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No more conversion By Avirama Golan Tags: Israel, Haredim About a week ago, Channel 1's "Mabat Sheni" (A Second Look) aired Michal Kapra's report about three soldiers who were among the recipients of a tzalash (a citation for bravery in combat) for their behavior during the Second Lebanon War. The three, natives of the Commonwealth of Independent States, immigrated to Israel with their families, but have not yet completed the conversion process. To be less politically correct, they are "Russians" rather than Jews. Recently, the prime minister's bureau promised to ease the conversion process of the approximately 300,000 new immigrants who are not Jews according to halakha (religious law). A nice promise, which is encountering an opposite trend in the religious establishment. The Hardal (ultra-Orthodox nationalist) rabbis make things difficult for the converts, keep track of their families in order to ensure that they are observing religious law and force them to send their children to religious kindergartens. There is no end to the absurd regulations they invent. For example, the husband of a woman convert is not allowed to come near his wife for three months, as the rabbis say they must be certain that she did not become pregnant while waiting for approval of her conversion. Otherwise it is impossible to know whether the child will be a non-Jew who requires conversion, or a Jew. Advertisement One could presumably expect the prime minister's bureau to operate with determination in order to ease the conversion process. In fact, anyone following the developments on the issue of conversion since the beginning of the major immigration from the former Soviet Union (FSU) knows that there is no chance of that. The Ne'eman Committee, the Conversion Administration, Israel Defense Forces conversions and Na'aleh (a program for immigrant high-school students) conversions - none of them has succeeded in rescuing conversion from strangulation. Why do the "Russians" need conversion at all? Those in favor of conversion claim that since the immigrants came to Israel by dint of their connection to Judaism, and are interested in joining the Jewish nation, they should be allowed to be defined as a "Jew" in their ID cards. Even people who are totally secular are convinced that otherwise it will be difficult to establish the definition of Jewish nationality in Israel. Moreover, they cite studies that prove that non-Jewish youth suffer from a feeling of alienation and occasionally even descend into crime. It is true that the rejected youth should be made welcome. But Israel is a country of immigration, and immigrants in every country suffer from various levels of alienation and rejection, until most of them merge into the central stream. The immigrants from the FSU have outstanding human resources for accelerating this process. The desire to solve every type of social ostracism by religious means has already proven to be a bitter mistake. Many Jews of North African or Middle Eastern origin who were afraid that the veteran Ashkenazim confuse them with Arabs, and see them as citizens of the lowest type, have been swept up in the Shas-led process of returning to religion, so that they could define themselves as more Jewish. And thus, instead of a culturally enriching process of integration, an anti-civic, sectoral mentality has been created, which encourages withdrawal from society and delays integration. It is hard to understand why so many Israelis are making the mistake of identifying religion with nationality, in accordance with the philosophy of the religious right. Israel is the home of every Jew, whether he observes mitzvot or rejects them. Anyone who has been discriminated against because of his Jewishness has a right to have the gates of this country opened to him, without anyone checking his religious credentials. In retrospect, the immigrants are gradually being absorbed into society, but in addition to the usual problems that cause immigrants to feel excluded and which are supposed to become blurred over time - the study of the language and absorption at work - and in spite of the military service that in Israel offers a unique route for mobility, the religious-Orthodox barrier is