The conversion crisis in Israel

The conversion problem could be solved very simply if someone would remind the haredim of two things. One, that the Knesset is not a halachic body. The Knesset’s definition of a Jew is a political definition for the purposes of the Law of Return. It is, simply, if you are considered a Jew in your country of origin, you will be considered a Jew for the purposes of the Law of Return. In other words, if Hitler would kill you, the Jewish state will take you in.

Second, the haredim must be reminded that never since the Maccabees have rabbis turned to the police power of the state to enforce their interpretation of halacha. The powers of the rabbi rested in his persuasive ability, and, in rare cases, the communal cherem [ostracism], most famously used for Spinoza and Mordechai Kaplan. 

In regard to converts, no one would ever dream of telling a haredi rabbi that he must recognize any conversion that does not meet his halachic standards. But at the same time, the haredi rabbi cannot use the power of the state to enforce his halachic interpretation on those who differ in halachic conclusions. So any rabbi can perform marriages, as he feels is halachically appropriate. 

An invitation to chaos? Not really. It works in America. Every rabbi can choose to marry or bury as each sees halachically appropriate. The rabbi may want to investigate the family tree. That is entirely appropriate. But, as has been the case since Hillel and Shammai, some rabbis will be stringent and some will be lenient, and the world will continue. 

I am going on Aliyah in a few days, and this blog will be my forum. I will talk about Israel, the United States, politics, religion, sports and anything else that crosses my mind.

As the title of the blog implies, I will spend a great amount of time dealing with religion. Which is as it should be, as religion, or lack thereof, is fundamental to our lives. But religion must correspond to reality. The Catholic church is still living down it's trial of Galileo, where the position of the Church was that the earth stood motionless  at the center of the universe. Galileo, who maintained that the earth moved around the sun, was forced to recant. Legend has him whispering under his breath as he left the hearing, "but still it moves."

The Torah is truth. When facts dispute our understanding of the Torah, our understanding must change to acknowledge the facts. We don't have to apologize for God, or lie in his behalf. It was Job who God acknowledged as being correct in his dispute with his friends, despite the friends giving the best theological apologies for Job's suffering. The facts were on Job's side.

When the RCA, in its majority opinion, disputes 99.5% of the doctors, in proclaiming that cardiac death, rather than brain death is the standard, they bring the Torah into odium. When they rule that one can receive a heart transplant but not donate one's heart,  they bring the entire Orthodox world into disrepute. And when they cite the Rambam, (Maimonides) who, citing Galen, talks about the liver as equally important with the heart and the brain, they make the Torah into an object of ridicule. 

Halachah is a path. It can be a wide path, but it must lead into reality. There is an old joke about the Rabbi who was asked for instructions on how to build a sukkah. The Rabbi referred him to the gemarah, the man came back to the Rabbi and complained that he followed the gemarah but the sukkah collapsed. The Rabbi answered "Tosfos (medieval French exegetes) asks that question!" We are not interested in sukkahs that collapse, nor are we interested in halachah based on outdated medieval science. Halachah must relate to this world, and that is why I am Unorthodox Orthodoxy.

DW