כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה
All of Israel is accountable for each other
עמידה שבת מנחה
מי כעמך ישראל גוי אחד בערץ
Standard prayerbook, Sabbath afternoon prayer
Who is like your people Israel, one nation in the land?
"Klal Yisrael," the unity of the people of Israel is a vital concept among Jews. Yet the question of "who's in" and "who's out" is becoming increasingly divisive in the Jewish world.
(ד) זֶה הַכְּלָל בֵּן הַבָּא מִן הָעֶבֶד אוֹ מִן הָעַכּוּ''ם אוֹ מִן הַשִּׁפְחָה אוֹ מִן בַּת עַכּוּ''ם הֲרֵי הוּא כְּאִמּוֹ וְאֵין מַשְׁגִּיחִין עַל הָאָב.
This is the general rule: the child of a slave or a gentile or from a maid servant or daughter of a gentile, all are according to the mother, and we pay no attention to the status of the father.
ונכרית מנלן אמר קרא (דברים ז, ג) לא תתחתן בם אשכחנא דלא תפסי בה קידושי ולדה כמותה מנלן א"ר יוחנן משום ר"ש בן יוחי דאמר קרא (דברים ז, ד) כי יסיר את בנך מאחרי בנך הבא מישראלית קרוי בנך ואין בנך הבא מן העובדת כוכבים קרוי בנך אלא בנה
§ The Gemara asks: From where do we derive that betrothal with a gentile woman is ineffective? The verse states: “Neither shall you make marriages with them” (Deuteronomy 7:3), which teaches that marrying gentile women is halakhically meaningless. The Gemara asks: We have found that betrothal is ineffective with her; from where do we derive that her offspring is like her?
Rabbi Yoḥanan says in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai: As the verse states with regard to the same issue: “Your daughter you shall not give to his son…for he will turn away your son from following Me” (Deuteronomy 7:3–4). Since the verse is concerned that after one’s daughter marries a gentile, the father will lead his children away from the service of God, this indicates that your son, i.e., your grandson, from a Jewish woman is called “your son” by the Torah, but your son from a gentile woman is not called your son, but her son.
יעקב איש כפר גבורייא אזל לצור אתון שאלון ליה מהו מיגזור ברה דארמייתא בשבתא. וסבר למישרי להון מן הדא (במדבר א) ויתיילדו על משפחותם לבית אבותם. שמע רבי חגיי אמר ייתי וילקי. אמר ליה מהיכן את מלקיני. אמר ליה מן הדין (עזרא י) ועתה נכרות ברית להוציא כל הנשים הנכריות והנולד מהן וגו'. אמר ליה ומן הקבלה את מלקיני. אמר ליה וכתורה יעשה. אמר ליה מן הדין אוריתא אמר ליה מן ההיא דאמר רבי יוחנן בשם רבי שמעון בן יוחי לא תתחתן בם וכו'. א"ל חבוט חבוטך דהיא טבא בקלטה:
Jacob of the city of Naburaya went to Tyre. They came and asked him, "What [is the law with regard to] circumcising the son of a gentile woman [born of a Jewish father] on the Sabbath?" [Jacob] thought to permit them [to do so] on the basis of this [verse]: "And they declared their pedigrees after their families, by their fathers' houses" (Numbers 1:18). R. Haggi heard [and] said, "Let him come and be flogged." [Jacob] said to [R. Haggi], "On what basis do you flog me?" [R. Haggi said to him, "From this [verse]: 'And now let us make a covenant to put away all the foreign wives and such as are born of them' (Ezra 10:3)." [Jacob] said to [R. Haggi], "And would you flog me on the basis of the [prophetic] tradition?" [R. Haggi] said to him, " '… and let it be done according to the Torah' (Ezra 10:3.)" [Jacob] said to [R. Haggi], "From which law?" [ R. Haggi] said to him, "From that which R. Yoḥanan declared in the name of R. Simeon ben Yoḥai, 'Thou shalt not make marriage with them…. nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For he will turn thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods.' (Deuteronomy 7:3-4)." [Jacob] said to R. Haggi, "Flog me with your lashes for that is better than death."
