I am old enough to remember when the majority of Jews in America were immigrants or their children. Yiddish was a living language then. My mother came to this country in 1906 having been raised in a very orthodox home. Like many immigrants she threw off the bonds of orthodoxy and was very hostile to their ignorance and superstition. Being young I argued against what I considered her intolerant attitude toward the orthodox. Reading about the behavior of the orthodox in Israel, I sadly conclude that my mother was right, she knew them and I didn't. They are ignorant, intolerant, and lacking in humanity. My mother summed up her view by this story. My grandmother told my very religious grandfather "If a rabbi drew a chalk line on the sidewalk and told you not to cross it, you would never cross it".

Being a Jew IS NOT EASY!!! YES, we are defined by our religion too. CHANGES TO THAT RELIGION BASED ON OUR YEARNING TO BE ACCEPTED BY THE GOYISHER WORLD IS INSANE, UNACCEPTABLE AND COWARDLY. Israel is a JEWISH STATE: NOT A 'REFORM' STATE!! While it is democratic in principle; WE HAVE A CONSTITUTION: ITS CALLED THE TORAH. Liberalism is as bad as fanatacism. Judaism is the 'middle way' but to define the middle way as being tolerant of cultural and religious DESTRUCTION is dillusional and hateful. If you want to be a Jew in Israel: MAKE SURE YOUR JEWISH ROOTS ARE NOT IN QUESTION: GET A HALACHIC KETUBAH...AND CALL IT A DAY. I have NO sympathy for the radical-leftists who wish to DESTROY JUDAISM AND ISRAEL through homogeny and cultural & religious genocide! She's got a problem? FIX IT OR GET OUT. If you DON'T take an oath of allegiance to the American Constitution, YOU CANNOT BECOME AN AMERICAN CITIZEN. You must study its history, know its laws, etc., etc. Does that make it 'tyrannical"??? What a silly, selfish woman. She should be ashamed to be so openly self-absorbed, without a FLECK of care about our 3,500 year history. She's not welcome in my house, my life, near my family or as far as I'm concerned: in Israel. Hope she gets the BOOT!

... nor the Arabs, nor the Iranians, nor the Newnazis, nor the Antisemites, nor the Palestinians. The real danger for Israel are the Jews: the ULTRAORTODOX Jews...

It has nothing to do with the halacha or tradition. It is for them all about control and money...power, just like the rest. They have enormous power, because they currently control those important rites in Israel. They will never let go of their control willingly, just like any politician. The fact that they dress in black is irrelevant, but saddening nonetheless.

Do you ever stick your nose into what Muslims do to converts to Christianity? Idiot!

There would not even be a Jewish state without everyone else.

The "constitution" has hade many amendments over the past 3,500 years - not unlike the US Consititution you refer to. The commentary, rabbinical debates and ultimate pronouncements fills up walls of libraries. They have occurred and will continue to occur as a result of defining events in the Jewish world of the time. The establishment of Israel (by "secular" Jews no less) and the emergence of free democracies over the past 100 years as a safe haven for Jews, is another one of those defining moments to precipitate further "amendments". One might take the "US oath", yet not know every facet of US history or law, but that doesn't make one less of an American. Your rant is the essence of the issue, not a reaction to it, and certainly not the "middle way". I fear, like so many millions of other Jews, that it is not our external enemies that will destroy the State. Those enemies are salivating, waiting for us to destroy ourselves from within. If the orthodox think that they can erect "ghetto Israel" and exclude the rest of us, they only have to look at the history of ancient Israel to see the end result. Mind you, it would certainly solve the problem now wouldn't it?.

If you are a Jew, and you certainly don't sound like one, you are here today because the very people you call "scum of the earth" sacrificed to stay Jewish. Something both you and Hilary are unwilling to do.

you're a pompous fool. I have dealt with many orthodox rabbis and they stick with Jewish law, not their opinion of who they are. You sound like a jerk.

if not for Haskalah, the Jewish scientific, technological and military thought would not be on such a high level to be able to create a state nearly on a desert. Actually, many religious parties before WWII were either discouraging Zionism or at least not encouraging, prompting vast majority of European Jews to stay. It were to a large extent the "secular-romantic" idea of nationhood mixed with mostly socialistic thinking which gave enormous strength to many Zionists during the process of creating Israel. I am always shocked how easily some religious people tend to forget that the Jewish world has two lungs...

in the minds of 'Jewish' society! this is because it is not homogenous neither racially nor religiously.

You are still a Jew and a proud one if you weren't a proud Jew you wouldn't be feeling the way that you do about this issue, it's the very fact that you are indeed so proud to be Jewish that it pains you so much to read this. To alleviate it from your heart consider speaking with a Rav that you trust about what is in your heart and on your mind. May Hashem help you find what you are searching for including the answers with due diligence.

