The Danger of Reform Conversions

Dearest Chaviva,

I normally shun these public Internet discussions as more often than not someone ends up being offend or hurt by the opinions expressed, to witness your comment:

“To say, in sum, that I am part of a religion that is in no way Judaism.
That I am living in a religion that is, in essence, one big fat sin.”

Out of respect for your willingness to exchange understandings I ‘ll respond to your request for clarification. I prefer to approach the issue indirectly, and not on a personal level. Your personal choices in life are just that. I respect them even if I might personally think you are making a mistake. The real issue is not on the personal level, but the Klal Israel (Collective of the Jewish People) level.

If conversions that do not adhere to the standards and criteria that have been the norm for the Jewish People these past two millennium were to be recognized by the State of Israel, the very fabric of our society here in Israel would disintegrate.

Think about it Chaviva. Up until today the “status quo” in effect in Israel is that we all agree to respect the individual’s choice in their private lives, but in the public life we seek the highest common denominator that will permit everyone to be full members of the Jewish collective. That means all Jews can intermarry. That means that all Jews can serve together side-by-side in the Israeli Defense Forces, eat the same food, observe the same basic standards of public observance, Shabbat, Pesach etc. More importantly tens of thousands of idealistic men are willing to place their lives on the line day-after-day to protect their fellow Jews who are threatened only because they want to live Jewish lives in the Land of Israel.

Introducing America’s pluralistic recognition of everybody’s interpretation of what it means to be a Jew would fragment Israeli society. It would create a situation where Reform Judaism and Torah Observant Judaism would be as valid a ‘definition’ of Judaism as those perversions of Judaism like the ‘Messianic Jews’ or ‘Jewish Jehovah Witnesses’. You have to understand that my children could not marry your children. More over I foresee a day where many idealistic Jews will think twice before they are willing to place their lives on the line to defend the ‘civil rights’ of non-Jews who stand for values and norms antithetical to everything that traditional Judaism stands for. Why bother. These same ‘civil rights’ can be enjoyed elsewhere in the world without having to place your life and the lives of your sons at risk.

As for the remark you made:

“To say, in sum, that I am part of a religion that is in no way Judaism.
That I am living in a religion that is, in essence, one big fat sin.”

If anything, you should direct your anger to those people who convinced you that by ‘converting’ according to their conventions and standards you would become a ‘Jew’ instead of a member of a breakaway schismatic sect that calls itself Judaism. Believe me, I truly identify with your feelings for I too was there once. I originally converted according to the Reform movement and only gradually over years, and much book learning, came to realize that it did not reflect in anyway, except empty form, the concept of Judaism as embodied in two millennium of recorded Jewish learning.

If Judaism originates from some form of divine revelation, then it is a package deal. Succoth with its quaint booths and four-kinds is as integral a part as the prohibition against marrying a mamzar, the fruit of an adulterous union, even though the child did not sin. It isn’t some sort of ala Carte menu of what feels good and makes sense but what doesn’t feel good or is incomprehensible is rejected. Does a cancer patient truly understand the intricacies of treatments developed by hundreds of doctors and scientists over decades of research? Of course not, but at some point he makes a decision to undergo the treatment based upon a faith that they collectively know what they are doing.

Can’t you see the arrogance of deciding whether to lay tefillin each morning or avoid eating milk after meat. Yet the intricacies involved in defining these ‘practices’ if divinely inspired, are far beyond the ability of the human intellect to understand.

Chaviva, please accept my sincerest wishes that you find what you are looking for. It was my never my intention to offend or hurt anyone individually although there was no doubt that my opinion of Reform Judaism would never be desirable to those who travel that path. That is why I tried to help you rise above the individual and see what this direction means to the future of the Jewish People as a collective.

If you (or others) would like to continue this discussion, please direct your comments to Yoel@Ben-Avraha.info This will be my last public post here, and probably anywhere on this issue. It simply does not seem to be a productive exchange. One should be able to express oneself openly without being perceived as 'attacking' others. You should be able to 'attack' ideas without being misrepresented as attacking the individuals who currently espouse those ideas.

