of Spanish ancestry." The researchers were cautious about some of the implications because the breast cancer patients themselves, as the paper put it, "denied Jewish ancestry."

The finding raised some awkward questions. What did the presence of the genetic mutation say about the Catholics who carried it? How did they happen to inherit it? Would they have to rethink who they were—their very identity—because of a tiny change in the three billion "letters" of their DNA? More important, how would it affect their health, and their children's health, in the future?

Some people in the valley were reluctant to confront such questions, at least initially, and a handful even rejected the overtures of physicians, scientists and historians who were suddenly interested in their family histories. But rumors of secret Spanish Jewry had floated around northern New Mexico and the San Luis Valley for years, and now the cold hard facts of DNA appeared to support them. As a result, families in this remote high-desert community have had to come to grips with a kind of knowledge that more and more of us are likely to face. For the story of this wayward gene is the story of modern genetics, a science that increasingly has the power both to predict the future and to illuminate the past in unsettling ways.

Expanding the DNA analysis, Sharon Graw, a University of Denver geneticist, confirmed that the mutation in the Hispanic patients from San Luis Valley exactly matched one previously found in Ashkenazi Jews from Central and Eastern Europe. The mutation, 185delAG, is a variant of a gene called BRCA1. When normal and healthy, BRCA1 helps to protect breast and ovarian cells from cancer. An extremely long gene, it has thousands of DNA letters, each corresponding to one of four chemical compounds that make up the genetic code and run down either strand of the DNA double helix; a "misspelling"—a mutation—can occur at virtually any letter. Some are of no consequence, but the deletion of the chemicals adenine (A) and guanine (G) at a site 185 rungs into the DNA ladder—hence the name 185delAG—will prevent the gene from functioning. Then the cell becomes vulnerable to a malignancy. To be sure, most breast and ovarian cancers do not run in families. The cases owing to BRCA1 and a similar gene, BRCA2, make up less than 10 percent of cases overall.

By comparing DNA samples from Jews around the world, scientists have pieced together the origins of the 185delAG mutation. It is ancient. More than 2,000 years ago, among the Hebrew tribes of Palestine, someone's DNA dropped the AG letters at the 185 site. The glitch spread and multiplied in succeeding generations, even as Jews migrated from Palestine to Europe. Ethnic groups tend to have their own distinctive genetic disorders, such as harmful variations of the BRCA1 gene, but because Jews throughout history have often married within their religion, the 185delAG mutation gained a strong foothold in that population. Today, roughly one in 100 Jews carries the harmful form of the gene variant.

Meanwhile, some of the Colorado patients began to look into their own heritage. With the zeal of an investigative reporter, Beatrice Wright searched for both cancer and Jewish ancestry in her family tree. Her maiden name is Martinez. She lives in a town north of Denver and has dozens of Martinez relatives in the San Luis Valley and northern New Mexico. In fact, her mother's maiden name was Martinez also. Wright had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, when she was 45. Her right breast was removed and she was treated with chemotherapy. Later, her left breast, uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries were removed as a precaution. She had vaguely known that the women on her father's side were susceptible to the disease. "With so much cancer on Dad's side of the family," she said, "my cancer doctor thought it might be hereditary." Advised by Lisa Mullineaux about BRCA testing, she provided a blood sample that came back positive for 185delAG.

When Wright was told that the mutation was characteristic of Jewish people, she recalled a magazine article about the secret Jews of New Mexico. It was well known that during the late Middle Ages the Jews of Spain were forced to convert to Catholicism. According to a considerable body of scholarship, some of the conversos maintained their faith in secret. After Judaism was outlawed in Spain in 1492 and Jews were expelled, some of those who stayed took their beliefs further underground. The exiles went as far as the New World. [...]

Pruzbul - Chabad service

Chabad of the West Side:

The outgoing year of 5768 is a Sabbatical or “Seventh” year. It is also known as the Shemitah year – the year of “release”. Concerning the Shemitah year, the Torah states (Deut. 15:1-2): “At the end of seven years, you shall make Shemitah. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor; because the L-rd’s release has been proclaimed”. According to many opinions, this passage teaches that it is forbidden to claim one’s private debts after the seventh year passes, when “the release has been proclaimed”.

