The conversion war: A conflict of values
See part one here.
According to one school of thought, one should convert a person to Judaism only if that person is a true believer and is willing to accept and observe all of the mitzvot (commandments).
According to other perspectives, other factors may enter into the equation. Is preserving the Jewish people so important that it's preferable to convert a person and hope that that person will be observant than to stand by while a Jew marries a non-Jew? Is maintaining the Jewish character of the Jewish State so important that it's preferable to convert a half-Jew, there being so many ex-Soviet Israeli citizens with Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers (a person's religious identity being defined, according to halachah/Jewish religious law, by the religion of the mother), and hope that that person will be observant, than to stand by while the Jewish character of the State of Israel becomes questionable?
The previous paragraph may have been a bit simplistic. After all, we do want conversion to have some meaning. But what "entrance requirements" should the Jewish People enforce? What are our priorities? I think that's the real question behind the current conversion crisis.
If the answers aren't easy for those of us who are laypersons, imagine how difficult they are for those actually entrusted with performing conversions. But I would like to think that more Orthodox rabbis and rabbinical students are, at least, asking questions like this one.
According to one school of thought, one should convert a person to Judaism only if that person is a true believer and is willing to accept and observe all of the mitzvot (commandments).
According to other perspectives, other factors may enter into the equation. Is preserving the Jewish people so important that it's preferable to convert a person and hope that that person will be observant than to stand by while a Jew marries a non-Jew? Is maintaining the Jewish character of the Jewish State so important that it's preferable to convert a half-Jew, there being so many ex-Soviet Israeli citizens with Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers (a person's religious identity being defined, according to halachah/Jewish religious law, by the religion of the mother), and hope that that person will be observant, than to stand by while the Jewish character of the State of Israel becomes questionable?
The previous paragraph may have been a bit simplistic. After all, we do want conversion to have some meaning. But what "entrance requirements" should the Jewish People enforce? What are our priorities? I think that's the real question behind the current conversion crisis.
If the answers aren't easy for those of us who are laypersons, imagine how difficult they are for those actually entrusted with performing conversions. But I would like to think that more Orthodox rabbis and rabbinical students are, at least, asking questions like this one.
posted by Shira Salamone at 12:58 PM
2 Comments:
One rabbi I know put it like this. "I'm not meikil on conversions--I'm makpid against intermarriage."
In any case, the way conversions are being handled are simply atrocious. I don't see a justification of treating any *human being*--let alone a potential convert--in the rude and callous manners I have observed and heard of.
"I'm not meikil on conversions--I'm makpid against intermarriage." Sounds like my kind of rabbi.
I'm with you on this: I would think that it would be incumbent upon any rabbi--and any Jew--to treat a potential convert with the respect due to any of G-d's creations (kavod ha-b'riyot),
Post a Comment
<< Home