I don't know what was wrong with the lady's mitzvot observance(according to the Rav) and I also don't know why the couple asked for a divorce in the 1st place. That's information I need to judge this story. For the rest, unlike 'be galut', in Israël the Orhodox Rabbinate(Askenazi/Sfaradi) has a monopoly and earns money from that. That's why there's so much competition and power struggle among Rabbis of different streams/organizations. Unhealthy.

Converts should be embraced not repelled. This idiotcy must stop we need the numbers we need more Jews.

and from where ? *** I BELIEVE, THE RELIGION HAS TWO FACES (POWER) ON PEOPLE. One is good. One is bad. *** I have read Torah and 10's of other books. RABBIES ARE SOME DREAMERS. I AM NOT SAYING THEY ARE BAD. THEY ARE LIVING IN DARK AGE TIME. They cry to the God (G-d) but at same time THEY WANT TO HAVE EVERYTHING THE GOD (G-D) CREATED. Their eyes ARE BLIND because of looking at Torah from very close. THAN THEY DONT SEE THE WHOLE PICTURE. The Muslim ones ARE SAME. *** If I had power, I WOULD TAKE ALL RELIGIOUS AUTHORITES POWER DOWN. They are THE PART of reason WHY THE PEOPLE NEVER HAPPY IN WORLD. why ? Whole world give hard time to them ! At the same Time The Rabbi World Hugs the people BUT VERY TIGHT ! as if ; while running from rain, to meet THUNDER STROM !!! *** NO NEED RELIGIOUS COURTS. NO NEED RELIGIOUS RULINGS IN TODAYS WORLD. THE RULES SHOULD BE BETWEEN HUMAN AND THE GOD (G-D) *** Dont be A GOD. You cant. have you heard about THE BOTTOM LEVEL OF THE HELL ? No need to tell, the religious Judges will live there. *** respect human life. we just have one life. just one. love Atilla Liman Karagözoğlu

Converting to Catholicism doesn't make one Italian. Converting to Russian Orthodoxy doesn't make one Russian. Converting to Judaism makes one a goy of Jewish religion, not a ben Israel, a descendant of Israel, a.k.a. a Jew. Now go back and study the story or Ruth in it's proper historical and cultural context.

A soul of a Jew is different. Some people who are not Jewish according to halacha have this soul. You can see by studying say the Ari, a true convert who has a Jewish soul receives it from above. The only way for people of today to find out is to have them for a period perform mitzvot, live in the community etc. This gives the authorities time to look at them. These are fine and after the Mashiakh comes, no more converts. Now for the rest of the goyim, they are welcome and should be encouraged to live by the Torah. In the xtian NT it is called 'grafting on to Israel'. This is fine too, but it simply does not make them Jews. You can train someone to perform tricks, but their essense (neshamah) does not change. Today, Rabbi's cannot distinguish between souls for the most part. Here in the galut (I am Israeli, but do to work living in the galut temporarly) they (Orthodox) convert people all the time where I live. They are now trained goyim still. What can you do? As long as we have people who are blind to this, we can do nothing but wait for the Mashiakh to straighten this mess out. Sad what we have become but it's all for a reason.

Antonio, you've completely missed the point. Italy is not a Catholic state. Nor is Russia an Orthodox state. Your comparison displays astonishing ignorance of the basic point that, as a 'Jewish State' Israeli is unique and, in many respects, anomalous.

Jews are Jews are Jews. Ultra-orthos are as weirdly modern a phenomenom as Reform.

Just look at the strangle hold that the Ultra-Orthodox have on the people of this country. Where, Rabbis, is the tolerance demanded by Judaism? The State must intervene and bring in civil marriage and recognition of non-orthodox marriage and conversion. This article proves that the difference between our orthodox rabbis and the ayatollas of Iran is, well, there is no difference!

On what authority or teaching is your statement based? It seems to me togo against everything Ihave everheard regarding Judaism's attitude to converts. Is this just your own opinion, or is it based on something?

Not so much because we want more Jews, but because they made the choice to follow the Mitzvot. Converts make great Jews. I married one. As for ethnicity, Jews are a nation and a religion. Our ethnicity varies from the various tribes. We are black (Ethiopian), Sephardi, Askenazi, Crypto-hispanic, and many more. We are all brothers and sisters. We fight like brothers and sisters, but love each other also. I welcome all who truly want to convert and believe the Rabbinical courts should also.

It's a state of Jews, i.e. the descendants of ancient Judeans, whether or not they are religious. Learn some history.

"Decedents of Israel"?! Like - Blood of Israel?? WHO is a direct blood of Israel? Isn't it stated even in Torah that "You AND NEWCOMERS..." CAN YOU CLAIM that ALL PEOPLE, who left Mitzraim, ARE ONLY AND ONLY EXCLUSIVE DECEDENTS OF BLOOD OF ISRAEL?! I see in you an Amalek soul, a wielder of a blood-filosophy, damned philosophy that is directly opposed to Torah! IF IT WAS BLOOD THAT COUNTS, there WOULD NOT BE MITZVOT, there would NOT be need to prrove yourself a tzadik, you would, as a Jew, directly go to Olam haBa! Besides, Mister Righteous, how come you write on Yom Tov?