According to the halakhah as interpreted by traditional Jews over many centuries, the offspring of a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father is recognized as a Jew, while the offspring of a non-Jewish mother and a Jewish father is considered a non-Jew. To become a Jew, the child of a non-Jewish mother and a Jewish father must undergo conversion.
As a Reform community, the process of determining an appropriate response has taken us to an examination of the tradition, our own earlier responses, and the most current considerations. In doing so, we seek to be sensitive to the human dimensions of this issue.
Both the Biblical and the Rabbinical traditions take for granted that ordinarily the paternal line is decisive in the tracing of descent within the Jewish people. The Biblical genealogies in Genesis and elsewhere in the Bible attest to this point. In intertribal marriage in ancient Israel, paternal descent was decisive. ...
...
When, in the tradition, the marriage was considered not to be licit, the child of that marriage followed the status of the mother (Mishna Kiddushin 3.12, havalad kemotah). The decision of our ancestors thus to link the child inseparably to the mother, which makes the child of a Jewish mother Jewish and the child of a nonJewish mother non-Jewish, regardless of the father, was based upon the fact that the woman with her child had no recourse but to return to her own people. A Jewish woman could not marry a non-Jewish man (cf. Shulchan Aruch, Even Ha-ezer 4.19, la tafsei kiddushin). A Jewish man could not marry a non-Jewish woman. The only recourse in Rabbinic law for the woman in either case was to return to her own community and people.
Since Emancipation, Jews have faced the problem of mixed marriage and the status of the offspring of mixed marriage. The Reform Movement responded to the issue.
There are tens of thousands of mixed marriages. In a vast majority of these cases the non-Jewish extended family is a functioning part of the child's world, and may be decisive in shaping the life of the child. It can no longer be assumed a priori, therefore, that the child of a Jewish mother will be Jewish any more than that the child of a non-Jewish mother will not be.
This leads us to the conclusion that the same requirements must be applied to establish the status of a child of a mixed marriage, regardless of whether the mother or the father is Jewish.
Therefore:
The Central Conference of American Rabbis declares that the child of one Jewish parent is under the presumption of Jewish descent. This presumption of the Jewish status of the offspring of any mixed marriage is to be established through appropriate and timely public and formal acts of identification with the Jewish faith and people. The performance of these mitzvot serves to commit those who participate in them, both parent and child, to Jewish life.
Depending on circumstances, mitzvot leading toward a positive and exclusive Jewish identity will include entry into the covenant, acquisition of a Hebrew name, Torah study, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, and Kabbalat Torah (Confirmation). For those beyond childhood claiming Jewish identity, other public acts or declarations may be added or substituted after consultation with their rabbi.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards recommends to the Convention of the Rabbinical Assembly that (a) ascription of Jewish lineage through a legal instrument or ceremonial act on the basis of anything other than matrilineal descent; or (b) supervision of a conversion which omits tevilah in the case of females, or tevilah and brit milah in the case of males shall continue to be regarded as violations of the halakhah of Conservative Judaism. They shall henceforth be violations of a Standard of Rabbinic Practice and be inconsistent with membership in the Rabbinical Assembly, it being understood that any member of the Rabbinical Assembly shall continue to possess the right to petition the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards for an opinion on any case of extraordinary circumstances.
1. In the Law of Return, 5710-1950**, the following sections shall be inserted after section 4:
"Rights of members of family
4A. (a) The rights of a Jew under this Law and the rights of an oleh under the Nationality Law, 5712-1952***, as well as the rights of an oleh under any other enactment, are also vested in a child and a grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew and the spouse of a grandchild of a Jew, except for a person who has been a Jew and has voluntarily changed his religion.
(b) It shall be immaterial whether or not a Jew by whose right a right under subsection (a) is claimed is still alive and whether or not he has immigrated to Israel.
