Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site aecom.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!dcdwest!ittvax!decvax!linus!philabs!aecom!teitz From: teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz) Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish Subject: Re: Re: Questions about conversion to Judaism Message-ID: <1156@aecom.UUCP> Date: Wed, 13-Feb-85 14:19:15 EST Article-I.D.: aecom.1156 Posted: Wed Feb 13 14:19:15 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 17-Feb-85 04:54:06 EST References: <16@unc.UUCP> <286@mhuxi.UUCP> <6375@rochester.UUCP> Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY Lines: 31 > I don't understand this concern with whether someone's ancestors were > converted according to form. I am not particularly observant but assuming > that you met a woman who was a practising orthodox Jew (I assume that you > would not date any other kind), and you find out that her grandfather had > an illicit or problemical conversion. Since she is a practising Jew then > she has already taken on the burden of Judaism. Isn't there a halachic > fix for this kind of situation. In the very least one could perform a > trivial conversion ceremony. But I am getting out of my depth. It still > doesn't sound like a disaster. The technical status of your ancestors > should not determine whether you are an orthodox Jew. Sorry for this > rather incoherent article. The idea of a trivial conversion ceremony is exactly what the Rabbinate in Israel want the Ethiopians to do, and you see how many problems that caused. As for the technical status of one's ancestors determining whether one is Orthodox is concerned, the problem is not whether one is orthodox, but rather whether one is Jewish or not. If there was a problem with the conversion, the nice orthodox girl I am dating might not even be Jewish. Many years ago ( 200 or so ) there was a form of Jewish identification, called a yichus briev ( loosely translated, family tree, literally a letter of origins ) which people had to show t prove that they indeed came from a Jewish family. They had to show proof of Jewish lineage before they would be accepted into a family as a spouse. We've done away with this but if people try to change the definition of who is a Jew ( as the reform are trying ) then a reinstitu- tion of this family tree might be necessary. Eliyahu Teitz. p.s. I do not advocate using the yichus briev, but the reality of insuring what one would consider a Jewish spouse might neccessitate it.