Years ago, because of the release of loans of the seventh year, many Jews ceased to lend money as the seventh year approached. To encourage the continuation of loans, the great scholar and leader Hillel instituted a custom which allows one to demand repayment even after the seventh year. This custom, known as “Pruzbul”, consists of the creditor transferring his debt to a Rabbinic court before the end of the Sabbatical year, whereupon it ceases to be a private debt and therefore can be collected.

It is customary for all Jews to make a Pruzbul - even those who do not have outstanding loans. This practice demonstrates how dear we hold a command of our Sages.

The Pruzbul can be accomplished by means of a legal document, or even by verbal agreement. For your convenience, you may submit the form below. If, after submitting the form, you give another loan, you must complete an additional Pruzbul form. Encourage your friends and relatives to participate as well. The transfer goes into effect the day before Rosh Hashanah.

Palestinian Authority - Temple Denial propaganda

(IsraelNN.com) The Palestinian Authority, run by PLO Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas, is again making efforts to popularize Muslim denial of the Jewish connection to Jerusalem, especially to the site of the two Jewish Temples. The PA claims fly in the face of the archaeological evidence, as well as the history of Jerusalem as endorsed by the most authoritative Muslim sources.

According to Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook of the Palestinian Media Watch organization, Fatah-controlled television broadcasts have been promoting a music video that "denies any historical connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem." Building on the denial of Jewish rights in Jerusalem and the claim that the Temple Mount is "ours," meaning it is Muslim, PMW explains, that "the lyrics repeat the Palestinian fabrication that Israel is planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and therefore it needs protection."[...]

Aleppo Codex - Search for missing pages

Fox News reports:

A quest is under way on four continents to find the missing pages of one of the world's most important holy texts, the 1,000-year-old Hebrew Bible known as the Crown of Aleppo.

Crusaders held it for ransom, fire almost destroyed it and it was reputedly smuggled across Mideast borders hidden in a washing machine. But in 1958, when it finally reached Israel, 196 pages were missing — about 40 percent of the total — and for some Old Testament scholars they have become a kind of holy grail.

Researchers representing the manuscript's custodian in Jerusalem now say they have leads on some of the missing pages and are nearer their goal of making the manuscript whole again.

The Crown, known in English as the Aleppo Codex, may not be as famous as the Dead Sea Scrolls. But to many scholars it is even more important, because it is considered the definitive edition of the Bible for Jewry worldwide.

The key to finding the pages is thought to lie with the insular diaspora of Jews originating in Aleppo, Syria, where the manuscript resided in a synagogue's iron chest for centuries.

A turning point in its history came three days after the U.N. passed the 1947 resolution to grant Israel statehood, provoking a Syrian mob to burn down the synagogue. Aleppo's Jews rescued the Codex, but in the ensuing years the 10,000-strong community was uprooted and scattered around the world.

Scholars believe that Aleppo Jews still hold many of the missing pages, while others have fallen into the hands of antiquities dealers. Two fragments have already surfaced: a full page in 1982, and a smaller piece last year that had been carried for decades by a Brooklyn man, Sam Sabbagh, as a good-luck charm. Persistent rumors tell of more waiting to be found.[...]

Past efforts, including some by Israeli diplomats and Mossad secret service agents, came up against a wall of silence in the Aleppo community. The new search has recruited a small group of Aleppo Jews, better able to win the community's trust, and has yielded information on the whereabouts of specific pieces and on the people who are holding them, said Zvi Zameret, the Ben-Zvi Institute's director.

"Only someone who believes that this manuscript is one of the foundation stones of the people of Israel, someone whose goal is not to get rich — only such a person can make progress," he said. [...]

Each page is priceless, but money wouldn't be an issue for most Aleppo Jews because anyone trafficking in such holy relics could be banished by the community, Roitman said. Some of the Crown's pages bear an inscription warning that it "may not be sold." [...]