God almighty himself had created our great nation, he had personally guided us from the very beginning with our forefather Avraham. We are his children and it is he who determines who is an Israelite and who is not. How exactly did the creator of the world accomplish this? When one looks into the Torah and reads about the covenant with our Patriarch Avraham it is clear that Sarah was the deciding factor in what an Israelite will be. Though the covenant was made through Avraham it was from Sarah that the children of Israel would come from. We can not ignore who we are as a people to justify someone's difficult position. If their spouse is truly a Jew then they will convert according to our laws. The conversion is not impossible, but it is difficult. The purpose of the conversion is not to make them Jewish, rather it is to prove that they have always been Jewish since only a Jew would be willing to endure all the challenges similarly as our people have endure through out history.

Wasn't Ruth from the Bible a non-Jew who chose to stay with her Jewish mother-in-law? In addition, progress in DNA technology shows that in ancient times Jewish men took wives from non-Jewish communities in large numbers. It's so hard to be Israeli, if a non-Jew actually wants to be Jewish and Israeli why does the rabbinate reject them? Would they reject Ruth?

The liberal Jews screamed bloody murder when Israel proposed a bill which would give dati leumi more control over these courts and Netanyahu gave in. They want it to be this way because it helps their cause.

This article sounds fishy. What is exactly the issue here. Something is missing. It sounds more like, you are concerned more about the rise in ultra-Orthodox power. Who got you to write this article.

Hilary if you don't like it, then go back to America where you came from.

In ancient times,Jews kept the Halaha,and converts automatically did the same.To day,most Jews do not keep the Tora,so if we accept non Halahic converts,we diluate Judaisme more and more.I think that must be the reason.

The Orthodox are where they are in Israel by virtue of democratic elections. BY CONTRAST, there is nothing remotely "democratic" about how the American Jewish community is run, how synagogues are run, how the Federations are run, or how Jewish communal organnizations are run. They are run in exclusively plutocratic fashion by "major donors" and their families, machers, influential business personalities and their rabbis, self-appointed and self-perpetuating "boards of directors" and assorted local and national oompah-loompahs. There are NO ELECTIONS, no democracy. The average Jew on the street has NO voice. And who are these "American Jewish Leaders" the article refers to, who elected them? Who do they represent?The "US Jews"? Hardly. Like it or not, the Israel Jewish community is run by democratic vote of the majority of practicing Jews, who vote for the religious party tickets. It is hardly surprising that Ms. Rubin is bent out of shape that her "famous family connections" don't pull strings in Israel the way they would work to her advantage in the US. The reform and conservative rabbis in the US (the congregants they claim to represent don't give a hoot this issue), in their battles with the Orthodox in Israel, rely on string-pulling and arm-twisting by major donors because they don't have the votes!!! What happened to this big concern about democracy?? Offshoot branches of Catholicism that want priest marriage and abortion don't get the time of day from the Vatican are are considered heretics. Ditto the Sunni Muslims (notice the armed combat between Sunni and Shiite?). Liberal Jewish denominations are far better accepted by the Orthodox, by contrast. "Liberal" branches of Judaism created to get along better with Non-Jews in the Diaspora, and with their huge rate on intermairraige and assimilation, really have no reason to operate in Israel, where the majority is Jewish. If assimilation is what they want, they can assimilate to Orthodoxy!What vision for Israel is it these liberal offshoots are trying to create?? We need to know. Or is this article really just about a poor little rich girl who wants what she wants, and is used to getting her way?

this "associated press" article only manages to quote someone for the current laws in the 24th paragraph (out of 25 paragraphs) while the rest of the article whined about the "ultra-orthodox" (itself a dorogatory term). the fact is, every one and his brother is claiming to be jewish and many of them aren't. someone who converted and wishes to be accepted as a jew, needs to be converted in a way that is acceptable to all jews. if the reform object to a herdi conversion, let them block the person coming in. the fact is, the large percentage of conversions are phoney baloney. they are mostly done as part of intermarriages.

What this article does not make clear is whether Hillary and her husband are both Jews according to halacha. If they both are actually Jewish, then there should be no problem, certainly on her side with her heritage and having American records at her disposal, of proving their Jewishness. If either one of them is not halachically Jewish, then I can definitely understand the problem. Judaism is not about democracy - democracy simply means rule of the majority and is in origin an entirely Greek concept (remember what are we celebrating at Chanukah in a few days' time!). It was G-d given, and while G-d loves each one of us far more than we can ever imagine, the Creator of the whole Universe is our King and Master, and does not run things according to opinion polls. It doesn't ultimately matter what people feel - though sensitivity is definitely called for - but halacha is not actually open to negotiation or voting. A non-halachic "conversion" is frankly meaningless. It is G-d who gives the Jewish soul that the convert receives when he or she does so according to the Torah, ie halachically. It is the non-orthodox who have moved away from the Jewish norm, not the orthodox. If we were actually given the facts in this clearly biased article - ie the actual halachic status of Hillary and her husband which is never mentioned - it would help greatly in understanding what is truly going on here.