Wishing all of you a Chanukah full of Light, the true light of Torah.

Yoel Ben-Avraham
Shilo, Benyamin, Israel

Peversions of Nationalism

“Every nationalist is haunted by the belief that the past can be altered,” George Orwell wrote in his landmark 1945 essay Notes on Nationalism. “He spends part of his time in a fantasy world in which things happen as they should. It is difficult to feel that the people responsible are merely lying. More probably they feel that their own version was what happened in the sight of God, and that one is justified in rearranging the records accordingly.”

A powerful and insightful description of people and movements that want to rewrite history to meet their own aspirations, instead of facing the reality of the present to create a better world.

From the mouth of babes

See this short video interview by Arutz 7 TV, of Hanan, Yaakov's younger son. Hanan died in a qasam attack earlier this week.
http://www.inn.co.il/News/News.aspx/156651

The interview is in Hebrew but even those who do not speak the language should view it.

For a short summary of the interview:

Hanan (who seems to be around 11 years old), says he did not imagine such a thing would happen. "Without Abba (my father) I have no life" , he says.

Then Hanan is asked whether he wants to continue to live in Sderot. His answer is categorical: "Yes! If I and my family would leave Sderot, this would be the end of the country. I love the State of Israel very much and if Sderot would be dismantled, this would be the end of the country. If the Hamas would see that they succeeded in Sderot, they will do it in the entire country...
Ashkelon, Ashdod...everywhere

. All the Jews will be dispersed; where will they go? Everywhere Jews are hated....

Then the interviewer asks Hanan what he would tell the Prime Minister if he would come to his house: "I don't want to talk to him nor see him. I would kick him out of my house. I would throw stones at him."

"The same about Amir Peretz. If he really cared about Sderot, he would know what to do, but he doesn't."

The camera then turns to show how some roofs of some schools in Sderot are being covered by steel to try and protect the children, while the interviewer points out that this is obviously not what needs to be done to protect Sderot.

Then we see Hanan again who passionately turns to Olmert and Peretz and urges them to declare they cannot deal with the situation and therfore must resign. "Resign and let Bibi Netanyahu and Lieberman take your place. Resign, resign... I Hanan, son of Yaakov, TURN to you and urge you: RESIGN!! FAST!

In one word- this videoclip is a must see.
A little boy, who says it better than any adult.

End of Palestinian Refugee Problem

Adwan wondered how Jordan was able to contain 600,000 Iraqis but refuse to allow 280 Palestinians from staying on its territories.

The People's Daily Newspaper out of Beijing in the People's Republic of China, reports that the Palestinian leadership is very upset with the Arab country of Jordan. The telling fact in the short excerpt (click the post title to read the entire article) is that Jordan had no qualms about accepting 600,000 Iraqian Arabs. Under normal circumstances you'd think that is you've already accepted more than half a million refugees, whats another 280! Right?

Wrong! Not when they are Palestinians! No Arab government interested in stability and calm would accept Palestinians. Maybe the best answer is exactly what Abbas is evidently concerned about!

He appealed to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to intervene and ask Jordan not to displace the Palestinian refugees for fears that this step could be the beginning of ending the Palestinian refugees issue by transferring them to some countries and canceling their right of return to Palestine.

Whenever someone starts up the Palestinian Transfer Fund let me know, I'll make the first donation!

Yet another contributor to my thesis, Imad Saladin, writer and researcher Solidarity International Foundation for Human Rights as published in Palestine News Oct 17th, 2006 (in translation via Google):

We have warned and others in more than one location and [other] article[s] about the dangers of dissipating the Palestinian refugee diaspora, since this will negatively impact on the fabric of their unity ... It is not evidenced by the clear position of all the levels and orientations of the Palestinian people when they all insisted, in coordination with the Lebanese government ... the need for the Palestinian refugees to accept a reduction of their civil, social [rights], and we have made clear to the Lebanese government at the time that the enjoyment of those rights to those relating to resettlement, that the abridgement of the rights of refugees and civil service[s], and those who were already suffering from it although less frequently today after the agreement with the Lebanese government. These will lead to migration to other European countries and therefore as a result of this disruption to the bloc refugees in Lebanon and the resulting in the end of the negative impact on their right to their homes and property.