The Codex, on 491 parchment pages about 12 inches by 10 inches, was transcribed sometime around 930 A.D. by Shlomo Ben Boya'a, a scribe in Tiberias on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. It was edited by a renowned scholar of the time, Aaron Ben-Asher. Its completion marked the end of a centuries-long process that created the final text of the Hebrew Bible. It belonged to a Jewish community in Jerusalem until it was seized by the Crusaders who captured and sacked the city in 1099. Ransomed, it made its way to Cairo, where it was used by the 12th-century Jewish philosopher Maimonides, who declared it the most accurate copy of the Old Testament. [...]

"The bottom line is that the whole process of putting together the text of the Bible ended with the Codex," said Rafael Zer of the Hebrew University Bible Project in Jerusalem, which is using the Codex to create what is meant to be the authoritative text of the Old Testament but can't properly complete it without the missing pages.

Not enough has been done to find them, laments Hayim Tawil of New York's Yeshiva University, the author of a forthcoming book on the Crown. "For Jews and for Western civilization this manuscript is equivalent to the Magna Carta," he said.

How the Codex reached Aleppo in northern Syria is unclear. Some scholars believe it was brought by a descendant of Maimonides in the late 1300s. There it was guarded as the Jews' most prized possession and talisman. But on Dec. 2, 1947, the mob burned the synagogue. In the ensuing years, Aleppo Jews would describe rushing to snatch pages from the flames. The missing ones have not been seen since, with two exceptions.

One page from the Book of Chronicles survived in the New York apartment of an Aleppo woman and was handed over by her relatives in 1982. Another fragment recounting the Exodus story of the 10 plagues survived in the wallet of Sabbagh, another Aleppo exile in New York, who laminated it and kept it as a good luck charm. Last year, following Sabbagh's death, his family brought the fragment to join the rest of the manuscript in Jerusalem.

One of the men who rescued pages from the synagogue was Mourad Faham, who sneaked into the building disguised as a Bedouin and found the bulk of the manuscript on the floor, according to his grandson, Jack Dweck. A decade later he strapped the manuscript under his robe and crossed the border into Turkey, Dweck said. From there it was wrapped in towels and, according to most versions of the story, bundled into a washing machine to be shipped to Israel. Dweck, a businessman who lives in New York, home to one of the biggest communities of Aleppo Jews, says he has heard the rumors among his fellow Jews and believes the missing parts exist.

"My guess is that there's a bigger piece somewhere else, waiting to be found," he said.

Vidoi - Confession to let go of sin

הכתב והקבלה (ויקרא ה:ה): והתודה. פירשוהו לשון הודאה, כענין הודה לו בקנקנים המורגל בפי רבותינו (בעקעננען), ואין זה נכון לדעתי כי עיקר הודוי אינו הודאת החטא (זינדענבעקעננטניס) אבל העיקר בו ההסכמה הגמורה לעזיבת החטא כמ"ש הרמב"ם (בהלכות תשובה) יגמור בלבו שלא ישוב לזה החטא לעולם, כמ"ש יעזוב רשע דרכו וגו' ולא נאמר עוד אלהים למע"י, וזהו עיקרו של וידוי, ואם נפרש לשון והתודה הודאת החטא לבד, חסר במובנו העיקר המכוון בוידוי, גם תקשה לר"ע דסובר (יומא פ"ו) דאין לפרש החטא בשעת ודוי, וכן לר"כ דאמר (ברכות ל"ד) חציף עלי מאן דמפרש חטאי', הלא להך פירושא מפורש במקרא שלפנינו דצריך לפרש החטא (והפוסקים שכתבו דבלחש מותר לפרש החטא לכ"ע, אין זה דבר ברור כ"כ למעיין בב"י או"ח סי' תפ"ז), גם לשון והתודה בלשון התפעל אין לו מובן לפירוש זה (ומ"ש הרנ"ו בביאורו אינו לפי לשון הודאה ע"ש), לכן נ"ל לפרש מלת והתודה לפי העיקר המכוון בענין ודוי החטא, והוא עזיבת והרחקת החטא, כי שרשו ידה אשר הוראתו הרחקה והשלכה, כמו וידו אבן בי, ידו עליה גורל, והמקום המוצנע המרוחק מחברת בני אדם נקרא יד, כמו ויד תהיה לך מחוץ למחנה, וכן חלק המופרש מן הכלל נקרא יד כמו חמש ידות (בראשית מ"ג), והמכוון בלשון ודוי חטא, הרחקת ועזיבת החטא (זינדענענטפערנונג), ולפי שצריך התחזקות רב להתרחקות החטא אחרי שנעשה אצלו כטבע שניה לכן נאמר בלשון התפעל והתודה (ענטשליסע זיך אבצולעגען):

