JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Palestinian Marranos?

By Ami Eden · October 29, 2008

Palestinians and Jews in the Holy Land may be intertwined, but with the level of intermingling and overlapping suggested in this news item about Palestinian Marranos, it’s getting ridiculous:

Four Palestinians from the Hebron Hills contacted a group of rabbis on Tuesday and claimed to be the descendents of Jews who were forced to convert to Islam.

2 Comments | Share This | Conversion, Israel, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Religion, West Bank

Blacks are turning to Judaism—is it good for the Obamas?

By Ami Eden · July 17, 2008

The Christian Science Monitor takes a look at the “black conversion movement” – as in conversion to Judaism.

Numbers are hard to pin down. Besides well-known conversions such as that of the late entertainer Sammy Davis Jr., black Jews remain an unfamiliar part of the American religious landscape. Yet Lewis Gordon, director of the Center for Afro-Jewish Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, estimates there are as many as 1 million blacks with Jewish blood in the US.

Another recent study by the Institute for Jewish and Community Research in San Francisco estimates that there are as many as 150,000 practicing black Jews in the US today, with synagogues across the country reporting increasing numbers of blacks either exploring or converting to Judaism.

The story has a few interesting details/quotes, but doesn’t come close to backing up the ambitious claim in its subhead: “Conversions to Judaism among African-Americans are growing in a way that could affect the presidential election.”

The writer takes a stab or two at pushing this thesis:

Sen. Barack Obama is lighting up connections to the black-Jewish alliance of the 1960s while at the same time trying to calm Jewish fears over his Muslim middle name and ties to pro-Palestinian activists. This could have critical implications in key states with large Jewish populations such as Florida and Pennsylvania.

In the end, though, the article fails to produce a single black convert to Judaism who is voting against Obama because he’s bad for the Jews. It does have a few quotes from Dov Hikind, a Democratic state assemblyman from Brooklyn, explaining why black hatted Jews will note vote for Obama.

0 Comments | Share This | 2008 Election, Conversion

RCA speaks out against attempts to nullify conversions

By Ami Eden · May 6, 2008

The Rabbinical Council of America has taken heat over a recent deal on conversions that critics describe as a complete capitulation to the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. Well, in the latest conversion-related controversy, the RCA is speaking out against Israeli religious authorities:

Rabbinical Council of America Reacts to Ruling of Israeli Rabbinical Appeals Court regarding Past Conversions by the Israeli Conversion Authority

Leviticus 19:33: “You (plural) shall not oppress the convert in your land.”

Commentary of the Netziv: “The plural form of the verse teaches us that a third party who sees the oppression of a convert and does not protest is also guilty of oppression.”

The Rabbinical Council of America, having taken note of the recent ruling of the Bet Din Elyon (Rabbinic Court of Appeals) of Israel, nullifying certain conversions performed by the State Conversion Authority led by Rabbi Chaim Druckman, has today issued the following statement:

Having reviewed the ruling of the Bet Din Elyon in detail, and being fully mindful of the respect due the rulings of duly constituted rabbinical courts in their respective jurisdictions, the RCA finds it necessary to state for the record that in our view the ruling itself, as well as the language and tone thereof, are entirely beyond the pale of acceptable halachic practice, violate numerous Torah laws regarding converts and their families, create a massive desecration of God’s name, insult outstanding rabbinic leaders and halachic scholars in Israel, and are a reprehensible cause of widespread conflict and animosity within the Jewish people in Israel and beyond. The RCA is appalled that such a ruling has been issued by that court.

We have been assured by Israel’s Chief Rabbi Rav Shlomo Moshe Amar, who is also the President of the Rabbinical Courts System of Israel, that in releasing this ruling the court in question directly countermanded his instructions and policies.  He has confirmed that the ruling has no legal standing at this time. We commend Rav Amar for his positive role in this matter since its very inception in the Ashdod regional court.

We add our rabbinic voice to those of others who have called for a thorough review and repudiation of the actions of a select few of the Bet Din Elyon, who in this ruling as in other previous instances, have sought to undermine the Conversion Authority.

For this reason, and others, it is more important than ever that the Conversion Authority be strengthened in its important work in bringing about halachicly proper conversions to our faith and to the Jewish people.

Given the very public nature of the challenge posed by the ruling in question, we call on the Chief Rabbis of Israel to reaffirm their support of the Conversion Authority and its leadership in clear and unambiguous terms at the earliest possible time. Until that will happen, each passing day will cause reprehensible anguish to halachic converts, irreparable harm to the fabric of the Jewish people, and a considerable debasement of the good name of Torah, halachah, and tradition.

1 Comment | Share This | Conversion, Orthodox

Yes, Anthony Lake is Jewish (Now)

By Ben Harris · January 31, 2008

Obama’s foreign policy adviser, Tony Lake, was at NYU today, talking to students at the Bronfman Center about why he thinks the Democratic presidential hopeful is so great. But before he got into details, Lake, who served as national security adviser in the Clinton administration, described his own history of first being mistaken for, and then actually becoming, a Jew.

Click the play button below to listen.

[audio:/images/archive/013108_harris_lake.mp3]

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6 Comments | Share This | 2008 Election, Conversion, Podcast