The following is a Ynet report:
Ultra-Orthodox conversion officials clarified Sunday evening that the 7,846 members of the Falash Mura slated to immigrate to Israel from Ethiopia will have to undergo a strict conversion to Judaism. Those who fail to do so, the officials warned, would not be recognized as Jews and will have trouble marrying in Israel.
Rabbi Nachum Eisenstein, chairman of the International Rabbinical Committee on Conversions, who is considered an associate of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, leader of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community, told Ynet that the conversion must include the acceptance of a religious lifestyle as a condition for approving the immigrants’ Judaism.
According to Eisenstein, this process is referred to as “strict conversion” but it is similar to regular conversion according to Jewish Law.
No one can rule that the Falah Mura members are Jews according to the Halacha, Eisenstein explained, as hundred and maybe even thousands of years have passed since this was a known fact in the families of origin.
He added that he and his fellow rabbis had many reasons to oppose this immigration, which could cause “many genealogy problems among the people of Israel”, but that they were not objecting because of the issue’s current political aspect.
Other rabbis, who have been working to bring the Falash Mura to Israel, confirmed that the immigrants would have to undergo “strict conversion.” However, they said they were convinced that the process would be much easier than the conversion of immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Rabbi Menachem Waldman, director of the Shvut Am institute and an expert on Ethiopian Jewry, explained to Ynet that many of the community members converted to Christianity starting in the late 19th century for about 50 years. From a halachic point of view a Jew cannot convert, so they are still considered Jewish, but their offspring must not convert for fear that some of them had married Christian women.
According to Waldman, who was sent the Chief Rabbinate to probe the issue in the past, the Falah Mura are direct descendants of Ethiopia’s Jews and so their status must be similar. “I don’t call it conversion but rather ‘a return to Judaism,’ he said, “even if it’s basically the same thing.”
Waldman added that the need to convert would not pose a problem for the Ethiopians, as they come from a religious country and have been holding a halachic lifestyle.
“The Falash Mura members prayed three times a day, maintained the sanctity of their family and lived a Jewish life back there, and when they immigrate to Israel they send their children to study in religious educational institutions,” he said.
According to Waldman, the situation is more complicated among immigrants from the former Soviet Union, as the Halacha forces them to observe mitzvot in order to be recognized as Jews but this is not a lifestyle they are accustomed to.
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(Source: Ynet)
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13 Responses
“Rabbis: Ethiopian Jews (Falash Mura) Must Convert” – Not true at all! They only have to convert if they want to be Jewish…
goodbye, this was an old psak.
How is that any different than anyone else who is a practising Christian, for multiple generations, who rediscovers their (partial) Jewish ancestry, and wants to be a Jew? Ethiopian Jews are a different issue (they were an isolated community that always insisted they were Jews, and in spite of their limited education heroically tried to follow halacha, and were frequently persecuted by the local Christians for being Jews). The “Falash Mura” were Christians who claim Jewish ancestry and have no easy way of establishing a pure maternal line back to someone who was clearly Jewish.
YNET is a hiloni news sources, with extremely limited competence in covering “frum” issues.
Not an easy situation to deal with.
But the idea that if just one member of Falash Mura claims to be an authentic Jew, regardless of what they do or dont practice, and they are looked upon as a non-Jew, is a terrible thing.
Sister, what bearing does that have on what I wrote? Of course it’s a very old p’sak. It’s their choice. If they want to be part of k’lal Yisro’el, they’ll have to be megayer – just like any goy who wants to be Jewish has to do…
There is a teshuvah from the Radbaz that the Ethiopian Group that claim decent are indeed from shevet Dan. Its important they convert to show that they are modeh to halacha k’shevet Yehuda/Levi. As the Torah says. Yehudah will hold onto scepter (of halacha) This is a clear sign of kabetz galuyot
Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef paskened a long time ago that they are Jews. Furthermore, his ruling is in accordance with precedent; converso communities from Spain and Portugal were NOT required to convert when they finally escaped and returned to Jewish observance in the Netherlands. Descendents of those conversos founded the first Jewish communities in England and America. You just can’t simply overturn 400 years of precedent unless you are part of the Conservative movement.
#6 and #7 – The people in question are descended from Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity multiple generations ago, and unlike the marranos, did not make an effort to avoid intermarriage with non-Jews, and made no effort to be “secret” Jews – they were full fledged willing Christians. Furthermore, the “conversos” #7 is talking about converted due to duress (any Jews in Spain after the expulsion who didn’t convert were killed) as opposed to Ethiopia where the conversions were for economic benefit. I do not believe that the historic heter to accepted returning “conversos” pertains to those who return in the 20th century unless they have extrememly well documented genealogies as well as a record of being “secret Jews” during the period.
The Falash Mura should be treated like any other group of goyim who are practising Christians, realize they have some Jewish ancestry, and want to become Jews.
The Ethiopian Jews on the other hand, always were openly Jewish even when persecuted, and there is a hazakah going back centuries that they are real Jews even though their knowledge of halacha was clearly deficient. This issue of the idea of a nominal conversion is to resolve any possible shailohs of their origin, and to allow holding “safek safekah” to avoid the issue of whether their divorces were treff while their marriages were kosher, which might have created an issue of mamzeros (a similar issue with non-orthodox Euro-American Jews).
The Spanish and Portugese Jews, when it wasn’t too long after the Inquisition began, could still prove their maternal Jewish heritage and lack of intermarriage.
These goyim intermarried all along and are non Jews.
Will Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef accept the Falash Mura into his family, as is? I don’t think so.
If you are of the opinion that they don’t have to undergo a ‘gayrus’ I would strongly urge you to have your children marry them so the potential p’sul could be in YOUR yichus & not mine. I prefer my ben achar ben from malchay yehuda to remain that way.
They dont keep chanuka or purim or know about Gemara and 90% of the dinim and minhagim of Yisroel,so we should take them in w/o gairus ????? Dinim of Kidishim they have no clue-so thats vadai mamzerus or goyish children starting thousand of yrs ago -bist du meshugeh??????? sweet people yes sweet goyin -be megyare khalacha then your ok.
it seems that you all are uber interested cause you would let your kids be ret an ethiopian for a shidduch….NOT.
chirbim, lol on that one.