Being a convert and Shabbos songs #6
There's a controversy a brewin'!
As most people in Israel have heard; the Supreme Rabbinical Court ruled that all of the “conversions performed since 1999 by Rabbi Chaim Avior and Rabbi Chaim Drukman, who heads the Israeli Conversion Court, must be disqualified.” Besides the upsetting implications for me, something that I hope I won't have to grapple with but realize is a possibility, I am upset at how the issue has been framed as a "chareidi vs dati" struggle. I've been reading some of the writings of Rav. Samson Rafael Hirsch lately, and while the various parts of religious society here in Israel don't see exactly eye to eye I hope and pray that we won't inflame these "small" issues till they seem as wide as the gulf separating the haskala from Torah Judaism. What is lacking in the argument between the two groups however is a metargeim, someone who can explain the issues in a manner that will allow understanding between the national religious and the plain religious.
One of the facts missing from much of the discussion is that the whistleblower on the special conversion court is Rabbi Yisrael Rosen, head of Machon Tzomet a tzioni institution. His concerns about Rabbi Drukman's testifying that he sat on beis dins that he wasn't present for was ruled inconsequential by a secular court, but the issue was never decided religiously.
The other thing that frustrates me is that few of the people that are up in arms about the annulling of the conversions have read the psak, so I'll do my part:
Anyway, I'm frustrated that there aren't objective standards for conversion that will allow converts in one place to be sure that they will be recognized everywhere they go. My other frustration is that this squabble will only increase the calls for having conversion taken out of the hands of the rabbinate, which will only add to the question: "Who is a Jew?"
This erev Shabbos Song is by Eef Barzelay, a Israeli born alt-country singer and my current fave.
Jose Gonzales - Teardrop
Labels: conversion, music, Shabbos songs
