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Last update - 11:32 28/05/2008 All-out confrontation By Yair Sheleg Tags: Religious Zionism  The conversion scandal, which has been pushed out of the limelight by the investigation of Ehud Olmert and the negotiations with Syria, is an event of no less importance. The issue of conversion entails the eternal question - what is the nature of Jewish identity and who has the keys to it? Not surprisingly, the ultra-Orthodox rabbis are determined to take on the entire world on the matter. It expresses the essence of their outlook, that Jewish identity is solely a religious matter, and that the criteria for joining Judaism must include full acceptance of the burden of the religious precepts. For religious Zionism, too, this is a historic crossroads. From here, it can take off in anticipation of renewed recognition of its importance - or land finally at the feet of the ultra-Orthodox. For years, the rabbis of religious Zionism (with a few exceptions such as Rabbi Shlomo Goren) attempted to avoid the deep implications of being partners in the Zionist course. To the accusations of the ultra-Orthodox about compromising over Jewish law, the rabbis were adamant in saying: "There is no halakhic difference between us and the ultra-Orthodox, but we also consider the state a value and serve in the army." As if the state were merely just another shtetl with an army. Advertisement But Zionism is a much more far-reaching course. It expresses a substantive change in the perception of Jewish identity - from the perception of a religious community to the perception of a nation (whose religion is an inseparable part of its identity and the basis of its national identity). It is not possible that a change this dramatic could not have halakhic significance, and that the difference between the ultra-Orthodox and the religious Zionists would boil down to military service or reciting a prayer for the well-being of the state. After all a sovereign nation cannot relate to issues such as a secular legal system, relations with the nations of the world, attitude toward non-Jews who live in its midst, the sabbatical year for leaving fields fallow and, yes, also to conversion, in the same way as a Jewish community in the Diaspora. If the perception is nationalist, then the criterion for conversion must be not who seriously intends to be religious (then the demand to uphold all 613 religious precepts is justified) but rather who seriously intends to join the Jewish people? Since the national identity entails a religious component, it is clear that conversion must also include religious components - not belonging to any other religion, a commitment to the Israeli holidays and the Jewish cycle of life (such as bar or bat mitzvah ceremonies), but it does not have to include commitment to 613 religious precepts. There are signs that the latest slaps in the face to religious Zionism, on the subjects of the sabbatical year and conversion, along with the appearance of a new generation of rabbis, are creating changes in approach. But these signs of change are not enough. Even in the face of the current crisis, the rabbis of religious Zionism are busy talking mainly about "the harm to Rabbi Druckman" or "the harm done to those converting," as if the only problem were a matter of hurt feelings, as serious and as characteristic as these may be, and not the substantive argument. They do not understand that it is expressly an approach that is fearful of presenting a basic halakhic alternative that will be presented as making concessions. For if the religious Zionist rabbis accept the ultra-Orthodox halakhic perception but they merely do not dare to apply it out of a desire to "be considerate of" the converts or the secular Jews, it will be justified to present them as compromisers. Only the presentation of an alternative basic perception - one that is not afraid of a wholesale confrontation with the ultra-Orthodox (over conversion, the sabbatical year, women who are refused religious divorce, and so forth); an approach that portrays religious Zionism as the successor to the ways of the sages of Yavne, who were wise enough to change halakha from beginning to end to adapt it to the times, and an approach that portrays the ultra-Orthodox as Sadducees, who adhered zealously to the text and were rejected - will be correct, not only from the matter-of-fact point of view but also from the pint of view of achieving clear practical gains. Vis-a-vis the ultra-Orthodox, it will enable religious Zionism to stop feeling it is making concessions and being apologetic, while vis-a-vis the secular Jews, it will present religious Zionism (which they associate mainly with extremist political views) as the only body that can bridge the gap, not only between religious and secular but most importantly between two aspects of Jewish identity, the religious and the national. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Building Google How an Israeli hi-tech guru inspired Google's 'magic formula'. La femme Tzipi Colleagues regale the Sunday Times with stories of Livni's days on a Mossad hit team.   1.   60 year old kindergarten 12:11  |  Observer 28/05/08   2.   Misinformation again 12:29  |  Observer 28/05/08   3.   Quicksand 13:09  |  The Other Alan 28/05/08   4.   an apology of an argument: Convert to what? 13:14  |  A young Jew 28/05/08   5.   secular conversion ? to rape and drug cuture?? 13:16  |  Jerusalemite 28/05/08   6.   Ho hum the vanishing minority speaks 13:17  |  Jewgirl 28/05/08   7.   Right and wrong 13:37  |  Former Gentile 28/05/08   8.   97% of the Jews do not follow even 10% of the religious practices 13:38  |  Tom 28/05/08   9.   To #8: Tom, exactly which parts of the tanach are unreliable? 14:50  |  hk 28/05/08   10.   ha, for rape culture you may look as well to 14:59  |  Puhi 28/05/08   11.   Where the Bible speaks, speak. Where it is silent, be silent. 15:41  |  Virginia 28/05/08   12.   To Former Gentile.. 15:45  |  Deana 28/05/08   13.   remember poland ??? 16:09  |  Rob of melbourne 28/05/08   14.   Zionism and Judaism 17:10  |  Avi Yerushalmi 28/05/08   15.   What happened to I am your people, you are mine? 17:17  |  David 28/05/08   16.   Rabbis must interpret halakha as leniently as possible, ... 18:59  |  Haldrik 28/05/08   17.   An excellent article, except for one point... 19:03  |  David Yashar 28/05/08   18.   title is oximoronic 19:12  |  Yerushalmi 28/05/08   19.   who is more jewish? 19:48  |  joseph theeboom 28/05/08   20.   Erev Rav 21:02  |  Dror 28/05/08   21.   Judaism, National Religious and a note 21:43  |  Straight Talk 28/05/08   22.   "Secular conversion" is nonsense, BUT 23:22  |  Mike 28/05/08   23.   To #10: Puhi, check with the police 00:14  |  zvika 29/05/08   24.   #22 is "nonsense"... 06:12  |  Ian Jos 02/06/08   25.   #19 Joseph 06:22  |  Ian Jos 02/06/08

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