(c) The restrictions and conditions prescribed in respect of a Jew or an oleh by or under this Law or by the enactments referred to in subsection (a) shall also apply to a person who claims a right under subsection (a).
Definition
4B. For the purposes of this Law, "Jew" means a person who was born of a Jewish mother or has become converted to Judaism and who is not a member of another religion."
Anyone with one Jewish (as defined above) grandparent - regardless of which one - is eligible to emigrate to Israel. The "Hitler test" - if Hitler would have sent you to the camps, you have a place in Israel. - although the Law of Return does not allow people who have a different religion, a distinction Hitler didn't care about.
Reform and Conservative conversions are recognized for purposes of immigration to Israel.
In the 1950s, under pressure from a wave of antisemitism by the Polish government, Rufeisen applied for Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.
The Israeli government denied Rufeisen's request, on the grounds that he had converted to Christianity. The Supreme Court of Israel, 1962 the Court upheld the government's decision: any Jew converting to another religion would lose their preferential access to Israeli citizenship. (Rufeisen v M o In, (1962) 16 PD 2428)
As of 2010, anyone who immigrated to Israel after 1990 and wishes to marry or divorce via the Jewish tradition within the state limits must go through a "Judaism test" at an Orthodox Rabbinical court. In this test, a person would need to prove their claim to be Jewish to an investigator beyond a reasonable doubt. They would need to present original documentation of their matriline up to their great-grandmother (4 generations), or in the case of Ethiopian Jews, 7 generations back. In addition, they should provide government documents with nationality/religion shown as Jewish (e.g., birth/death certificates, marriage documents, etc.).
There are many Jews in Israel not eligible to marry via the Chief Rabbinate because they either can't prove their Jewish status going back 4 generations, or they were converted in a Reform, Conservative, or unrecognized Orthodox ceremony. These people cannot get married in Israel - there is no civil marriage. They must go somewhere else (often Cyprus) to get married. Once married, those marriages are recognized by the state of Israel.
(א) כֵּיצַד מְקַבְּלִין גֵּרֵי הַצֶּדֶק. כְּשֶׁיָּבוֹא אִחָד לִהִתְגַּיֵּר מִן הָעַכּוּ''ם וְיִבְדְּקוּ אַחֲרָיו וְלֹא יִמְצְאוּ עִלָּה. אוֹמְרִים לוֹ מָה רָאִיתָ שֶׁבָּאתָ לְהִתְגַּיֵּר. אִי אַתָּה יוֹדֵעַ שֶׁיִּשְׂרָאֵל בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה דְּווּיִים וּדְחוּפִים וּמְסֻחָפִין וּמְטֹרָפִין וְיִסּוּרִין בָּאִין עֲלֵיהֶן. אִם אָמַר אֲנִי יוֹדֵעַ וְאֵינִי כְּדַאי מְקַבְּלִין אוֹתוֹ מִיָּד:
(ב) וּמוֹדִיעִין אוֹתוֹ עִקְּרֵי הַדָּת שֶׁהוּא יִחוּד הַשֵּׁם וְאִסּוּר עַכּוּ''ם. וּמַאֲרִיכִין בַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה. וּמוֹדִיעִין אוֹתוֹ מִקְצָת מִצְוֹת קַלּוֹת וּמִקְצָת מִצְוֹת חֲמוּרוֹת. וְאֵין מַאֲרִיכִין בְּדָבָר זֶה. וּמוֹדִיעִין אוֹתוֹ עֲוֹן לֶקֶט שִׁכְחָה וּפֵאָה וּמַעֲשֵׂר שֵׁנִי. וּמוֹדִיעִין אוֹתוֹ עָנְשָׁן שֶׁל מִצְוֹת. כֵּיצַד. אוֹמְרִים לוֹ הֱוֵי יוֹדֵעַ שֶׁעַד שֶׁלֹּא בָּאתָ לְדָת זוֹ אִם אָכַלְתָּ חֵלֶב אִי אַתָּה עָנוּשׁ כָּרֵת. אִם חִלַּלְתָּ שַׁבָּת אִי אַתָּה עָנוּשׁ סְקִילָה. וְעַכְשָׁיו אַחַר שֶׁתִּתְגַּיֵּר אִם אָכַלְתָּ חֵלֶב אַתָּה עָנוּשׁ כָּרֵת. אִם חִלַּלְתָּ שַׁבָּת אַתָּה עָנוּשׁ סְקִילָה. וְאֵין מַרְבִּין עָלָיו. וְאֵין מְדַקְדְּקִין עָלָיו. שֶׁמָּא יִגְרֹם לְטָרְדוֹ וּלְהַטּוֹתוֹ מִדֶּרֶךְ טוֹבָה לְדֶרֶךְ רָעָה. שֶׁבַּתְּחִלָּה אֵין מוֹשְׁכִין אֶת הָאָדָם אֶלָּא בְּדִבְרֵי רָצוֹן וְרַכִּים. וְכֵן הוּא אוֹמֵר (הושע יא ד) "בְּחַבְלֵי אָדָם אֶמְשְׁכֵם" וְאַחַר כָּךְ (הושע יא ד) "בַּעֲבֹתוֹת אַהֲבָה":
