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Opinion | Do not close the door on them Israel today

2022-01-19T07:01:10.170Z


Almost half of the country's citizens are not considered Jews according to Halacha, and in order to define them as such, a conversion process is necessary. • The proposed reform will increase the number of converts and reduce assimilation.


About a decade ago, we opened our door in the association to Oleg, a lone soldier who wanted to be a Jew.

He immigrated to Israel alone during high school, completed his matriculation, enlisted in the IDF as a soldier and planned his Israeli-Jewish future.

Being a new and optimistic immigrant, he studied Hebrew and Judaism, and did everything possible for full absorption in the country.

Unfortunately, he came to the court that chose not to award him the "passing" grade.

But he insisted, returned to the conversion track at the end of his military service, learned, memorized, absorbed and adopted laws and customs.

In the same way, he became a member of our household on Saturdays.

When the time came to be tried in court, his failed past experience was discovered and the bureaucratic system prevented him from appearing in court on the military route, Nativ.

We tried to help him with phone calls, emails, letters, exploitation of contacts.

Everything we could and at every possible level.

We were exhausted.

Then our rabbi told us that it was time to let go, that we had tried every possible way and that the bureaucracy of the courts would not allow further examination of the path.

A memorandum from Minister Matan Kahana's Conversion Law will soon be submitted to the government for approval.

The heated debate in the media focused on strengthening or weakening the power of the Chief Rabbinate compared to the rabbis of the cities, but in reality the debate deals with the identity of the State of Israel and its citizens.

Almost half of the country's citizens are not considered Jews according to Halacha and in order to define them as such a conversion process is necessary.

Minister Kahana's reform sees before its eyes the importance of a light conversion process in order to prevent the danger of assimilation and to prevent the slamming of the door on those who want to be included in the Jewish definition.

A survey by the Institute for the Study of Judaism and Zionism with the polling company Panels Politics examined and revealed the public's positions on conversion.

64 percent believe that reform in conversion should be promoted in order to help regulate the status of hundreds of thousands of citizens defined as non-religious, 60 percent believe that conversion authority should be given to city rabbis - compared to 33 percent who still believe that conversion authority should remain in the current conversion system.

54 percent of the public believe that ways should be found to facilitate conversion to increase the number of converts.

The issue of conversion requires change and a stick route must be found to increase the number of converts and reduce assimilation.

Since those who were born to a Jewish mother are Jews, the discussion should also be seen as a gender aspect and as a common interest for women.

The proposed outline is a window of opportunity to help a quarter of a million women determine their Judaism and influence the Jewish future of Israeli society.

Personally, we lost Oleg's conversion, but those around us succeeded in determining their Judaism Svetlana, Marina, Natasha and Lina.

Were we wrong?

Fixed!

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Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2022-01-19

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