Interior Ministry ignoring High Court ruling on conversions

And the courts should have the power to enforce their decisions. But then it wouldn't be Israel anymore.

Yaakov, I don't think you read the article very carefully. You are coming down on Rabbis. This has nothing to do with a Rabbi rejection; it is the interior ministry of the State of Israel that is rejecting a conversion. And, the rules are the rules. If the rules state that a convert must live in the community where they converted for a year before the Interior Ministry recognizes the conversion, then that is just how it is. One has to follow the rules. I feel bad for this person, but they should have researched it more carefully and lived in the community for a year before trying to make aliyah.

This is weird. Ignoring High Court rulings? is Israel a theocratic state then? besides, don't you have a demographic problem? You should be welcoming with open arms ALL the converts, orthodox or not. After all, they chose to become Jews.

please, do consider that for some it is possible to come to Israel and find their place there, for some this is not so; I belong to the last category of such Jews. ALSO: my experience was that the Israeli sabras do NOT welcome Diaspora Jews, therefore my social life spun around other Diasspora Jews, who had immigrated to Israel.....but today they too have all emigrated out from Israel for reasons other than the hardships and making ends meet in Israel: we immigrated out of Zionist feelings; that is out of religious feelings and we emigrated after we discovered that Israelis are NOT Zionists, meaning share the same religious spark in their hearts as we did, but are just as materialistic as the countries we came from and furthermore they are rude people! For my part I could still add that I was dying in Israel for culture! Israel has very little culture. I like other D-Jews keep contributing to Israel through donations and Ha'aretz! Israel is always in our hearts!

Now, that is a real travesty. On the other hand, ignoring rules made by self appointed leftists is usually a good idea.

There are no words left to describe these rabbis. Theyy have brought shame on the House of Israel. They have excelled in their hardheartedness, their insensitivity, their arrogance, their lack of compassion. But they are experts in the degrees of kashrut of cheeses, the de rigeur blechs to be used in Jewish households on Shabbat, the new accepted standards for covering a married womans hair. On the minutes and seconds a convert or potential convert has lived in a, b, or c. Thhey couldn't care less about the amount of pain or suffering they bring to those who wish to live as good Jews. These actions are a violation of the commands to love the stranger. "Hashem shomer et gerim, yeitom v'almanah yeoded..."

With the help of Itim, I was handed my Identity Card in the Knesset after living an orthodox life in Israel for 5 years, and 4 years after my recognized conversion. But that didn't matter to the Ministry of Interior. It didn't matter to them that newspapers wrote about it, hence even in the Knesset they tried to reject my application. Thank you Shas! The solution: Seperate state from church. Take away all the power that the religious minorities so generously abuse. End the Jewish Apartheid amongst Jews. Welcome the gentile sitting in our gate! Let's unite unconditionally and save our State! And to all those abroad motivated by luxury and social life to stay in their homeland: open your wallet, donate to boost Israels economy; eventually paving a road for immigration! You belong HERE!

So where exactly does Sheetrit stand in this fiasco? Is the Minister around at all?

Those, who have converted abroad and have not lived in a Jewish community in order to experience the daily Jewish life-style with its prayers and traditions and halacha in practise, so could these converts immigrate to Israel to live the Jewish life say three years after which they may become Israeli citizens? After this period they could also still decide whether they want to stay in Israel and are strong enough to live with her hard reality or return to their countries of origin, because the truth is that an immigrant's standard of living (especially if he's from Europe) drops significantly and to many immigrants this is a disappointing factor and kills the "enthusiasm" of living in Israel. Israel is no dance on roses, rather a dance on thorns, therefore one really must love Israel with all one's heart to stay. Israel's rich and warm social life(collective togetherness) however is unique and that is what I miss the most from Israel:it carries over the disappointments and hardships

Whoever ignores any High Court ruling should be thrown into jail for good!

These stories about hurdles to conversion, and state involvement in conversion just keep on coming. What you don't realize is that most readers of Haaretz are people who hold to modern ideas about the modern democratic state. These stories coming out of Israel just emphasize the gap between democratic values and those upheld by "the Jewish democratic state". Once it is replaced by a secular democratic state, Jews, gentiles and others, especially Palestinians, will be able to enjoy modern standards of democracy and human rights. Until then, keep those stories coming!