(ג) וּכְשֵׁם שֶׁמּוֹדִיעִין אוֹתוֹ עָנְשָׁן שֶׁל מִצְוֹת כָּךְ מוֹדִיעִין אוֹתוֹ שְׂכָרָן שֶׁל מִצְוֹת. וּמוֹדִיעִין אוֹתוֹ שֶׁבַּעֲשִׂיַּת מִצְוֹת אֵלּוּ יִזְכֶּה לְחַיֵּי הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. וְשֶׁאֵין שׁוּם צַדִּיק גָּמוּר אֶלָּא בַּעַל הַחָכְמָה שֶׁעוֹשֶׂה מִצְוֹת אֵלּוּ וְיוֹדְעָן:
(1) How do we accept righteous converts? When one comes to convert from being a Gentile and they examine him and they do not find any ulterior motive, they say to him: What did you see that made you want to convert? Don't you know that Israel in these times is rejected, swept away, disturbed, and afflictions come on them. If he says, "I know, and I am not worthy" they accept him immediately.
(2) And they inform him of the main principles of the religion, which is the unification of God's name, and the prohibition of idol worship, and they dwell at length on this matter. And they inform him of some of the lenient commandments, and some of the stringent commandments. And they do not dwell at length on this. And they let him know the sin of “gatherings” “forgotten sheaves” “corners of the field” and “second tithe.” And they tell him of the punishments for not keeping the commandments. How so? They say to him: Know that before this point, if you ate forbidden fate, you would not be punished with karet, if you broke Shabbat, you would not be punished by being stoned. But now, after you have converted, if you eat forbidden fat you will be punished with karet, if you break Shabbat, you will be punished by being stoned. And they do not dwell at length on this, nor do they go into detail, lest this causes him to be troubled and turn away from the good path to the evil path. For at the beginning we do not draw a person except with words of appeasement and gentleness. I drew them with human ties, with cords of love.
(3) And just as they inform them of the punishment for keeping commandments so too they inform them of the reward of mitzvoth, and they inform them that by doing these mitzvoth they will earn the world to come, and that no one is perfectly righteous person except for one who is a master of wisdom, who performs these commandments and knows them.
() [ב] "לא תונו אותו"-- שלא תאמר לו "אמש היית עובד עבודת כוכבים והיום נכנסת תחת כנפי השכינה".
(undefined) 2) "you shall not oppress him": You shall not say to him: "Yesterday you were an idolator, and today you have entered under the wings of the Shechinah!"
There is a clear tradition that converts are named ben/bat Avraham Avinu. In the Shulhan Arukh it states: אבינו אברהם בן פלוני: כותב גר בגט― In a convert‘s get is written: Ploni son of Avraham Avinu.‖1 The Rosh in a teshuvah states, בכתובות לכתוב נוהגין כך אלא our is it thus ―וגטין של גרים: פלוני בן אברהם, ושמו המובהק כותבים, ואב המון גוים הוא אבי כלם custom to write in ketubbot or gittin of converts: Ploni ben Avraham, and his preferred name is written, and he is the father of a great nation, father of all.‖
...
