Awesome and very moving.

forget. Zachor...remember who we are, what we are all about and what we can be. Happy New Year to all and to the soldiers of Israel. may God protect you, for you are the safekeepers of the State...God Bless you..

Does this mean that all jews including new jews are the chosen people.

to be told by the Rabbinate that you're not???

More proof that Israel is a fanatical religious country. The dream was to establish a modern secular Jewish State , not to try and bring the Messiah. Israel is transforming into a fanatical religious country. I can no longer support such a state. I hate religion, I want nothing to do with it.

As Jews, we are commanded by G-d to "love the convert, for you too were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 10:19). On that note, I welcome anyone who sincerely wishes to join the Jewish people and shares our obligations in bringing Light unto the Nations, spreading kindness and working towards fixing a broken world. A happy, sweet, peaceful and spiritually fulfilling new year to all of "Beit Yisrael".

Yes,got it in one!

viva Israel

Get on youtube, there are plenty of Shofar blowers.

What is the most important, to be self hater DNA-proof jew or to have the sincere conviction to be one ?

You are an Israeli. Until 150-200 years ago religion was all that Jews had, but not by 1948 when Israel came to existence in consequence of secular people efforts. Israel is a secular state, always was and will be. Being religious Jewish is completely unimportant to Israeli citizenship. Religion is losing ground, fighting for survival in Israel. If they will not go peacefully, will not separate religion from state by free will, there will be a civil war. Let's hope it will not come to that. In the meantime, as an Israeli, vote for politicians who support separation of religion and state.

I am not so sure having a jewish ancestor hundreds of years ago would make one a Jew today, there too has been much intermarriage too, and many peoples claim Jewishness which can never be verified. Not to mention the lost tribes people's who claim the same. For all of them the only entrance can be conversion to Judaism. I hear too many such stories to believe them all...

Yes it does mean that all Jews including new Jews are the chosen people. The 'choseness' of the Jews in the Bible does not imply any kind of aristocracy or superiority of Jews. According to the Bible, Jews are the Chosen People because they were chosen to make the idea of one God known to the world. Jews do not believe that being a member of the Chosen People gives them any special talents or makes them better than anyone else. On the topic of chosenness, the Book of Amos even goes so far as to say: "You alone have I singled out of all the families of the earth. That is why I call you to account for all your iniquities" (Amos 3:2). In this way Jews are called to be a “light to the nations” (Isaiah 42:6) by doing good in the world through gemilut hasidim (acts of loving kindness) and tikkun olam (repairing the world). So the 'choseness' actually implies responsibility, not superiority.

Amazing stories! One correction... Shavei was NOT the one who sent a teacher to China. There was already a young American man there working and teaching for years before Shavei even came along. He is still there....

Let me start by saying that my wife recently discovered that she is Jewish. She did it by DNA test. Her DNA is identical to one of her distant great grandfathers, Abraham Senior who was a Sephardic Jew in Spain who was Court Rabbi for Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain in 1492. Yes, She is still Jewish and it is still possible. DNA don't lie. Next, The ten tribes you mentioned are no longer lost nor are they Jews. They are however, Hebrews. Jews were descendants of one of the 12 sons of Jacob named Yhudah and also descendants of the Southern Kingdom of Israel. The 10 Tribes were sent into exile for idolatry. The Prophet Ezekiel laid on his side for the number of years that their punishment would last. That number was 390 years. Afterward they failed to repent so according to Torah, their punishment was multiplied by 7. That would make it 2730 years. From the time of their capture until approximately 1996 would be the period. Oddly in about 1996 there has been an awakening taking place among the western nations and millions are awakening to their Hebrew Roots Just as the Monarch butterfly knows when to migrate so also the Hebrew nefesh has awakened in millions and they now know their identity. I am one of those people. Joseph lives Jo.

whether born a Jew or if their soul calls out to them later in life... that is the most important part. The second most important part is that the Jews CHOOSE God at a time when God was seeking believers. The Jews choose God and THEREFORE God CHOOSE the Jews to give his word/laws to. The only arrogance is in your attempt to apply arrogance to the Jewish people. The Jewish people are blessed and grateful to have chosen God even though we have suffered at the hands of haters ever since.

Islamists.

comment is without merit.

if their soul is Jewish it will call to them and they will go through he conversion process.

...good examples of heart + mind magnets to the beauty of Judaism

But Israel is nothing new. It existed long before those secular Jews existed. Times changed. Jews were exiled. It was easier to assimilate, but Jews seldom do that totally - their neshama continues to burn, and so they were involved in rebuilding Israel. And since then things have continued to change, and people are realising that to belong to this land, and for the land to belong to them and to work for them, Judaism cannot be just a piece of DNA. It was, is and always will be a belief in Hashem, a religion. Which is why people like Daniel do not feel they belong here any more, but people like Maria, Xue Fei and Carolina do want to belong here. Sorry #14, you're wrong. While assimilation is growing, and has been for a long time, religion is gaining ground. Just check how many yeshivot are opening, every year, in Israel and all over the world.

Shana Tova.

why you hate religion?

wow, dave! why should this concern you? don't you feel chosen yourself? you must have a truly awful inferiority complex regarding your special place in the human chain. grow up!

How wonderful to read something of joy on Ynet.it is a rare occasion. I think just a small thing for Maria Fernanada Almeida,although it is OK to perform Tashlich, it is not part of our Spanish&Portugese Minhag. My best wishes to all the people in the article. Muchos Anos.