A letter to the Jerusalem Post‘s Aliyah expert confirms my worst fears about the state of Modern Orthodox conversion and relations with the Israeli rabbinate. “Q: I recently converted in the United States via a modern orthodox rabbi. Although both my husband (who is Jewish) and I would love to live in Israel, I am… Continue reading Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
The latest article on conversion in the Jerusalem Post offers that Conversion must be taken out of haredi hands, officials say. Make no mistake, this isn’t an argument for secular conversions. The officials cited in the article hope that more moderate Orthodox rabbis can take control of conversion from haredi (ultra-Orthodox) rabbis who demand converts… Continue reading The Orthodox Wars
ITIM head Seth Farber This article in Haaretz, Jewish Agency resolutions ire liberals, conservatives, piggybacks onto a recent article about recent Jewish Agency resolutions on conversion. This article interviews some of the major players involved in this age-old battle between liberals and conservatives. “Kariv, the Reform rabbi, responded to this by saying that Ne’eman, despite… Continue reading Making Conversions More Accessible?
Alysa Stanton I spotted Rabbinical Student on her way to make history on someone else’s blog. It profiles convert Alysa Stanton who had an Orthodox conversion but found herself more at home in Reform Judaism. “[A Reform congregation] tends to be more welcoming to those who are not born Jewish,” the blogpost quotes. Stanton is… Continue reading She’s a rabbi!
In the Jerusalem Post article, Rabbis stunt Europe’s Jewish growth, rabbis from all over Europe discuss the problems they face when converting non-Jews to Judaism. The article talks about the lack of Jewish infrastructure in certain areas of Europe as well as the Israeli rabbinate’s attempts to control conversion worldwide. “Former French chief rabbi Joseph… Continue reading Europe’s Jewish Growth
While (some) Americans have been celebrating the win of Democract Barack Obama over Republican John McCain here at home, parts of Jerusalem are celebrating their new mayor according to the NY Times article, Secular Defeats Ultra-Orthodox in Jerusalem. While Palestinians boycotted the elections, Jews of all stripes fought along the secular-Orthodox divide. Though my experience… Continue reading Secular vs. Ultra-Orthodox
Conversion in the News: A Common-sense proposal on conversion finds The Jewish Chronicle’s Simon Rocker pondering the lack of “common sense” in the current conversion climate. A quick quote: “And what is significant is this. In his experience, 90 per cent of those who completed the conversion process, Rabbi Lau said, were not “shomer mitzvot”,… Continue reading Common sense and conversion?
Ivanka Trump and I share the same conversion rabbi. What does it all mean? These and other things I spotted on Page 6.
The Jerusalem Post posits that Portuondo-Wilson may be the first Orthodox rabbi in history to be denied aliya. I finally figured out how to use Google Alerts and now I have it ferreting out any news on Jewish conversion. Meanwhile, here are two articles I meant to post sooner from the Jerusalem Post: Orthodox convert… Continue reading Accepted Everywhere
We’re in Los Angeles for my husband’s internship at a local synagogue. And as a perk, we get to spend time with the family. Yay, family? My mother-in-law reminded me of a little known family fact at the last Sukkot meal. Converts usually face a lot of obstacles in family harmony when they decide to… Continue reading It’s all in the family
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 