Rosh HaShanna - Discovering your unique Avodas HaShem

Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz (Sichos Musar #33 5731): Everyone is required to thoroughly examine his deeds especially before Rosh HaShanna - the Day of Judgment. This obligation is not just to discover transgressions and lapses in observance of the commands. It also includes the evaluation whether one's path in serving G‑d is the correct one for him since everyone has a unique path. The issue  of Avodas HaShem is such that a person could keep all the mitzvos yet have a completely false approach to serving G-d. The problem is compounded by the fact that he might have incorrectly assumed that what he was doing would be pleasing to G‑d. Nevertheless all his efforts would have been to accomplish a mistaken goal. Consequently if he has not carefully evaluated the correctness of his plan then all his efforts and sacrifices are wasted. Furthermore he is punished according to the degree of effort he made to accomplish this wrong plan. This can be seen from the fact that Rav Yochanon ben Zakkai who was not only the leading Torah scholar of his time but also had succeeded in saving Torah for all future generations was frightened before his death. He cried before his students and said "I see before me two paths - one to Gan Eden and the other to Gehinom and I don't know where they are taking me. Shouldn't I cry?" His fear was not because of failing to keep the whole Torah. His fear was solely because he might have failed to properly have done his Avodas HaShem. There is the additional problem with Avodas HaShem - that one simply can't repent for doing it incorrectly since it is easy to be mistaken and assume that you are doing the right thing.

Power of Negative Thinking

NYTimes:

GREED — and its crafty sibling, speculation — are the designated culprits for the financial crisis. But another, much admired, habit of mind should get its share of the blame: the delusional optimism of mainstream, all-American, positive thinking.

As promoted by Oprah Winfrey, scores of megachurch pastors and an endless flow of self-help best sellers, the idea is to firmly believe that you will get what you want, not only because it will make you feel better to do so, but because “visualizing” something — ardently and with concentration — actually makes it happen. You will be able to pay that adjustable-rate mortgage or, at the other end of the transaction, turn thousands of bad mortgages into giga-profits if only you believe that you can.

Positive thinking is endemic to American culture — from weight loss programs to cancer support groups — and in the last two decades it has put down deep roots in the corporate world as well. Everyone knows that you won’t get a job paying more than $15 an hour unless you’re a “positive person,” and no one becomes a chief executive by issuing warnings of possible disaster.

The tomes in airport bookstores’ business sections warn against “negativity” and advise the reader to be at all times upbeat, optimistic, brimming with confidence. It’s a message companies relentlessly reinforced — treating their white-collar employees to manic motivational speakers and revival-like motivational events, while sending the top guys off to exotic locales to get pumped by the likes of Tony Robbins and other success gurus. Those who failed to get with the program would be subjected to personal “coaching” or shown the door.

The once-sober finance industry was not immune. On their Web sites, motivational speakers proudly list companies like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch among their clients. What’s more, for those at the very top of the corporate hierarchy, all this positive thinking must not have seemed delusional at all. With the rise in executive compensation, bosses could have almost anything they wanted, just by expressing the desire. No one was psychologically prepared for hard times when they hit, because, according to the tenets of positive thinking, even to think of trouble is to bring it on. [...]

When it comes to how we think, “negative” is not the only alternative to “positive.” As the case histories of depressives show, consistent pessimism can be just as baseless and deluded as its opposite. The alternative to both is realism — seeing the risks, having the courage to bear bad news and being prepared for famine as well as plenty. We ought to give it a try.

