Tag: Conversion
From a Catholic Mexican actress on Spanish TV to a Jewish educator in Israel
The teenage Mexican actress stumbled upon a YouTube clip one day by a Spanish-speaking rabbi talking about how to find happiness through the Bible.
The video that popped up on her computer in Mexico City...
A Filipino singer’s journey to Judaism in Israel
He had grown up in a swanky northern Tel Aviv home adopted by a secular Israeli family, alongside his Filipino single mother who is a foreign worker.
Fluent in Hebrew, he was a semifinalist in...
Judaism is not a state of mind
Writer Jennifer Cox recently published an article about her decision to raise her family Jewish despite the outpouring of antisemitism since Oct. 7. The piece outlines many of the choices she and her husband have made...
Phoenix Suns to retire jersey of former basketball star Amar’e Stoudemire
The Hebrew word lev, Hebrew for “heart,” has a numerical value in Gematria of 32. One of the professional basketball players who played with the most heart—the Israeli citizen and convert to Judaism Amar’e Stoudemire—is...
Caught in violence in northeast India, Bnei Menashe face ‘appalling’ conditions
Caught in the middle of violence between Meitei Hindus and Kuki Christians, the Bnei Menashe, who claim descent from a “lost” biblical tribe and whom Israel accepts upon conversion, have been displaced from their...
High Court ends Orthodox monopoly on conversion for adoption
After a 20-year legal battle, the High Court of Justice on Sunday ended a practice whereby non-Jewish children adopted in Israel have to undergo an Orthodox conversion to Judaism.
The nine-justice panel issued its ruling...
Israel’s new coalition shouldn’t write off American Jewry
It may be that some of the statements emanating from certain partners in Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government are more a function of posturing than genuine policy priorities. But even if those expressing them are...
Conversion bill delayed, but tensions over issues associated with Jewish law remain
The Knesset, which was to vote to revamp rules regarding Jewish conversion, has delayed the bill until the start of its summer session in May due to the political sensitivity of the issue. The...
‘We will not accept converts under new reform,’ Israel’s Sephardi chief rabbi warns
Israel’s Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef harshly criticized Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana on Tuesday for spearheading conversion and kashrut reforms Yosef claims go against Jewish law.
Speaking at a massive rabbinical gathering, Yosef accused...
Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi: ‘The Knesset won’t decide who is a Jew’
“I’m still a little weak. A few days ago I got over COVID,” Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau apologizes at the beginning of a conversation with Israel Hayom.
A few hundreds meters from the bustling...