Even for a Goy should not be proud of cheating.

Thank you for the voice of honesty and reason. That is very rare these days. In my humble opinion, Rabbi Sherman is not a Jew. To be Jewish you must at a minimum have a heart. It seems to be missing in his case, however, I pray his eyes will be open and I honor him for his profession.

The blind can convert but the deaf can't? That is sad.

If you knew about your religion more than this guy does, you'd be all Ravs. You keep asking the Muslims to denounce their fanatics.. I don't see you doing anything about your own :)

Rabbi Avraham Sherman is in error in my opinion. So long as the woman is converting for all the right reasons -- not simply to marry her Jewish love -- she should be eligible for conversion like anyone else. This applies to everyone, not simply the hearing impaired.

The only way to convert to judaism is to be : - white ; - loaded ; - with a very good job / profession ; - or marry the son / daughter of an important jewish family in your congregation. For the others, just follow the usual way --> put a bag full of dollars in front of the rabbi in charge of the conversion files. Most of them are crooks and have families to feed!! I know some rabbis here in Montreal... You want to convert in a orthodox and recognized manner? Good, they'll do it for 10,000 CAD immediatly. Good luck. Keep me posted.

The State of Israelistan with its fundamentalist rabbinate has done it again. Are there other Dichovsky's who might give us hope for orthodoxy to enter the first millenium of the Common Era?

You jerk, I just wonder what's the difference between your ilk and a taliban or the followers of the religion of peace and the monkey ahmadinajad! There are a lot of converted jews or even not Jews dying or having a hard time to support Israel, and there are people like you spiting in their face. Converted or not converted who takes care of you when you pass away, you know who ? moron! bugs and worms...

that a mitzvah, to help charities financially? My cousin Ward Pettis went to Gauladet College for the deaf and got a degree in biology which he used to get a job as a researcher at the National Institutes of Health. He is not prevented from practising his faith or marrying. He married a woman whose brother was deaf, so she understood sign language. They had two daughters who were not deaf and have a grandchild. How cruel to say deaf people cannot do kind deeds for others. The Rabbis have become followers of tradition instead of followers of the Torah. They just don't want a deaf woman to marry a Jew by becoming one. That is a sick kind of religious prejudice that would make the Lord vomit.

Being a Jew is about how you feel inside, and wanting to be a part of the Jewish people, and wanting to raise your family with Jewish values. I am a Jew through and through, but I drive on Shabbat, I eat pig on occasion, etc.

Mr. Sherman should be dismissed from his position on the rabbinical court and charges of discrimination filed against him. For obvious reasons this man is grossly unqualified for a position which requires a modicum of common sense and a measure of humanity. Truly a man who cannot see the forest for the trees.

loved your answer. you are so right. most of these rabbis and religious are not spiritual. they talk the talk but do not walk the walk and in this case they are the deaf ones.

"Many years ago a deaf woman appeared before the Conversions Court and declared her desire to become a Jew so she could marry her Jewish love." Right here is the reason she can't convert. Halacha forbids converting so you "could marry her Jewish love". I wouldn't be a bit suprised if THIS was the reason given by the beis din, and this deafness had nothing to do with it. YNet has a bad habit of misreporting the news from the religious world.

The rabbis should ber ashamed of themselves

I also do not keep Shabbath, I also eat dairy & milk together, I don't even fast on Yom Kippur. And I'm not even sure if I believe in God. So why should I enjoy keeping my Judaism despite not keeping any Mitzvot, but Patricia not? Just because I was born Jewish? What strange logic. If she is in danger of having her Judaism stripped, then they should strip mine as well. Who gives a c**p about these black zealots anyway. I feel completely Jewish by mere identity, and that's enough for me, I sure don't need their stamp of approval. If I lived 70 years ago, I would surely be Jewish enough for Hitler to exterminate, and that's my barometer. And if I wanted to marry a shiksa, I'll never ask her to convert, civil marriage is the way to go - for your attention, Jews with deaf non-Jewish loved ones!

I'm not that glad that you "are a self identified Jew", personally I would not see as a Jew in ANY way. Eat treife.. damn.. you seem to be very proud of it aswell..

The Rabbanut can't "strip" the convert's ex-husband Judaism. He was a born Jew.

there are two ways to look at it: If you believe that jewdiism is but a culture... then for you conversion is just a ceremonial excuse for you to consider yourself a part of that culture. this culture consists of quaint customs such as the sabbath and passover if you believe that jews are the chosen ppl of god you must fallow the rabbis. someone that wants to convert, but thinks he knows better then the rabbis on what that conversion means is a paradox

This is not my Judaism either. beside what you mentioned in your article iI would like to add something not so practical.This rabbi Sherman does not really know a lot about spirituality - does ´nt he know that we have more than our five senses and that you can hear with your inner ears- does not he know that Beethoven was allready deaf when he heard with his inner ears beautiful music and wrote it down. Does not he know that what was written has a much deeper sense and was not meant to be taken literally??? Does not he know that peace is the first and most important mitzwah in Judaism and when he fulfills the wish of conversion he gives inner peace to this lady!!!- so he is not keeping the most important Mitzvah he himself. This is really sad and unhuman- how can a rabbi think that God would reject the love of being jewish from a deaf woman??? what kind of picture of God ..... Blessings Hedy

Who the heck cares about YOUR judaism. That is such a distgusting thing to say MY judaism. Just with those words you undermine all of what judaism stands for: Truth, objective reality, G-d . are all of those basic principles lost ? have they fallen out of our vocabulary? We as jews have lost our way. it is time to investigate the essence of judaism

One could fill a book with opinions such as these and then decide if laughter or tears should be the reaction. Laughter at the absurdity of these people and tears for how they make a mockery of Judaism.

The Rabbis who ruled this way are evil people who bring aboout a desecration of G-d's name cause hatred of Judism. These Rabbis should be thrown out of Judaism.

Apparently you don't get it- anybody who converts to Judaism or is born to a Jewish mother is Jewish. Assuming Patricia had a halachic conversion, she is just as Jewish as King David. By your logic, however, a convert to Islam who eats pork, worships idols and forgoes the obligations of Salat and Sawm isn't a Muslim either- but try telling that to the Saudi morality police who would have no qualms beheading her...

Rabbi Levi Brackman, it is my understanding that spiritual matters are matters of the heart. If the condition of the heart is not right then a perfectly spoken mitzvoth will have no spiritual significance for the convert. Thus, a convert whose heart is seeking God but is unable to perform some portion of a man made law to prove it should not be judged ineligible for admittance. This is hypocracy and legalism at its worst is it not? Feel free to email me if you want to discuss further.

The rabbinical courts make more and more idiotic decisions. Please stop these idiots from harming judaism, they have no clue what the real basis for judaism is. At times they make me ashamed to be a jew. Time for reform.

Nor is this my Judaism, either. What if a person born of a Jewish mother is (1) deaf from birth or (2) becomes deaf in childhood as the result of an injury? What would be their status v-a-v Judaism and the Conversion Court?

Its actions like this by "Rabbis: that made me leave Orthodoxy a long time aog and a reason why I do not live in Israel today. What if someone who is Jewish becomes deaf, through an illness or accident? I am partially deaf as a result of my service in the Army, does this mean that I am only partially Jewish (as opposed to all those Haredim that don't serve and whose hearing is perfect) We are allowing a Taliban to develop in out midst.

Something else from our medieval rabbis. Religion is far to serious a thing to leave it to rabbis. They have managed to take out the universal essence out of Judaism and most of us let them.