Unbelievable...Question to all the "experts" - who performed Ruth's conversion? Was it according to halacha...? (i know the answer to that last one)

Uriel, She/ He whoever ! WROTE FROM HEART. I SEE THE SOUL OF THE WORDS. *** ALL WE NEED TO TALK FROM HEART AND SOUL. WORDS WE USE ARE DETAILS, WHICH ARE NOT IMPORTANT. DIALOGUE FROM SOUL !!! THIS IS THE MAIN POINT ! LONG LIVE URIEL. By the way, that wasnt nice to call him as racist !! *** LONG LIVE ATILLA :) Ynet, Today I didnt drink. Because of a post to me there. Good Boy...Good Boy :))) love Atilla Liman Karagözoğlu I forget : LONG LIVE ANTONIO, FRIEND :)

anyone who converts to judaism, genetically, is still gentile. for all intents and purposes they are not jewish except in the sense of being joined to bnei israel and their children will be considered jewish if they have any after conversion. just as if a jew renounces their faith, they are still jewish by birth. if a gentile converts and then renounces judaism and practices, say, christianity, is that person still jewish? no.

Anyone who converts is just as Jewish as anyone who was born Jewish, PERIOD! Even if the convert renounces Judaism, they still posess a Jewish soul and yes are still Jewish. Your statements that converts are not Jews goes against basic Jewish law found in the Torah and the Talmud. As for another statement I saw on this article that a convert is Jewish only in practice and is not "racially Jewish"...? Guess what? Jewish is not a race! There are white, middle eastern, asian and black Jews! Every born Jew has aconvert in his/her background somewhere! Being Jewish is to have a Jewish soul and to be a member of a certain tribal affiliation, after all, the basic terminology of the word Jew comming from Judah....Jew=Of the tribe of Judah. Read Torah!

I am Greek Orthodox. However, I am not a Greek. I am Germanic. I have friends who are Russian Orthodox. Some of them are Romanian and some are Slovak. None of them are Russians. But we are all Orthodox Christians. We have the same faith. But we are not the same ethnicity. Our DNA is differant. From a faith point of view, it does not matter. However, if I tried to perm. move to Greece under the pretext that I am Greek Orthodox...I dont think that would work (I dont think the gov. would accept that as valid).

I am ashamed of people like Antonio and Mike,Do they rememmber that we are a people of converts,Avraham was the first...How can jewish people say the same arguments of nazis? Please the better way is that Antonio and Mike prove they are undoubtely descendants of Avraham Avinu,Can they do that?

then why in the tanakh are gentiles who wanted to worship the god of israel wholeheartedly not called jews, or even allowed to convert? abraham was chosen by god, and not because he "converted" to or from anything. god did not bring the "faithful" children of israel out of egypt because they didn't even know who he was (god kept his promise to rescue a RACE, not people practicing a kind of religion). and jews who converted to christianity were still sent to the gas chambers because of their bloodline. god's faithfulness IS to a RACE, which is a fact. you cannot change how you were born, although you can change what you believe. besides, issac, i am a goy myself who believes in the one true god of abraham, isaac, and jacob. that is my only connection to him (which is the only connection that really matters) by his grace despite my being "anglo saxon". it is not racist to acknowledge what our blood heritage is. actually, it is racist to say such things as you do and deny your and my ancestry, those who fought and sacrificed so we can be here today. if i am a racist, then the bible is a racist book and god is, as well. i hope you are not saying that.

I'm perfectly fine with people of all races, be they Caucasians (like Jews), Blacks, Asians, or whatever. It's about identity, not about race. I don't think most Irish would've taken it kindly if I said that I converted to "Irishism" and I'm now Irish. Well, I don't want any fake Jews either. I can respect other people without them trying to be like mine.

Apply for Italian citizenship and you're Italian. Apply for Irish citizenship and you're Irish. It's not that mysterious. Also *all* ashkenazim are descendants of converts. An Ethnicity, a Nation, a Religion. The Jewish people are a tribe. This is too complex for many people to understand.

