JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The political environment in Israel, never calm before elections, reached a stormy crescendo after MK Yitzchak Pindrus (UTJ) said at a conference Tuesday that “whoever converted under the auspices of the IDF is a ‘shiksa.’ If somebody marries her – his father should sit shiva.”
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Rabbi Chaim Amsalem, a Sephardic rabbi who has written a number of books advocating a more lenient approach to conversion for those who have a Jewish parent or grandparent, said that “Pindrus exhibited total ignorance. The IDF conversions are performed by rabbis from the entire rabbinic spectrum, including chareidim and nationalist chareidi rabbis. The same judges sometimes even sit in the rabbinical courts and all is under the auspices of the Chief Rabbinate. Pindrus turned them all into reform converts in one statement.”
Yemina leader Naftali Bennett also condemned Pindrus’s statement: “What a disgrace. Pindrus belittles and insults thousands of IDF soldiers who completed the process of halachic conversion. These soldiers decided to undergo full conversion while serving in the army. I will not let anyone harm them.
MK Zvi Hauser, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defence, said that “it is irritating to see how MK Pindrus forgot that Derech Eretz (ethics) precedes the Torah and wilfully insults thousands of soldiers. Our security and Pindrus’s security is in the hands of those fighting for the eternity of Israel. We cannot humiliate them and exclude them from our camp.”
MK Tehila Friedman said that “Reform conversion doesn’t disturb chareidim but rather any conversion which isn’t chareidi, especially that of the IDF. A soldier who is a Ger Tzedek could be called a shiksa. It’s not the reform but rather the Religious Zionists who are the issue.
In the wake of the criticism, Pindrus’s office issued a clarification, stating that shiksa is meant in the religious sense, “meaning that conversion is only according to halacha and halacha cannot be decided by law or by the court. A conversion which is not according to halacha is invalid and these women are not Jewish.
“Any attempt to take these words out of context and claim that there is contempt for their contribution to the defense of Israel is a distortion, since there are wonderful people protecting us including Druze and Arab soldiers but nobody mistakenly thinks they are Jewish.”
However it should be noted that Pindrus’s clarification does not assuage the criticism against him, as he still claims that the IDF conversions, which take place over an extended period of time and in accordance with halacha, are invalid.
Rabbi Pindrus is one of the only religious knesset members who sticks up for the religious population. He is the only one we see on the news opening his mouth and saying what everyone else is thinking but too scared to say. Great job Rabbi Pindrus! Keep on advocating for us! We need more like you.
It is disgusting to use, such a horrible word, as Shiksa or Shegetz, on any Human Being, just because they were born to a Non-Yiddishe mother.
Rabbi Pindrus?? Why call him Rabbi. He hates anyone not like him.
“MK Zvi Hauser…said that “it is irritating to see how MK Pindrus forgot that Derech Eretz (ethics) precedes the Torah…Our security and Pindrus’s security is in the hands of those fighting for…Israel. We cannot humiliate them and exclude them from our camp.””
That is silly. Derech Eretz Kadma laTorah does not mean that it overrides the Torah.
Moreover, conversion is a Torah concept, not subject to Zionist wants and needs. This is just one reason why it is so problematic for Israel to improperly call itself the “Jewish State” rather than the much more accurate “Zionist State”.
You can certainly accept fake converts into a Zionist “camp” as Zionists, but you cannot decide that they are Jews. That is purely halachic and therefore outside of your purview as a Zionist.
In chareidivil the more extreme you are the koved you get.
The Ralbag and the Choshen Hamispot bring down a fascinating Uzta from the Pri Migodden that discusses a Tzefta from the previous parsha that puts everything in perspective from a chazara btsueva like a Raish Lukish vs Dovid Hamelach.The Drar Avraham also weighs in but you need to realize they lived in different ages.
there is halacha and there is popular belief. Two separate ideas that conflict.
YEP, he is correct! and כל הכבוד to him for saying out loud!
I’m sure if one was to offer MK Pindrus one million Dollars to find a away for these Geirim to convert according to the charade standards, he would certainly and quickly find a way. HAMAVIN YAVIN.
“MK Tehila Friedman said…“any conversion which isn’t chareidi, especially that of the IDF…who is a Ger Tzedek could be called a shiksa. It’s not the reform but rather the Religious Zionists who are the issue.”
She seems confused. Of course, a soldier who is a ger tzedek should obviously not be labeled a shiksa due to that conversion, although it is yehareg viAl yaavor to join the IDF.
But, yes, any conversion that was done by a court whose allegiance is to anything but exclusively Torah, is worthless and does not make the “convert” a ger tzedek but a gentile. That, of course, includes (reform, and) “Religious Zionists”.
Religious Zionism is a sea of heresy mixed with a drop of Torah, as the Brisker Rav put it. The “Religious Zionists” have also shown in the past that they let their Zionist idolatry override halacha when it comes to conversions, as in “Rabbi” CD.
Vahavta es hager