tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382635099156893364.post3146630766464753349..comments2023-10-07T02:21:49.061-07:00Comments on Israel Jewish News: Should I Pray Today?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04644518523952793214noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3382635099156893364.post-24270958519336197802008-06-12T12:10:00.000-07:002008-06-12T12:10:00.000-07:00Powerful article. One thing struck me though. (Bac...Powerful article. One thing struck me though. (Background: Yesterday my friend, a more G-d fearing, tzanua, aishet chayil than I, told me that while I was fretting about whether the secular Israeli government was going to uproot my mishpacha from the suburbs of Jerusalem, she was waking up, saying Modah Ani, and oh, am I actually still Jewish today according to the RELIGIOUS Israeli batei din. She sent me to blogs to catch up.) <BR/><BR/>I said to my husband just before reading your blog that I hoped the Orthodox got the message this time because: When they came for the American Conservative converts, I said good; they aren't halachic. And when they came for Blu Greenberg I said good; she's a rabble rouser and not really Orthodox. And when they came for my rabbi . . . "<BR/><BR/>I believe the silence started back when Who is a Jew? first became an international issue and that rabbis worried about appearing less Orthodox started down the path of being less halachic, less courageous, less true to HaShem.<BR/><BR/>The only way for the modern conversion industry, and it is one, to remain within halacha as a whole is to separate from the State. Each community of Jews follows the authority of their rabbeinim; each meta-community follows the gadolim; and each individual decides whether a potential marriage partner meets their standards of religious behavior and intent. Then you have not two classes - born Jews and gerim - but a spectrum of observance and knowledge with "One law" (whether followed or not) for One people under One G-d as the Torah commands.<BR/><BR/>The rabbis have placed so many fences around fences in this area that there is simply no way even a non Orthodox convert who sincerely wishes "your people are my people and your G-d my G-d" is not a Jew min haTorah, whereas to invalid conversions or leaving gerim in limbo violates countless Torah prohibitions. A ger is a Jew. A Jew changes and learns and strives and stumbles and grows and does tshuvah. <BR/><BR/>My friend continues her faith in HaShem but long ago lost faith in the state of Israel due to the so-called religious authorities there and now has lost faith in American Orthodoxy. Their attempt to "stem the tide" toward liberalism has been about as effective as the secular attempt to give up land for peace. Considering that we Jews were exiled for our treatment of our fellow Jews, this may not be a coincidence.<BR/><BR/>Aviva Naomiaviva naomihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00238892557153301252noreply@blogger.com