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Deal Hurts from page A28

Halachah. This should be our posture
as we move forward together with like-
minded voices in Israel.
This was a moment of truth. The
criteria on conversion as drafted by
the RCA/Chief Rabbinate are the most
stringent and do not reflect the range of
legitimate halachic opinions.
The approach insists, for example,
that parents converting an adopted
child commit to 12 years of yeshivah
education.
But suppose parents are only pre-
pared to make an eight-year commit-
ment; suppose they are committed to
sending their child to a community day
school; suppose, as is a growing trend
in our Jewish world, they simply cannot
afford tuition; and suppose their child
has a learning disability and must be
sent to a secular school?
We have received reports that such
potential converts have already been

turned away. What is next? Will past
conversions, such as these, now be nulli-
fied retroactively?
If these standards become the crite-
ria for who is a Jew, it means there will
be only one voice — enforced by just
two rabbis — speaking for Modern
Orthodoxy in America.
The first issue is the question of who
is overseeing the overseers: What are
the criteria for appointment? What
makes these 40 judges competent and
hundreds of others not? What corn-
munities do they represent? Are the
appointments based on merit? On
politics? On being dedicated students of
particular rabbis?
To consolidate so much power in the
hands of so few rabbis — whether left,
center or right — is a frightening step.
Making matters worse, the RCA has
chosen as its representatives two Yeshiva
University rabbis who speak only for
the right wing of Modern Orthodoxy —
effectively abandoning the organization's

trademark commitment to providing
a home for both right- and left-wing
voices.
With its cowering to outside dictates,
the RCA appears to have opted to reflect
the charedi-controlled voice of the Israeli
Chief Rabbinate, instead of insisting that
the broad spectrum of Modern Orthodox
positions be part of the solution.
What makes this chapter especially
sad is that the new arrangement not
only undermines the power of the local
rabbi as teacher and spiritual guide, but
even worse, puts fear into the hearts and
minds of many wonderful converts who
are upstanding Torah-observant and
God-fearing Jewish souls.

mean that learning and ritual require-
ments to become a Jew should be
abandoned. Just the opposite is the case.
Spiritual seekers are looking for mean-
ing, content and purpose. Becoming
a Jew can be a deeply intellectual and
emotional experience, and spiritual
seekers are willing to engage in rigor-
ous education about Jewish life, rituals
of conversion and rites of passage to
become a Jew.

being attractive to others, we will also
be more attractive to born Jews. What
are we afraid of?
We are checkmated by our own
notion of ourselves that Jews don't do
that — we don't compete for newcom-
ers. Maybe Jews in 18th century Poland
did not — and with good reason. It
brought the wrath of the church and the
state on them.
But this is 21st century America, not
18th century Poland or 20th century
Germany.
Pew tells us that Americans are
switching religions like never before.
Do we want to enter the competition
armed with our wonderful 3,000-year-
old history, or kvetch about assimila-
tion, intermarriage and our dwindling
numbers?
Those who choose to join the Jewish
people will enrich us with their ideas,
energy and passion. And born Jews
who choose to embrace their Judaism
in an open marketplace also will enrich
Jewish life.
It is time to embrace the America in
which we live.
We must abandon the paradigm that
our children and grandchildren are
potential gentiles and promote the new
belief that America is filled with poten-
tial Jews. ❑

❑

Rabbi Marc Angel is rabbi emeritus of
Congregation Shearith Israel in New York

agnicent

olclen Berg'

and past president of the Rabbinical Council

of America. Rabbi Avraham (Avi) Weiss
is senior rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of

and Yellow Diamonol

Riverdale and a longtime member of the
RCA.

rop earrings-

c

Stop Trying from page A28

tion, then they will reject the 98 percent
of other Americans they might fall in
love with or not be attracted to Zen
Buddhism.
What nonsense. We all have seen the
numbers to prove that the head in the
sand, return to the ghetto and hope the
gentile will go away strategy is not going
to work. No number of day schools or
summer camps is going to turn back
the clock on religious freedom and com-
petition.
It is time for Jews to join every other
group in America and quit obsessing
about who is being lost and start act-
ing on who might come in. Right now,
it is largely a one-way street because
we cling to dangerously obsolete ideas,
attitudes and practices about conver-
sion.
We do not welcome people with
open arms but rather we stiff-arm.
We still question people's sincerity
— do they really want to be Jewish?
We make people jump through hoops.
Those who convert have to be persis-
tent enough to batter down the bar-
riers.
Yes, of course we need standards and
procedures — and to say that making
Judaism more accessible means aban-
doning rules of admission is a straw
argument to cover up how suspicious,
off-putting and unfriendly we often
are to those who want to be part of the
Jewish people.
Openness and excitement do not

Be Welcoming
Some rabbis do a great job in dealing
with potential converts; many do not.
Our synagogues often are less welcom-
ing than we think.
And our newspapers, sermons and
sociological literature are filled with
hysterical reprimands and dire predic-
tions about the demise of the Jews that
result from gentiles breaking through
our traditional walls.
How welcoming do we think it is
when we say we wish our sons or
daughters would have married someone
else, but as long as you are here, we will
try and be nice to you?
We have a theology that has no inter-
mediary between the individual and
God.
That is appealing. We have a set of
daily, monthly and yearly rituals that
provide guidance and purpose. That is
appealing.
We have rich liturgy, beautiful
prayers, deep roots in Israel, a strong
communal system. All appealing. By

Gary Tobin is president of the Institute

for Jewish & Community Research in San
Francisco and writes frequently about
American and Jewish philanthropy.

"Goldi-Rocks."

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