A comment on ADDeRabbi
That reminds me of the guy who told me that we must bring as many [non jews] from Russia as possible. Why? So that they can help make war against the Arabs. And why do you want to make war against the Arabs, I asked him. Guess the answer: so that we can have a Jewish state. Isn't that pretty backward too?
Then again, they can't be worse than the people that we have building our roads and laying our train tracks. Yimach Shemo
Random "peace process" fact:
A look at Israeli-Lebanese prisoner swaps:
• July 16, 2008: Israel frees five militants and begins returning 199 bodies of dead Lebanese and Palestinian fighters in return for remains of two Israeli soldiers held by Hezbollah
• 2004: Hezbollah exchanges Israeli civilian and bodies of three Israeli soldiers for Israel's release of 436 Arab prisoners and bodies of 59 Lebanese fighters.
• 1996: Israel frees 65 Lebanese prisoners to get back bodies of two soldiers lost in fighting in Lebanon.
• 1991: Israel trades 51 Lebanese prisoners for evidence confirming death of Israeli soldier in Lebanon.
• 1985: Three Israeli soldiers held by Lebanese guerillas are returned in exchange for Israel freeing 1,150 Arab prisoners, almost all of them Palestinians.
• 1983: Israel swaps 4,600 Palestinian and Lebanese captives for six Israeli soldiers captured in Lebanon.
I'm not counting but why is Israel in the business of trading people for bodies?
Labels: conversion, Israel, russia
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:
In English In Hebrew
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
