The many faces of Judaism today

[rhu]

From today's New York Times comes an article about a Chinese orphan who had been adopted by a lesbian couple (one Jewish partner and one Roman Catholic), raised in a Reform Jewish congregation, who recently became a bat mitzvah. At the party, held after Shabbat was over, the food was kosher. Absoutely wonderful.

The money quote, for me: Besides, she said with a shrug, “Most of my Chinese friends are Jewish.”

Comments

Jews in China

[(Anonymous)]

You know, of course, that there were Jews in China for more han a thousand years. A terrible fate befell them -- they were never persecuted so, gradually, they faded into the background.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I was fascinated and delighted by the article as well, although there is an underlying issue that wasn't touched on. It seems likely that the girl had a Reform conversion, which means that the Conservative and Orthodox movements wouldn't accept her conversion as valid. All throughout the article, I was wondering why the reporter didn't ask her about that simple fact and what her feelings were regarding it.

[michelel72.livejournal.com]

I wondered about her conversion myself, since absolutely nothing was said about it.

But it's possible that the writer considered the matter to be too tangential (to the use of one young woman's bat mitzvah ceremony as a narrative tool), too potentially divisive, and too "inside baseball". As a parallel, various Christian denominations have different baptism requirements, and some will not accept a baptism from another denomination as valid. (I'm pretty sure The CoJCoLDS doesn't recognize Catholic baptisms, for example.) An article about one child's confirmation party probably wouldn't speculate whether other Christian denominations would accept the child as "truly Christian" -- within the child's denomination, it's taken as read.

I get that it's not a perfect parallel; I'm just speculating ....

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

That's a pretty good parallel, and you're probably right that the reporter considered the issue a tangential one. But from my perspective, as I noted, it was the one thing that kept going through my mind as I read the article.

One of the more interesting issues that has taken place in Judaism starting in the 20th century is the development of different "levels" of conversion. I use that term because we really do have a tiered system, where the Reform will accept a convert from any movement as Jewish; the Conservative movement will accept converts who did so under Orthodox or Conservative auspices but not Reform; and the Orthodox movement will only accept those who convert via the Orthodox movement. As a consequence, Reform or Conservative converts who become more observant and then wish to join an Orthodox synagogue have to go through conversion again, and many of them joke that they're "going in for an upgrade." In the end, though, a population of people develop who consider themselves Jewish but whose status as Jews is not accepted by whole movements, leading to a point of contention within the community.

With the Reform's acceptance of patrilineal descent, this issue becomes even more tricky. A person with a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother who grows up being told by their Reform synagagoue that they are Jewish can become quite angry when the Orthodox shul refuses to accept them.

For my money, I think that the Reform could make a bold statement by saying that they refuse to accept Orthodox conversions. That would indicate a strong belief in their movement's particular philosophy. But because they do accept Orthodox and Conservative conversions, it does create the feeling of "levels," as I noted before.

This is probably a lot more about a tangential topic than 530nm330hz expected....

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

For my money, I think that the Reform could make a bold statement by saying that they refuse to accept Orthodox conversions.

But on what grounds? What about an Orthodox conversion would be unacceptable to the Reform standards? It would be a political statement, to be sure, but I don't see how it could be justified.

A person with a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother who grows up being told by their Reform synagagoue that they are Jewish can become quite angry when the Orthodox shul refuses to accept them.

Yes, but so? I don't think you're suggesting that Orthodox communities should accept as Jewish people who are not Jewish by halachic standards simply because those people are going to be angry otherwise. (And it's important to note that in the cases I know of, the Orthodox community has accepted the person as a part of the community while the person's status as a Jew is being resolved. So it's not quite fair to say "the Orthodox shul refuses to accept them.")

the Orthodox movement will only accept those who convert via the Orthodox movement

It's subtler than that. Some Orthodox rabbis treat conversions done under Conservative auspices as a case of safek (uncertain status), because the Conservative standards for the mechanics of conversion are actually the same as the Orthodox standards, but there's a question about whether the members of the Bet Din are Sabbath-observant to Orthodox standards.

This is probably a lot more about a tangential topic than 530nm330hz expected....

Hey, I'm cool with that.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

What about an Orthodox conversion would be unacceptable to the Reform standards? It would be a political statement, to be sure, but I don't see how it could be justified.

The grounds that come most quickly to mind is that the convert in question has not yet studied the philosophy of Reform Judasim towards Halakha. A Reform congregation could say, "We don't want an Orthodox convert who decides to observe by Reform standards because they have decided that the standards are more 'lax' or 'easier.' We want someone who has come to Reform Judaism because they understand our philosophy of halakha and why we believe that many parts of it do not apply any longer."

Of course, I have to admit that I was thinking of this as more of a political statement than anything else. But the above seems to me a valid justification from Reform philosophy.

I don't think you're suggesting that Orthodox communities should accept as Jewish people who are not Jewish by halachic standards simply because those people are going to be angry otherwise.

Correct, I was not suggesting that. But there were other issues I just didn't feel like getting into right now. (When I made that statement, I was actually thinking of former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, and what happened to him.)

Some Orthodox rabbis treat conversions done under Conservative auspices as a case of safek

I did not know that. Regardless, though, I can't think offhand of any instances where an Orthodox rabbi accepted a Conservative convert without requiring another conversion ceremony, done under an Orthodox Bet Din. But I acknowledge that such a thing might have happened at some point.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

I agree with your assessment. It simply wasn't germaine to what the article was about. The article was about how the first wave of Chinese-Jewish adoptees are reaching bar/bat mitzvah age, and they are fully integrated into their Jewish identities.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

Have you read [i]Mona in the Promised Land[/i]? It's the much more enjoyable sequel to [i]Typical American[/i].

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

I have not, but I will add it to my library list. Thanks for the recommendation.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Very interesting - thanks for sharing.