2) If a convert chooses a different name, it is preferred that in any official documents, such as ketubbot or gittin, that the convert be identified as הגר or הגיורת in order that there will not be any possibility of confusion in identifying the person, as described in the teshuvah from the Mintz.
3) In accord with the Reisner responsum mentioned earlier, children who are converted and adopted into a Jewish family may certainly use the patronymic and matronymic of his adopted parents, and need not use אבינו אברהם בת\בן. 19 The same is the rule for people of patrilineal descent (children of a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother who underwent conversion). Such persons also do not need to be identified as הגר or הגיורת in official documents.
4) And certainly, בדיעבד ,after the fact, if a convert had received a name other than Ploni ben/bat Avraham Avinu at the time of a halachic conversion, there is no requirement for the person to change his or her name, providing that he/she is identified as a convert in any official documents such as ketubbot or gittin
Rabbi Elliott Dorff Concurring Opinion
In the meantime, in the far more common setting of being called to the Torah, Rabbi Leff’s ruling enables converts to choose to use “Abraham our Father and Sarah our Mother” but also their parents’ names (or a Hebrew version thereof) if they find the medieval custom embarrassing and a constant reminder to them and everyone else of their non-Jewish roots. His responsum thus enables us to retain the medieval custom for those who choose to do so but also to be faithful to the Mishnah’s principle for those who find the medieval custom embarrassing and disenfranchising.
() [ג] "כאזרח"-- מה אזרח שקבל עליו את כל דברי התורה אף גר שקבל עליו כל דברי התורה. מיכן אמרו גר שקבל עליו את כל דברי התורה חוץ מדבר אחד-- אין מקבלים אותו. ר' יוסי בר' יהודה אומר, אפילו דבר קטן מדקדוקי סופרים.
(undefined) 3) (19:34) ("As the home-born among you shall he be to you, the stranger that lives among you." And you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the L rd your G d.") "As the home-born": Just as the home-born takes upon himself all the words of the Torah, so, must the proselyte take upon himself all the words of the Torah. From here they ruled: If a proselyte took upon himself all the words of the Torah except one, he is not to be accepted. R. Yossi b. R. Yehudah says: Even (if he did not accept) a small thing of the inferences of the Scribes.
The issue here is whether a boy (or, for that matter, an adult male) who fears circumcision or simply refuses to undergo that procedure may be accepted as a convert to Judaism. Traditional halakhah, of course, says "no": "one is not a proselyte until he has been circumcised and ritually immersed."[1] The Reform movement in the United States, however, says "yes." The Central Conference of American rabbis has been on record since 1893 as accepting conversion "without any initiatory rite, ceremony, or observance whatever." It is sufficient that the prospective Jew-by-choice declare his or her acceptance of the essential doctrines of Judaism and determination "to adhere in life and death, actively and faithfully, to the sacred cause and mission of Israel, as marked out in Holy Writ."[2] This resolution has remained on the books for more than a century and as such is the official position of the Conference. In the words of a Reform responsum which bears directly upon this issue, while a ger "should be encouraged to undergo circumcision," this could "strictly speaking" be waived in accordance with the 1893 resolution.
Even though per the above the Reform movement does not require circumcision or immersion in a mikveh, many Reform rabbis continue to follow the traditional procedures.