Breslov - Ownership of R'Nachman's grave resolved

JPost reported:

Euro-Asian Jewish Congress President Alexander Machkevich said Wednesday he has resolved a prickly land dispute over the reputed grave site of the founder of Breslov Hassidism in the Ukraine, and has recovered the area for the benefit of the local Breslov community.

The controversy over the land where Rabbi Nachman Breslover (1772-1810), also known as Nachman from Uman, is thought to be buried began six years ago after the local Jewish community decided to build a new synagogue at the site, and employed a Ukrainian contractor to do the job.

After the Jewish community defaulted on payment, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the contractor, who is also a member of the country's parliament, became the lawful owner of the property, Machkevich said.

Years of negotiations failed to resolve the issue.[...]

After six months of negotiations, Machkevich, a self-made billionaire, closed a deal with the Ukrainian contractor last week after paying him more than half a million dollars.[...]

AG Mazuz asks Supreme Court to overrule religious s. court

JPost:

Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz has called on the High Court of Justice to accept a petition by a Danish-born convert to Judaism demanding that it overrule rabbinical court decisions nullifying the conversions, including hers, made by special courts headed by Rabbi Haim Druckman.

The call to cancel the conversions was made by Dayan (religious court judge) Avraham Attia, a member of the Ashdod District Rabbinical Court, and in a ruling by Dayan Avraham Sherman of the Supreme Rabbinical Court.

The petition against the cancellations was filed by the Danish-born woman whose Judaism was rejected by Attia 15 years after she converted, her three children and a long list of women's organizations, including the Center for Women's Justice.

In his response to the petition, which was filed on June 5, Mazuz argued that Attia's decision should have been rejected because of procedural flaws and therefore the Supreme Rabbinical Court should not have heard the appeal or ruled on the matter at all.

This would mean not only that the woman would still be considered a Jew, but that the ruling to nullify the Druckman conversion court decisions would also not have been made.

According to Mazuz, Attia did not give the woman a fair chance to defend herself against his ruling that her conversion was fraudulent because she had not observed halacha.

The case had begun innocently, when the convert and her husband filed for an uncontested divorce. All seemed to be going well during the hearing and Attia was preparing the terms of the divorce when he asked her whether she was observant. The woman replied she was not, not realizing that this could impact on the divorce application.

It did. Soon afterwards, Attia ruled the woman was not Jewish and that therefore the marriage was invalid from the start, and the couple did not need a divorce.

He also ruled that the woman and her children could not marry here for the time being.[...]

Non-Jewish Prostitutes - Torah & Rabbinic prohibitions

shoshi asked in a previous post:

Someone who spent more than 10 years learning in a kollel told me that "there is no issur mideoraita to have sexual intercourse with a non-jewish woman, as long as no one sees it"

He says that only Rambam says that there is an issur mideoraita, but if you do not accept rambam, you can go with non-jewish prostitutes as a religious jew and you do not infringe halacha, except perhaps miderabbanan.

Can you confirm this opinion?
If not: what are the sources?

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To summarize the answer. Contrary what your "former kollel member" told you, it is prohibited on the Doreissa level according to many poskim. Rambam's position is not clear - except he emphasizes that the prohibition in private is rabbinic - but leaves open the question whether the person incurs kares (from tradition). In other words he holds that the Torah prohibitions of "Not to marry non-Jews" and "the zealots can kill them" only applies to public acts or marriage. but possibly holds that private acts are punished by kares (from tradition) which is not a rabbinic punishment but similar to a Torah punishment. On the other hand there are clearly views that do accept that the prohibition is entirely rabbinic and that there is no kares for private acts. It is not clear what the majority position is. Furthemore to say that "you do not infringe halacha, except perhaps miderabbanan" shows a gross ignorance or insensitivity to not only the nature of rabbinic prohibitions but also the seriousness that they - the divinely prescribed guardians and shapers of Judaism - view that matter. Therefore anyone who has any concern for his soul would not engage in such behavior.
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Regarding the question raised as to the prohibition of non-Jewish prostitutes. Here are some sources I have gathered. There is more material - but this should suffice to show that it is not simply a decree made by some rabbis 2000 years ago- but it also involves a Torah prohbition as well as being punishable by kares (known from tradition). The Rabbinic prohibitions are extensively discussed details in Avoda Zara (36b) and Sanhedrin (82a). It doesn't take a great talmid chachom to understand that the matter is viewed as a serious transgression.