causing this normal process to fail. It prevents people from getting married, marks their children as "other," buries them outside the fence and defines them as "without religion" or "Christians." Because of it, they consider themselves second-class citizens even if they received a tzalash and excelled at work and studies. The problem is not only that of the "Russians." As long as Israeli society is not liberated from the religious establishment, it will find it difficult to pave the way for a renewed definition of the meaning of Jewish existence in a sovereign state. The time has come to give up on conversion, to erase the slot for "nationality" in the ID card and to legalize civil marriage for all. The key to nationality must finally be expropriated from the ultra-Orthodox nationalist gatekeepers. Bookmark to del.icio.us   And the winner is Haaretz's Gideon Levy wins prize for cultural dialogue. The Amona syndrome Gov't fears it will pay the public price of removing outposts.   1.   Conversion 10:40  |  Jonathan 16/01/08   2.   Cumulative compromises throughout the history of the state 12:01  |  Rowan Berkeley 16/01/08   3.   Non -conversion - Civil marriage 12:27  |  Avi Yerushalmi 16/01/08   4.   C`mon, seculars, take over the state 12:28  |  Shmuel 16/01/08   5.   yes judaism is absurd 12:57  |  Another Jew 16/01/08   6.   the vanishing minority- secularists 12:59  |  Alex Levy 16/01/08   7.   Avirama Golan you would not know Judaism if you feel over it 13:05  |  Steven 16/01/08   8.   Rowan Berkeley = ignorant person 13:17  |  Steven 16/01/08   9.   anti halacha or anti rabbi? 13:31  |  avi 16/01/08   10.   slot for nationality on ID already erased 13:36  |  Yael 16/01/08   11.   Defeating the Purpose 14:18  |  Eric 16/01/08   12.   avi 3 14:28  |  realism 16/01/08   13.   #10 so what 14:28  |  tamar 16/01/08   14.   no more conversion -- right on 14:35  |  Shosh Schumacher 16/01/08   15.   This isn`t about conversion 14:44  |  ora 16/01/08   16.   conversion 14:51  |  Alan 16/01/08   17.   Avirama, you`re ignorant 15:16  |  Avi 16/01/08   18.   Realism #12 15:25  |  Avi Yerushalmi 16/01/08   19.   Fortunately, More Jews are seeing the emptiness of the secular 15:44  |  Norman 16/01/08   20.   Jewish or Judaist? 15:55  |  Velvl Shmerlson 16/01/08   21.   why israel? 16:04  |  yakov 16/01/08   22.   Mr. Golem, where are your standards? 16:07  |  sptz 16/01/08   23.   Is there is no such thing as a Jew? 16:13  |  Tziporah Heller 16/01/08   24.   Conversion/Jewish state 16:16  |  Mayer 16/01/08   25.   conversion 16:16  |  scanadu 16/01/08   26.   this is not religion 17:13  |  rebeca 16/01/08   27.   Tolerance 17:52  |  Dan Chazan 16/01/08   28.   Why they want to be Jewish? 17:52  |  Isaac 16/01/08   29.   avi 18 18:05  |  realism 16/01/08   30.   tziporah heller 23 18:11  |  realism 16/01/08   31.   Just another goy . 18:22  |  Adrian 16/01/08   32.   Judaism isn"t Marxism 18:35  |  Garry 16/01/08   33.   To # sptz # 19:34  |  Rickie 16/01/08   34.   conversion issue 19:35  |  JMS 16/01/08   35.   Ms Golan requires conversion 19:51  |  D Hirod 16/01/08   36.   No more conversion 19:59  |  Ilana Benmayor 16/01/08   37.   Hung by her own petard 19:59  |  D Hirod 16/01/08   38.   FACE THE REALITY 20:08  |  AVI 16/01/08   39.   look at it from the other side.... 20:47  |  a convert myself 16/01/08   40.   The lost tribes; The Marranos; The Cripto-jews 21:37  |  Canadian Jew 16/01/08   41.   Who is a Jew...and when 21:59  |  David 16/01/08   42.   no conversions 22:15  |  bear 16/01/08   43.   REBBECA NEEDS CHAVEZ AS A PSYCHIATRIST. 22:17  |  ALP 16/01/08   44.   The lost tribes; The Marranos; The Cripto-jews 22:20  |  Canadian Jew 16/01/08   45.   Minimum standards 22:27  |  Ben Azai 16/01/08   46.   conversion is too strict 22:54  |  Sari 16/01/08   47.   Realism #29 22:57  |  Avi Yerushalmi 16/01/08   48.   No more conversion 23:12  |  Nechama Hadari 16/01/08   49.   Castigating the religious Jew. 00:40  |  EGW 17/01/08   50.   No more conversion 00:41  |  Abraham Paz 17/01/08   51.   Without Religion the Definition of "Jewish" 01:02  |  ARTH 17/01/08   52.   #9 02:13  |  A.M. 17/01/08   53.   44. The lost tribes; The Marranos; The Cripto-jews 02:22  |  Daniel 17/01/08

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