You are TOTALLY misunderstanding Christianity as well as Judaism. If you convert to Catholicism, that DOES make you Catholic. Catholicism is not 100% linked to being Italian, Irish or Spanish. In each of these countries there ixist non-Catholics (including Jews) who are just as Italian, Spoanish or Irish (especially Italian, as there are Jews there who go back to the Destruction of the Temple) . One can, through a civil process, become an Italian, Spanish or Irish citizen. Granted it may not make you ethnically Italian, Spanish or Irish, but that doesn't really matter. Once one marries a local and has kids after a few generations no one will know the difference. Moreover, Catholicism is strictly a religion with no ethnic component. I don't know as much about Greek and Rusian Orthodox, but it is my understanding that you don't have to be ethically Russian or Greek to be Russian or Greek Orthodox I bet many ethnic Ukranians are Russian Orthodox. (they are sister religions anyway. My understanding is that Russian Orthodox is an offshoot of Greek Orthodox anyway). Judaism is fundamentally different. Jews started out as an ethnic tribe descended from one man (Abraham) and his sons (Isaac and Jacob) with a piece of land connected to this tribe that centers around the burial grounds of these patriarchs (the traditional region of Judea with Hebron as it's tribal capital). HOWEVER (and this is very relevant to the chag, actually) with the giving of teh Torah at Sinai the tribal identity was elevated from being just another Middle Eastern tribe to being a faith community as well. The capital of the Jewish people then became Jerusalem, with it's Temple atop Mt. Moriah, the scene of the Akedah where the first pact with G-d was made. And so the emphasis was turned away from ethnic tribalism represented by Hebron to a spiritual and social tribalism represented by Jerusalem and the Temple. One could even argue that with the destruction of the Temple and the rise of Rabbinic Judaism the emphasis was taken even further away from ethnic exclusivism to a more religious and social exclusivism. Ever since there has been comfusion, especially in the Christian West, about whether Jews are a religious community or an ethnic group. Jews are both. In fact, even in a typical Middle Eastern tribe people can join a tribe and receive protection from them by affiliating yourself with said tribe. Non-Jews can become part of the Jewish tribe by becoming part of the faith community AND affiliating tribally through CONVERSION. Centuries of Jewish Law and tradition make it that once you are Jewish by birth or conversion you can NEVER become a non-Jew. You might be a sinful Jew, but you can never become "un-Jewish". Antonio and Mike are clueless. The Rabbis are arrogant and malicious. Class dismissed.

Rivkah Lubitch: I read your latest article about the jewish conversion by the courts in Israel. The rabbis need to wake and understand not everyone who is jewish wants to be completely observant. The men who run the court need to wake up to this fact. I know in the USA most Jews only go to the temple on the high holidays. Would these Jews not be considered Jews? One proud Jew Baby.

You are a racist, whether you choose to accept it or not. Your reasoning is RACIST. Others who follow your line of reasoning are also RACIST. Simple as that !

In America, the great laboratory, and melting pot of the world, within three generations, all peoples that come here are assimilated. This is a fact. However, their RELIGIONS DO NOT ASSIMILATE. They DIFFERENTIATE into various groups and subgroups. This is what survives beyond previous cultural and national ties intermarriage and so on . It is the RELIGION. There are many Israelis who do not consider themselves Jews, and many Israelis who do not live in Israel. In fact, New York, not Jerusalem, or Tel Aviv is the home of the international Jewish institutional world and the center of Jewish phil- anthropy. Chabad even has it's headquarters in NY so it can operate away from the stifling the pressures in Israel. The great negative catch phrase in Jewish life is "assimilation" yet , what every generation of Jews has done in new situations, has been to acculturate into their enviornment. They left behind and rejected folkways and customs that they had assimilated earlier. The so-called 'ethnic' traditions of so many Jews are, in reality, merely a nostalgic rememberance of the acculturation of one particular Jewish community in history : that of old Russia and Poland into its enviornment, two and three centuries ago. What previous generations of Jews in Babylonia, Spain, Germany, Eastern Europe, we should do in America today--create and develope a distinctly American expression of Judaism that reflects the free, open and pluralistic society in which we live, while maintaining our spiritual identity.

Though there are RACISTS in ISRAEL that are trying to create one. Judaism is a religious committment, a voluntarily shared faith. It should not be the prison that some are trying to create. Judaism extends way beyond race, ethnicity, culture, nationality, and even......political ties. AMEIN !

who died and made you moses? if a jew converts to christianity, are they still jewish? according to the rabbis, no. does their ethnicity change? no. that is my point, although, unlike you, i'm not so arrogant as to pretend to have THE answer to the eternally argued question of 'who is a jew'. i suppose you could enlighten us as to what percentage of jewis ethnicity one has to be to be considered jewish? 100%? 60%? 40%? 25%? 15%? please let us know. the israeli legislature could use your help in this area.

In another article about this case, the woman admitted to the Beis Din that she never wanted to perform all the mitzvot and thus lied when she was "converted", so the conversion is null and void. The woman lied about and the Halacha is clear, if a potential converts rejects only ONE of the 613 mitzvot, the potential convert is to be rejected! This is a non-story you're trumping up in order to speak Lashon Hara against Talmidei Chachamim. That's what you should be ashamed of.

We cannot affort to convert a gentile into Jew who is not planning to be observant, or turns out to be not observant why? because he/she simply did not convert to judaism in the first place if this is the case If judaism tells you that you have to do A,B and C. (kashrut, Shabbat, family purity, shmita, you name it), then choosing not to comply with one or several of these, means you don't like judaism as a package deal. So why converting to the "wrong" religion? May be as most cases, because it will come in convenient for the gentile to "marry" a Jewish partner, and give the kids a Jewish status too. WHO ARE THEY FOOLING? Anyone converting to judaism understands 1- Jewish laws are originally commanded by G-d 2- G-d obviously knows what He is commanding The moment a "convert" chooses which laws are "convenient" for him and which not, then he/she is basically saying - "I know better than G-d" , this stands as a blatant contradicition and is logically defying right?