Sephardic Chief Rabbi came under attack on Monday at his meeting with the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee as Meretz Chairman Yossi Beilin told him that it should be the Interior Minister who decides who is Jewish and who is not, not a rabbi.
"People belonging to other faiths who seek to marry a Jew and become Jewish themselves, I don't want to send them to a rabbi," Beilin explained.
MK Marina Solodkin (Kadima) told the rabbi "you people do everything in the ugliest way, so as to make sure that others don't join Judaism. My constituents are tired of your tricks. I urge you to say outright that you don't want people who have Jewish blood and who paid in exile for this blood."
The head of Conversion Authority at the Prime Minister's Office Rabbi Haim Druckman said that the conversion exceptions committee is a mess. The exceptions committee is the only body authorized to allow people who aren't Israeli citizens to begin the conversion process in Israel.
The exceptions committee is also the only body authorized to approve conversion for spouses of Israeli citizens who are in the midst of the naturalization process.
According to the Interior Ministry, the exceptions committee fielded 900 applications in 2007, but only half of those were brought up for discussion. Of the half, only 315 were approved.
Internal Affairs Committee Chairman MK Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor) said that the Israeli people must accept any person showing real interest in becoming part of the Jewish people. "We want to broaden the ranks and figure out whether there are people who are denied conversion, and why the process is so difficult. A solid Jewish majority is part of the Zionist commandment," he said.
Rabbi Amar announced that he would appoint a committee to investigate the conversion process. This announcement sparked confusion because only several weeks ago, an inter-ministry committee appointed by Amar to do exactly the same thing completed its investigation and submitted a report. Amar said that this new committee would, among other things, look into the possibility of a more creative conversion process. According to Amar, criminals are trying to infiltrate the conversion process. He said that in order to prevent this "we used police crime scene investigators and espionage."
Amar expressed his support for the establishment of a rabbinical conversion court in Ethiopia in order to convert the members of the Falashmura tribe, many of whom have complained of many obstacles in their journey to immigrate to Israel. Rabbi Amar asked the committee to help him raise funds for the project.(haaretz)
The Committee for the Sanctity of Shabbos has released an announcement in the Chareidi press stating that from now and until further notice, companies owned by businessman Dudi Weissman should not be shopped at, following his refusal to close the AM-PM chain on Shabbos.
The Israel Antiquities Authority announced for the first time in the history of the archaeological research of Jerusalem that building remains from the period of the First Bais Hamikdash have been exposed so close to Har Habayis
LAKEWOOD — Two men were arrested after a Lakewood resident reported seeing his stolen
minivan being driven on Laurel Avenue, with two men on board, about 5:30 p.m. Monday, police said.
Jorge Carlos Carlos, 31, and Roy Sanchez Domingo, 23, both of Ridge Avenue, were charged with receiving stolen property.
Moshe Steiner, 28, had reported to police that the 1999 Oldsmobile
Sillhouette, which he reported stolen Jan. 15, was being driven on
Laurel Avenue, Wexler said. Steiner followed the vehicle.
When
police arrived, Carlos and Domingo were standing outside the parked van
and denied knowing where the driver or passenger were, Wexler said.
However, Steiner was able to identify Carlos and Domingo as the men he
saw in his van, police said. The license plates on the van had been
changed from the victim's, police said.
The van was towed and is being processed by the Ocean County Sheriff's Criminalistics Investigative Unit, Wexler said.
Police learned during the booking process that the two men were illegal
aliens and subsequently notified the Immigrations and Customs
Enforcement, Wexler said.
For the criminal charge of receiving stolen property, both men were held in lieu of
$25,000 bail, Wexler said.
Patrol officers William Butterworth, Chistopher Dibiase, Daniel Tworkoski and Michael Anderson responded.(app)
A defense official on Friday criticized the leniency of Israel's legal establishment towards Breslav Chasidim who had infiltrated the site of Kever Yosef in Shechem (Nablus) Thursday night.
His statement came following the arrest and subsequent release of seven Chasidic men by the Israel Police for infiltrating the defined and unauthorized area of Kever Yosef.
The men were brought Friday in front of a Netanya Magistrate's Court judge for their remands to be extended, but were released home a short while later.
The official stressed that unauthorized entrance to the site forces the Israel Defense Forces to send troops in order to remove infiltrators from the area, thereby endangering soldiers' lives.
"It is inconceivable that we put IDF soldiers at continuous risk in order to remove the Chasidim from danger, only for the legal establishment to be lenient towards them and disregard the law," the official said.
He added that the seven men often visited the Nablus site, although it is illegal for Israelis to enter Area A - which has been under exclusive Palestinian control since the 1993 Oslo Accords. (Haaretz)
Sephardic Chief Rabbi came under attack on Monday at his meeting with the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee as Meretz Chairman Yossi Beilin told him that it should be the Interior Minister who decides who is Jewish and who is not, not a rabbi.
The Committee for the Sanctity of Shabbos has released an announcement in the Chareidi press stating that from now and until further notice, companies owned by businessman Dudi Weissman should not be shopped at, following his refusal to close the AM-PM chain on Shabbos.
The Israel Antiquities Authority announced for the first time in the history of the archaeological research of Jerusalem that building remains from the period of the First Bais Hamikdash have been exposed so close to Har Habayis
