| July 15, 2010 | |||
| 35:19 Mins | |||
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| Audio Excerpt (2:59 Mins) | |||
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| …This Reform rabbi in Tel-Aviv, Gala Sadan, gave this perfectly loopy interview in which she takes pride in the 100% “egalitarian” style of Reform prayer meetings. Pride in the fact that their movement recognizes the rights of gays and lesbians. And Reform rabbis will marry a Cohen and a convert, which of course is forbidden by Halacha. In any case, for those who don’t know, she said, “We don’t consider ourselves bound by Halacha; we let everyone choose for himself what to take from Judaism’s large basket.”
What these narcissistic, hedonistic wrong-headed people don’t understand is that Jewish law and living by that law is what keeps the Jewish people alive; exactly as, say, the American people keep alive by living according to the Constitution and all the cases that have come from it. Without living by a written text you bind yourself too, there is nothing to keep the identity of a community intact. Listen to Rabbi Galia Sadan explain and complain about the Orthodox method of conversion, commonly of the non-Jewish spouse in one of the marriages her stream throws holy water on: “Are we bringing people closer to us, whether as spouses or on their own, in a pleasant, accepting process that understands the tension between a person’s desire to adopt Jewish tradition. And his desire to maintain a modern lifestyle, or are we interested in a humiliating process that causes people to fail? Orthodox conversion is very difficult to complete. It’s an educational process that expects people to become religiously observant, and what can you do if not everyone wants to become religiously observant? People pretend so they’ll get the seal of approval. Our country was revealed in all its glory in 2002 when it declared that it is pluralistic, and that a person can be recognized as a convert in any denomination he chooses. The High Court of Justice ruled that the government must recognize all conversions for all intents and purposes. And now this bill comes along and takes us backward. We’re giving up pluralism, recognizing only the Israeli rabbinate…Giving authority to the Chief Rabbinate means that if you don’t observe the Sabbath, they won’t convert you. If you seek to convert because you want to live according to Jewish tradition but don’t want to observe Shabbat – to live a Jewish but not an orthodox life – you won’t be able to convert though. This is an undemocratic country where there are people who can’t get married.” Let me stop there. I don’t know about you but this is just brainlessness, takes my breath away. Time for a break… |
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