See also: Line between Jew and gentile no longer as clear
Israel’s Law of Return allows people with Jewish ancestry to receive Israeli citizenship, but strident religious rules exclude many from the faith itself – some nine million people.
[..] According to the study by Prof. Sergio DellaPergola from the Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University, as of the beginning of 2014, the number of Jews (people born to Jewish mothers) stands at 14,212,800 (a 0.66 percent increase in comparison to 2013). If you take into account those born to Jewish fathers, but non-Jewish mothers, the number rises to 17,236,850.
The number jumps to 22,921,500 when you take into account people who can trace Jewish ancestry three generations back – the maximum allowed by the Law of Return. The definition is similar to the one laid out by the Nazi’s Nuremberg Laws, and is thus understood to be Israel’s response to the threat posed to Jews by anti-Semitism based on racial – as opposed to religious – criteria.
The data will be presented in a conference in Jerusalem’s prestigious Van Leer Institute on Monday as part of an event called Converts, Returnees, and Adherents: New Ways of Joining the Jewish People.
Conversion bill
The government passed on Sunday a highly controversial bill overhauling the way conversions to Judaism are handled in Israel, despite objections from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The legislation aims to expand Orthodox conversions in Israel, permitting municipal rabbis to oversee the process which until today was held by a few select facilities, causing massive red tape and what many describe as an exhausting process which prevented many from completing their conversion. The bill passed almost unanimously.
The bill’s sponsor, MK Elazar Stern, from the centrists Hatnua party and himself a religious Jew, made it his mission since entering the Knesset to lead a reform in conversions, and even vowed to quit the coalition should the bill fall. According to him, the current process alienates scores of Israelis from Judaism.
However, to secure the bill’s passage, compromises were made to its content: For example, in the bill passed Sunday, Israel’s Chief Rabbi is put in charge of finalizing all conversion certificates, while the initial bill failed to address the issue.
Regarding the issue of reform conversions, a contentious issue in Jewish politics, the initial law gave it some standing, along with conservative (or masorti) conversion, while the new version makes no mention of either. The new version also reintroduced religious oversight into the process, while the initial bill attempted to make it a purely administrative process undertaken in accordance with religious edicts.
@ honeybee:
I doubt you said that on MY behalf.
@ honeybee:
Me siento demasiado mi dulce abeja de la miel >>>>
honeybee Said:
@ yamit82:
yamit82 Said:
Charlie Brown,a good man >>>
@ honeybee:
What are you taking about???? >>>>
yamit82 Said:
Yes he is >>>
@ M Devolin:
Thanks buddy They took my stitches out yesterday eve. and found I have an infection, so I’m back on anti-biotics and pro biotics. I’m used to it. I was wondering why I was still feeling pain week after, now I know!! It’ll be fine and in couple of days but thanks for noticing in your comment here.
I really appreciate it.
You’re a good man Charlie Brown!!! 🙂
Sorry to hear you’re not feeling up to par, Yamit. I just read your post above about the stitches. Have a speedy recovery (but you’re tougher than horse-harness anyway!). Get well soon!
dweller Said:
Better be careful pulling off those covers Sweetie, never know what you might find.
@ honeybee:
So you’d rather I just IGNORED you altogether, Twinkie?
@ dweller:
Leave you standing there alone with the bone in your teeth and little tail waging, waiting for me to pat your furry head, that would be cruel Sweetie !!
@ honeybee:
If, in fact, I had been chasing bones, I couldn’t have simultaneously seen the game you were playing, Twinkie.
The only reason you came back with that silly question about chasing bones is that I’d pulled your covers by asking my own question, and you had nowhere else to go with it.
Bottom line: There’s no substitute for simply giving up the game. . . .
dweller Said:
Don’t you ever get tired of chasing bones, Sweetie ??????????????????
@ honeybee:
Well of course says I
— who else’s post had you erroneously referenced in insisting you “won’t be accused” of having ‘interpolated’?
Don’t you ever get bored with these inane girlie games?
dweller Said:
Says you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ honeybee:
Saying I don’t know was just a polite way (probably more polite than you’re entitled to) of telling you that you need to read more attentively.
@ dweller:
if you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you.
@ honeybee:
Dunno where you got the idea that you were being accused of such. The comment was clearly addressed to Yamit. See the reference atop the post.
dweller Said:
I HAVE NEVER interpolated in my life !!!!!!!!!! And will not be accused of such.
@ yamit82:
I’m not the one who interpolates; you are.
Of course I read “literally”; God is not a trickster & scripture is not a riddle — let alone, a guessing game. The only time not to read literally is when the text effectively tells you not to — as when a character makes clear that he is telling a story to illustrate some principle or phenomenon.
From the perspective of the commandment ITSELF [Ex 20:7-10], it is a distinction WITHOUT a difference. The same Commandment makes use of BOTH terms, and forbids “ANY manner of work.” Both terms appear as well in the first few chapters of Genesis.
Well, it is apparent that ONE of us has.
— But then, all you ever do is fall back on the speculations of others, SOME of which at least approached the scripture directly and (unlike yourself) did their own thinking.
Oh? — and the Almighty told this to you? Whispered it in your ear, did He?
Ah, that’s right, you don’t think He ever does communicate with individuals — or don’t think He’s done so since 400 BC. (You’d say he’s on an extended sabbatical. . . to coin a phrase.)
So you really DON’T know, do you, that the Commandments are solely for Jews (to say nothing of solely for your exclusive species of ‘Jew’). . . .
No man can ever know — or become companionable with — God
— unless & until he has the courage to face cheap taunts like this favorite one of yours.
And there absolutely are not (and never WILL be) any exceptions to that rule. Not a one.
I was unaware that anybody needed anybody else’s permission to reply. What a novelty; quelle drôle d’idée!
@ honeybee:
I slept most of the afternoon and a good part of the morning.
I have flipped day for night so I can be on real time posting otherwise there might be a day break between comments.
I’m fine, The clinic is only across the road and I just go in and the nurse takes out the stitches should go quickly .
As long as there is no infection there’s no problem and it feels OK already just a pinched feeling when I turn my head.
Looking forward to a real shower and a real bed. 🙂
@ yamit82:
Don’t you need to rest before you get your stiches out?
@ honeybee:
Gracias mi amor estamos de acuerdo, en la misma página de un mismo sentir >>>
yamit82 Said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyTfbtZeGeU
@ dweller:
Your mistake stupid is that you read and interpolate literally and add your own stupid exegesis to topics you know nothing about. What is the difference between avodah and malacha????? Try it you might learn something other than your stupid ignorant christian understanding of something beyond their scope.
You have missed the whole purpose of the commandment and anyway the commandment is for Jews not apostate heretics like you. Pls don’t reply this time I won’t engage with stupid people.