I made alyah too and had problems with these maggotts - as you may have heard on the news today, they have been embezzeling millions from YOU and ME - The People of Israel. Why would you want ANY kind of recongnition from thiefs, liars and false adherents to religion. I am sure that you are a more honest and PRODUCTIVE person than many of them. Been living here for 35 years and I simply do not care what they think or they do, unless they happen to step on my toes. I don't need ANY of their recognition, certification or say-so. They are scum and I couldn't care less what they think about me and my family. So stay and ignore. YOU DO NOT NEED THEM!

the way you describe people who,unlike yourself, believe that it's a Jews obligation to live as a Jew, is abhorrent. You should live in the US where you can do anything you like among the gentiles, until of course the Moslems take over. Unless you are a convert, and you could be a liberal movement convert from the way you talk, I'd ask why you think you are Jewish today. The reason I and almost everyone today who is born Jewish is because of the Jews in Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere adhered to Torah and avoided assimilation. But, you don't understand that simple fact. The Jews throughout history who felt as you produced inevitably gentile descendents.

reform and conservative Jews are simply making up a new religeon when they change the Torah and its' laws. Like it or not, a Jew is a Jew only if his mother is Jewish or if he or she converted to Judaism by Halachah-strict Jewish Law. When one wants to be an American citizen, he must declare that he will adhere to ALL its laws! It doesn't matter if secular Israelis' FEEL that anyone who wants to call himself a Jew, can be recognized as one!! It is sad what is happening primaril abroad with assimilation, but it is their own doing!

It's pretty assured that the huge divide between secular, traditional and orthodox Jews will give them the opportunity sooner rather than later. Apparently, your level, liberal mindset that shows a complete aloofness to Judaisms religous and cultural genocide and even expedites it. It is sickening that the 'rest' of the Jews will so flagrantly toss aside our intelligent and beautiful culture that saw us through 2,000 years of hell with such condescention and arrogance. "With just enough learning to misunderstand"...appropriately suited for your response. "Amendments" are intended to safeguard and clarify the original intent of the 'document' NOT provide opportunities for every yahoo to exploit and dismiss it. Am I "heated" about this issue? You bet: but not in any silly, politically meandering and waffling sense for self servitude but for the SURVIVAL of the Jewish people which the "rest" of the Jews treat like garbage, dismiss as archaic and laugh at. Not so oddly, the focus of Nazi germanys intent was aimed at the secular, non-religous Jews...NOT specifically the religous. The horrible, yet fitting saying: "the optimists stayed in Germany. The pessimists left"...applies here. The "rest" of the Jews will ensure there are NO more Jews while the religous will continue our longevity. So you can go "amend" your way to suit your life and destroy the "rest" of you but WE Jews of integrity will deny the arrogant comfort of secularism (with all of it's tremendous meaning and depth) and stubbornly refuse to homogenize, white-wash and destroy our heritage. I find it utterly amusing how some of 'us' will speak with such assuredness when not one human being can predict what will happen tomorrow. Enjoy your Germany "Joe"... It's not for us religous, devoted Jews.

Why a mother and not a father? If a Jewish mother can pass on her Jewishness, it seems to reason a Jewish father (proved by dna testing) can pass on his Jewishness to his children.

As the Coordinator of the Half-Jewish Network, the largest organization for children of intermarriage, I must express my astonishment that almost no one on this comment thread seems aware that Ms. Rosen has two fully ethnic Jewish parents. It is my understanding that she is halachically Jewish, as is her fiance. She was told that the proofs she brought from America that both her parents are Jewish were not acceptable because they insufficient. For example, I believe that her family could not produce her grandparents' ketubot; apparently those documents were destroyed in the Holocaust. So all the hateful comments calling on her to convert via Orthodox ritual or sneering at her for being half-Jewish or demanding that she leave Israel are completely wrong. She is not half-Jewish. I am used to seeing the adult children of intermarriage treated badly in Israel. But I am now receiving reports like this where people who have two ethnic Jewish parents are being told in Israel that they don't have 'enough' proof that they are Jews, when the proofs they offer would have been considered quite sufficient 20 years ago. It is not halachah or Torah to refuse to let someone with two Jewish parents marry another Jew in Israel because she doesn't have 'enough' proof that she is fully Jewish. If Israeli Jews want the money and support of Diaspora Jews and half-Jewish people, they will have to stop treating them in this harsh manner.

Parents Ketubot not enough? why grandparents Ketubot?

Dear Ora: As the Coordinator of the Half-Jewish Network, I have no clue why Israel continues to demand such unreasonable proofs of Jewish identity from Diaspora Jews and half-Jewish people. It is turning many Diaspora Jews and half-Jewish people against Israel. You may wish to call the Interior Ministry of Israel or the Jewish Agency for Israel and ask what proofs a Diaspora Jew now has to submit to make aliyah. You will be surprised to see the documents that must be produced to make aliyah. If you do an internet search on Ms. Rosen, you will see more information about this case. Please start voting against Knesset parties that enforce these aliyah rules.

Dear Ora: I noted that I spelled Ms. Rubin's name wrong, and am correcting this. If you do an internet search on her name, you will be as surprised as I was by the 'proofs' of Jewishness demanded of her.