[NGFP-BookClub] Who is a Jew?

[Ilan Bloch]

Lance writes:

"Non-orthodox streams of Judaism have (in my view) conveniently and
disingenuously dispensed with halacha (the code of Jewish Law which
sets out a Jews obligations).  In so doing, they have turned Judaism on
its head and with it the concept of who is a Jew."

The necessary Halachic requirements of a conversion are: milah (or hatafat =
dam for those already circumcised), tevilah, and kabbalat ohl malchut shama=
yim. Until the Ultra-Orthodox establishment in Israel fixed the third requi=
rement as an absolute and eternal commitment to taryag mitzvot, this had ne=
ver been the case. Instead of lumping non-Orthodox streams of Judaism toget=
her as Halachically invalid, we should examine each and every conversion on=
 its merits - did the prospective convert fulfil the three requirements, wi=
th kabbalat ohl malchut shamayim being defined as each individual Rabbi (re=
gardless of which stream he/she belongs to) sees fit - as long as it accept=
s (Lance's concept - with which I agree) the general principle of Jewish ob=
ligations/mitzvot? There are Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Rabbis who g=
ive away conversion certificates without cause, and there are Orthodox, Con=
servative and Reform Rabbis who only award these certificates after an ardu=
ous process.

Lance continues:

"I
find great difficulty in accepting Ilan=92s sincerity in his claim to be
pro-Israel and not to be part of a the club of Israel bashers trying to
delegitimize the State.  I have yet to read a positive word from Ilan
on Israel and I believe it was Ilan who said: =93we should examine
possible models for the deconstitution of Israel as a Jewish State, and
its reconstitution (with the incorporation of Gaza, and Judea and
Samaria/the West Bank) as "a state of all its citizens", because I
would not be willing to live in a minority-rule "Jewish state"=94"

I was a member of Habonim Dror for 10 years, I participated in a high schoo=
l semester program in Israel and the Machon LeMadrichei Chul, I started my =
own Zionist youth movement and volunteered for it for three years, I staffe=
d two Israel programs, I worked for the World Zionist Organization Hagshama=
 Department both in Australia and Israel, I taught Israel Studies at two Je=
wish day schools, and I made Aliyah. I have lived in Israel for the last si=
x years, and I work as a qualified madrich tiyulim, speak Hebrew, pay my ta=
xes and vote in Israeli elections. I should not need to prove my pro-Israel=
 credentials to anybody. I am not an Israel basher trying to delegitimise t=
he State; I am simply looking critically at the State from an insider's per=
spective, the same as I look critically at Australia, and I would hope free=
 citizens of all countries would examine their own leaders and states. Even=
 more so, as a Jew who is intimately and deeply connected to Israel, I cann=
ot remain silent about the injustices perpetrated in my name by the State: =
I live with the results of these injustices each and every day. And yes, I =
am not ashamed to say that I simply would not be willing to live in a "Jewi=
sh State" in which a Jewish minority rules over a Palestinian majority. Mor=
e than not ashamed, I am proud of this view. My father and uncles also live=
d in a minority-rule state which existed not too long ago, and as proud Zio=
nists, they too agree.

Shabbat shalom

Ilan




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