Are you Jewish? Can you prove it? ”Rabbinate refuses to marry Jewish couple over adoption suspicion” It won’t be just converts having to show their papers anymore. Do you have your certificate of Jewishness handy? Orthodox Women Rabbis? ”Between a rav and a hard place” Profile on Rabbi Avi Weiss wonders whether or not the rav has… Continue reading News of Note
Post-Racial Rabbis. An article from Moment Magazine on African-American rabbis (though strikingly, no Orthodox rabbis despite the fact that there definitely are African-American Orthodox rabbis) meant to highlight Jewish diversity might only compound common beliefs held about non-Orthodox movements and converts. Um, when do we get to see an article about Latino rabbis? Alright, probably never, I… Continue reading Post-Racial Rabbis…Or Not?
All Jews are white or Eastern European. (And eat kugel and gefilte fish and cholent every Shabbat because otherwise, they wouldn’t REALLY be Jewish.) Jews don’t welcome converts. (Is this a myth? Alright, in some communities it is. But in others, as we’ve seen in Israel and South America, it’s a fact. A sad, sad,… Continue reading Jewish Myths
Whether or not, you love it or hate it, The Jerusalem Post claims Judaism is getting in touch with its feminine side. You’ve heard my spiel before in previous posts about whether or not I would call myself a feminist, much less a Jewish feminist. And here is a redux. In short, I grew up… Continue reading The softer side of Judaism
Rabbi who? what? where? and why? A soundbite from “Mixed-married couples and interfaith couples are a fact of Diaspora Jewish life”: “That a Jew chooses to marry someone who is not Jewish, even if a conversion takes place, is a clear indication that the Jew already has one foot out the Jewish door.” Yeah, that’s… Continue reading Don’t marry non-Jews or converts!
Rabbi Avraham Sherman, one of Jewcy‘s “Haredi’s Most Wanted: The 5 Worst Offenders”, has the magical power to turn non-Jews into Jews and back to non-Jews to Jews to non-Jews. Oy, I’m confused, are you? “No one will be willing to go through the trouble of converting if there is a real fear that, sometime… Continue reading Conversion News Roundup: Keeping you informed or scared out of your mind?
You might have noticed that when you comment on my blog posts, it does not go into moderation. This is because, for the most part unless something is truly vile, I have let people share their thoughts, disagreeable or otherwise, on my blog. I read each and every comment though I do not, cannot, respond… Continue reading Commenting on my blog
I love Israel and yet, I have absolutely no desire to make aliyah, to immigrate there. Maybe that’s because I know that as a convert, my conversion would become suspect immediately if I showed any desire to move to Israel. Because when born Jews decide to move to Israel, they’re reconnecting with the faith by… Continue reading The Continuing Plight of Converts
If you’re dating a prospective convert in Israel, then you better be able to to prove your Jewishness. A new regulation put into place by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel creates more bureaucratic difficulties for converts according to Rabbi Seth Farber of ITIM. While this is a new regulation, this is nothing new in the… Continue reading Making it harder for converts, one regulation at a time.
PBS talked to some prominent American Jews (including Rabbi Avi Weiss) about their relationship to Israel. “Rabbi Avi Weiss, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, New York: America is my home. I’m grateful to the US forever and ever. Israel is my homeland and that’s where my family lives, literally and figuratively. When I think about existentially… Continue reading American Jews Talk Israel
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 