Yes Imad , people who have real lives aren't interested in rotting their lives away dreaming about something that hasn't existed for sixty years (if it ever existed even then!)

Unacceptable Conversions

There is an ongoing debate in Israel over the various programs to convert the tens of thousands of non-Jews who moved to Israel over the past decade. The following are some of my thoughts on the issue:

Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate of Kedushim
Chapter 4, Halacha 1

He who converts for love, whether it be a man for a woman or a woman for a man; also converts of the kings table(1) and converts of the lions(2); also the converts of Mordechai and Esther(3): we do not accept them [any of the above]. Rav says, "they are converts and we do not reject them like we reject non-Jews who ask to convert(4), instead we accept them and they need a welcoming face [cause] maybe they converted for the right reasons".

1. This appears to be the kind of utilitarian conversion we see today on the basketball or soccer court.
2. Traditionally these were the non-Jews settled in the Land of Israel in place of the ten tribes. The tradition says that due to fear of the lions of the land these peoples adopted Jewish custom and practice.
3. When the Jews of Persia destroyed their enemies and gained ascendance in the royal court, many people wanted to join "the winners".
4. When a non-Jew approaches a Rabbinic Court and asks to be accepted as a convert, the court does everything to convince the candidate that it really is not advantageous to convert. Traditionally twice the candidate is turned away empty handed, and only if they persist and return a third time are their motives and understandings evaluated and the merits of their request judged.

The problem of accepting converts is whether they want to convert for "the sake of heaven" or for some utilitarian purposes. Chazal seem to be aware that at different times, for different reasons, people could see the adoptation of a "Jewish" lifestyle as an improvement over their original circumstances, either as individuals or as collectives - and not because they see "entering the convenant" as a way of "cleaving to HaShem".

In my mind the issue is similar to the questions of "love". Chazal are willing to accept a convert who is motivated by "love of HaShem". HaShem is something constant, immutable. The love of woman (or man) is not.

Mishna, Order of Nezekim
Tractate of Avot, Chapter 5, Mishna 15

Every love which is dependent upon something, [if] that something ceases to be, the loves ceases to be. Which is a love which is dependent upon something - for instances the love of Amnon and Tamar. [A love] which is independent of something, for instance the love of David and Yohonatan.

A love which is conditional upon some outside or material circumstance is a love which, as demonstrated in Amnon's instance (Shmuel II, Chapter 13), can turn to hate when the circumstances change.

On one hand, how can we accept candidates for conversion who obviously have "ulterior motives" for wanting to convert? But on the other, how can men decide what are the motivations of another man?

Deeds Speak!

In this sense it looks like Rav's very liberal approach accepts the fact that someone who has already undergone a "conversion" process is different than someone who has yet to publicly accepted upon themselves to live as a Jew. Once they have made a commitment we should look upon them as sincere and worthy converts [regardless of why they converted], providing them the acceptance, warmth and support they need to complete the transition of "becoming Jews".

I question whether those non-Jews who have moved to Israel and have made the commitment to live with this People Israel in the Land of Israel aren't any different than the "converts" Rav suggests we accept. Some where in my heart and mind, the decision to serve in the Israeli army, to place their lives on-the-line to protect the People of Israel who live in the Land of Israel, is as firm a commitment to Judaism, if not more, than the full-time scholar "cleaving to HaShem" through his learning of Torah. The former is expressing his decision in a "misirat nefesh" (willingness to self-sacrifice) that places their entire material existence at stake. What greater proof of dedication could be asked of a potential convert?

As a result I think the young men who participate in the conversion process during or after their military service should be viewed as worthy candidates for whom their decision to convert has been "proven" by their willingness to serve.