First post of the year…

Sorry its been so long, but this was bigger than just a facebook post:

So now I am “non-Orthodox?” The majority of the worlds Jews are to be defined by what we are NOT? I refuse to accept that. How can we be such a weak majority? Time to rise up people, we have the numbers so we have the power here. Word, how bout all us non-Orthodox just start calling ourselves Orthodox? Then all those who define themselves by being not-us (yeah I’m calling you out Hershel Schachter, tell me what you stand for without it being a response to other Jews; wanna know what I stand for? Check the words of one of MY Ravs), can find a new name or just take over the title of non-Orthodox.

On the more real tip, this piece presents the problem as being the conveying of some “responsibility” over conversions (I’m assuming those performed in Israel) to the Haredi Chief Rabbinate. Ok, fine. I dont like it but it does not affect Diaspora Jews too much, its more about the half a million Israeli-Russians who are not halachically Jewish). However: “The bill contains a provision that would bar converts to Judaism from gaining automatic Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return if they had entered the country before their conversion.”

Seems to me that “if they had entered the country before their conversion” could have been any time, and could be applied to people who do not convert in Israel. So if you went on a visit to Israel as a Christian, then returned home to the US a changed person and converted to Judaism with me as your Rabbi – you are not covered under the law of return. THAT IS A PROBLEM.

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Rabbi Jonah Geffen

Jonah joined J Street following two years as Rabbinic Fellow at B’nai Jeshurun in New York City. For nearly ten years Jonah has dedicated himself to teaching and promoting the cause of peace as refracted and understood by the Jewish tradition. He served as Senior Coexistence Educator for Kivunim: New Directions, was a senior educator for the Pardes Center for Judaism and Conflict Resolution’s Rodef Shalom program, and has been a trip facilitator and leader of the Peacemakers’ Beit Midrash with Encounter. Jonah spent his freshman year of college on Young Judaea Year Course, was a Kollel Fellow at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, a summer fellow at Yeshivat Hadar, and a CLAL Rabbis Without Borders Fellow. Born and raised in Manhattan where he graduated from the Heschel and Fieldston Schools, Jonah received his BA in History and Jewish Studies from Indiana University, studied with Rabbi Dr. Marc Gopin earning an MS in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University, and received an MA in Jewish Studies and Rabbinic Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary.

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