Rambam (Hilchos Issurei Bi’ah 12:2): There is only an explicit Torah prohibition of sexual relations with non‑Jews in the context of marriage. However if one fornicated with a non‑Jewess in the manner of zenus – then there is a rabbinical punishment of lashes which was made as a decree to prevent intermarriage. If he had a regular relationship without marrying her than he transgresses the prohibitions of nidda, maidservant, relationship with a non‑Jewess and because of prostitution. If they didn’t have a regular relationship than he is only liable because of relationship with a non‑Jewesss. All these liablities are rabbinic.

Rambam (Hilchos Issurei Bi’ah 12:6): If the man having relations with a non-Jewish woman doesn’t get punished by zealots and doesn’t get lashes from beis din – then the punishment is kares which is known from tradition (Malachi 2:11-12)…We learn from this verse that someone who has sexual relations with a non‑Jewish woman is as if he is married to an idol since this verse describes her the daughter of a strange god and it is described as profaning G‑d’s holiness.

Shulchan Aruch (E.H. 16:1): A Jew who has sexual relations with a non‑Jew in the context of marriage or a Jewish woman who has sexual relations with a non‑Jew receive lashes according to Torah as it says in Devarim (7:3). Others disagree. However some who has sexual relations with a non‑Jew not in the context of marriage and not in a fixed relationship receives lashes according to Rabbinic edict because of idolatry, and prostitution. If they have a fixed relationship than he is liable because of the Rabbinic edict of niddah, maidservant, idolatry and prostitution. If he is a cohen then even if they have a transient relationship then he gets lashes according to the Torah because of prostitution (Vayikra 21:7).

Shulchan Aruch (E.H. 16:2): Concerning someone who has sexual relations with a non‑Jew – if the zealots don’t punish him and he doesn’t get lashes from beis din – then his punishment of kares is stated clearly in the Bible Melachi (2:11-12)….Rema: And this sin has a loss that is not found in other sexual transgressions – the child who results from a relationship with a maidservant or non‑Jewish woman is not his child (Tur citing the Rambam). However if he publicly has sexual relations with a non‑Jew the halacha is that zealots can kill him as is stated in Choshen Mishpat (425). Thus this transgression is included in arayos (sexual transgressions) and one is required to suffer martyrdom rather than transgress it (Yoreh Deah 157).

The Rambam and Shulchan Aruch seem to be saying that fornication with a non‑Jew is only a rabbinic prohibiion. However the (Hilchos Issurei Bi'ah 12:6) of the Rambam raises questions about this. It states that while the prohibition against marriage or the punishment from zealots is only when the relationship is public – he doesn’t say whether the punishment of kares is only for a public act or also for a private act. A similar question occurs in regards to the Shulchan Aruch.

There are a number of poskim who say that fornication even in private would be punishable by kares (learned from tradition. These are found in commentary to E. H. (16:4) include the Avnei Miluim, Beis Shmuel, Derisha, Bach and Chasam Sofer (E.H. 1:93) [see below]. So even for a person who is not bothered by the clearly stated rabbinic prohibition – he should be concerned about kares.

In addition there are those who say that there is an explicit Torah prohibition(Vayikra 18:21).

Targum Yonason (Vayikra 18:21): And don’t give from your seed in sexual intercourse with a daughter of the nations that she beget a child that will pass over to idolatry…

Aruch (Aram): Megila (25a): Whoever says that Vayikra (18:21),”Do not give your seed to Moloch” means you are only prohibited from having sexual relations with an Aramean woman because then your child will be given over to the worship of the god Moloch – which implies that it is permissible with other non‑Jewish women – he is silenced and rebuked. Rather the explanation of the verse is as stated in the braissa cited by the gemora. The school of R’ Yishmael said that this verse is describing someone who has sexual relations with any non‑Jewish woman who gives birth to a [non-Jewish] child who will be for idolatery. That is because there is no difference between the idolatery of Moloch and other idolatry….

