The daily Yated Ne’eman reports the state-run giyur program has begun advertising, seeking to attract anyone interested in becoming Jewish. The ads speak of a “personally tailored program, a “friendly and personal approach” with “individual guidance”, boasting programs suited for citizens and soldiers alike.
Yated reports that the new program “tramples” Jewish values and Halacha, and after consulting with rabbonim and dayanim, has determined the new campaign is in line with similar efforts by the Reform Movement. The reports quotes Rabbonim Gedolei Yisrael Shlita, who insist giyur must be handled by qualified batei din and not be a government coalition and MKs.
The report quotes a chareidi public official as saying that with Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett on board, the Ministry of Religious Services has become the Ministry Against Religious Services. The report quotes rabbonim expressing severe criticism regarding the state giyur, which they feel is simply ‘whitewashing’ the real program, which is alarmingly similar to a Reform way of life.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
This only serves to highlight again why the government should not be involved with managing religious observances and practices. Let each group manage its own practices and stop making believe there is one single hashkafah that eveyone will agree upon. Even in matters of kashruth, what is acceptable for 99 percent of the population will still have fringe groups like the Eidah insisting their hechsher is somehow better than that of other Chassidus. On matters of giyur, its going to be even more complicated. Its one thing to have one group argue your pastrami sandwich was treifus; its quite a bit more problematic when that group insists your grandchildren are mamzerim because the Giyur of your new daughter-in-law was treifus.
The State certified geirum are not all or even most real Jews.
Gadol hatorah, if ur daughter in law went thru state gayrus hiow will her child ever be a mazer, he will be a giy, which ismuch better!!
More accurately: If one’s daughter-in-law had a debatable geirus, then those who consider the geirus invalid would not worry at all that the grandchildren are mamzerim; the worry is that they are goyim. The worries about mamzerus are for those who do consider the geirus to be valid, and then the daughter-in-law divorced without a get and then had these children. In such a case, the grandchildren would be mamzerim only to those who approved of the geirus; they’d be goyim to those who disapprove of the geirus.
Great observation, Chuck. Can you validate it with names?
to No 4. Thanks for the correction that the grandchildren would be goyim and not mamzerim. Not sure the zeida and tatta would be shepping naches either way.