I find no cogent basis in halakhah for accepting, even ex post facto, converts who did not undergo specific tevilah for the sake of conversion, unless it can be shown that they are strictly observant Jews, particularly scrupulous in the use of a mikvah. The fact that they may have been taken to be Jews by themselves or by others does not change the need for tevilah for the sake of conversion. The fact that most of these conversions have been conducted under Reform auspices makes the matter especially difficult because of the cordial relationships which exist between Conservative and Reform rabbis and lay people. Nevertheless, this halakhic requirement is not meant as a public rebuff to the Reform movement. If a Reform rabbi conducts giyyur kehalakhah, I accept his converts as bona fide Jews. I might also add that I do not accept the converts of non-Reform rabbis if the conversion was not conducted according to objective halakhic criteria. These objective halakhic criteria, which alone protect the purity of Jewish identity, should not be compromised in the interests of an ultimately meaningless Jewish unity. 19 However, rabbinical experience has taught me that a Conservative rabbi can exercise compassionate tact in urging proper tevilah in these cases. I do not tell such converts that their conversions are invalid, but rather, that they were incomplete, for even the most liberal conversion involves study, thus minimally fulfilling hoda'at mitzvot. I tell them that they inadvertently overlooked an important specific. At the tevilah I ask them to reconfirm their kabbalat ol malkhut shamayim and kabbalat ol shel mitzvot. In the overwhelming majority of these cases, the converts have thanked me for helping them to legally assure their unambiguous Jewish identity.
(יז) גֵּר שֶׁלֹּא בָּדְקוּ אַחֲרָיו אוֹ שֶׁלֹּא הוֹדִיעוּהוּ הַמִּצְוֹת וְעָנְשָׁן וּמָל וְטָבַל בִּפְנֵי שְׁלֹשָׁה הֶדְיוֹטוֹת הֲרֵי זֶה גֵּר. אֲפִלּוּ נוֹדַע שֶׁבִּשְׁבִיל דָּבָר הוּא מִתְגַּיֵּר הוֹאִיל וּמָל וְטָבַל יָצָא מִכְּלַל הָעַכּוּ''ם וְחוֹשְׁשִׁין לוֹ עַד שֶׁיִּתְבָּאֵר צִדְקוּתוֹ. וַאֲפִלּוּ חָזַר וְעָבַד עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה הֲרֵי הוּא כְּיִשְׂרָאֵל מוּמָר שֶׁקִּדּוּשָׁיו קִדּוּשִׁין. וּמִצְוָה לְהַחֲזִיר אֲבֵדָתוֹ מֵאַחַר שֶׁטָּבַל נַעֲשָׂה כְּיִשְׂרָאֵל. וּלְפִיכָךְ קִיְּמוּ שִׁמְשׁוֹן וּשְׁלֹמֹה נְשׁוֹתֵיהֶן וְאַף עַל פִּי שֶׁנִּגְלָה סוֹדָן:
When a [court] did not check a converts background and did not inform him of the mitzvot and the punishment for [the failure to observe] the mitzvot and he circumcised himself and immersed in the presence of three ordinary people, he is a convert. Even if it is discovered that he converted for an ulterior motive, since he circumcised himself and converted, he has departed from the category of gentiles and we view him with skepticism until his righteousness is revealed.
Even if afterwards, [the convert] worships false deities, he is like an apostate Jew. [If he] consecrates [a woman,] the consecration is valid, and it is a mitzvah to return his lost object. For since he immersed himself he became a Jew.
But in any event she needs to have accepted the commandments in front of a beit din and the Conservative "rabbis" simply do not make one for they do not know the laws of conversion and they are not careful to accept converts in accordance with the law even if they did know, and in any event they lack the acceptance of the commandments which does invalidate the conversion. And also the Conservative beit din are invalid to serve on a court for they are deniers (koferim) for many of the fundamental principles of law and they violate many prohibitions see Hoshen Mishbat 7:9, and see the Pitchei Teshuva in the name of R. Akiva Eger who says that even for a rabbinic sin one is invalid to serve as a judge and this does not need a formal announcement. And also this person most assuredly violates many biblical commandments and even if we do not have formal testimony, we can observe that whomever has the embarrassing name "Conservative" on them are under the assumption as having abandoned many prohibitions and to deny many of the fundamental principles, and I have already explained in one response that those who are established to be deniers are invalid for testimony even without accepting formal testimony on them even regarding someone lenient and I do not have time to expand on this. And therefore, it is clear that a conversion done by a Conservative "rabbi" is nothing.