Chasam Sofer (E. H. 1:93): The Avnei Miluim wrote that even though a Jew who has relations with a non‑Jewish woman that there is a distinction between in private or in public [for the law of zealots killing them] , nevertheless when a non‑Jew has relations with a Jewish woman there is no such distinction. Futhermore in private there is also kares [when a Jew has sexual relations with a non‑Jewish woman. This is learned from Sanhedrin (82a), Rav was made to read in a dream that G‑d cuts off the man who does this [has relations with a non‑Jewish woman]. Since the view of the Rosh should be maintained the questions arises whether a cohen’s relations with a non‑Jewish woman invalidates his right to serve as a priest as ervah (Torah sexual transgressions) do? This seems to be refuted by the gemora in Yevamos (455a) which states that sexual relations with a non‑Jew or slave do not produce a child with the status of mamzer. That is because mamzer only results from sexual relations with someone classified as ervah or kares. It seems clear from this gemora that even though a Jew having relations with a non‑Jew is punished by death at the hand of zealots and he is liable to the punishment of kares learned from tradition – nevetheless this is not considered ervah. These are the words of the Avnei Milluim. I want to add support to his position. Megila (25a) says that anyone who interprets the verse “Don’t give your seed to pass over to Molech” to mean don’t impregnate a non‑Jewish woman – is silenced and rebuked. Rashi explains that the reason for this is that he is uprooting the true meaning of the verse and is saying incorrectly that one who has relations with a non‑Jewish is liable to kares and that the man is liable to bring a chatos if he does it unwittingly and he is executed by beis din if he does it deliberately after being warned. It can be concluded from this that even though a person is liable to kares for having relations with a non‑Jewish woman in private and can be killed by zealots if he does it openly – nevertheless this relationship is not considered ervah for which there would be execution by the beis din and also a chatos if he did it unwittingly. Thus this is consistent with the proof brought from Yevamos (45a). Consequently the cohen is not invalidated from his priestly duties by sexual relations with a non‑Jewess.

Maharsha (Megila 25a): R’ Yishmael – the verse describes a Jew who had relations with a non‑Jewish woman. According to Rashi it R’ Yishmael is cited in the gemora to describe the mistaken view that the Mishna says is to be silenced. And thus is supporting the view that the verse is referring to idolatery. However according to the Aruch [s.v. Aram] it appears that R’ Yishmael is cited as to the correct view of the verse. The Aruch asserts that the correct understanding of the verse is that it prohibits having sexual relations with a non‑Jew. The Aruch therefore says that the view that the Mishna wants silenced is the assertion that the prohibition of sexual relations applies only the Aramean women who are associated with the idolatry of Molech [when in fact it applies to all non‑Jews]. The view of the Aruch is also relevant according to the understanding of Tosfos Yom Tov…

Tosfos Yom Tov (Megila 4:9): A person who says Vayikra (18:21) prohibits sexual relations with a non‑Jew is silenced and rebuked … I have found in the Aruch (s.v. Aram) that he writes concerning Vayikra (18:21) that it means who ever gives of his seed to the well known people who give their seed to Molech for example the Arameans. That is because you are causing that your descendants be passed over to Molech. This implies that it is permitted concerning other nations who don’t give their children to Molech. Therefore he needs to be silenced and rebuked. Consequently the true explanation of Vayikra (18:21) is as is taught by the School of R’ Yishmael. It refers to a Jew who has sexual relations with a non‑Jewish woman who begets a child which will be given over to idolatry – because there is no difference between Molech and any other type of idolatry. These are the words of the Aruch. Rashi on the other hand says that the gemora cites the School of R’ Yishmael as explaining the view the Mishna says not to have. It would definitely seem that even according to the Aruch the citation of the School of R’ Yishmael is not coming to uproot the meaning of the verse and insist that it is saying the a person who has sexual relations with a non‑Jews is punished with cares… The understanding of the Aruch is supported by the Targum Yonason which says “Don’t give of your seed in sexual relations to a non‑Jewish woman who will beget a child for idolatry.”…