Ultra-Orthodox Conversion Extortion
2012.01.02, 1915 For many years, the Kha•reid•imꞋ (Haredim, Ultra-Orthodox), specifically the Yad l'Akhim organization, has persecuted our family, repeatedly making extortion threats to "overturn" our conversions if we don't shut down the Nᵊtzâr•imꞋ website – www.netzarim.co.il
Our conversions (my wife and mine) were both strictly Orthodox (see documentation). The Ha•lâkh•âhꞋ of millennia, reconfirmed by Ram•ba"mꞋ, holds that, once converted, a person is a Jew and there is no provision to "undo", "reverse" or "unrecognize" a conversion!!! It is a bᵊrit with é‑‑ä that no mortal can ever change.
We are not Christians and we don't believe in the Christian Jesus. Nevertheless, these past couple of decades of constant threats and extortion have been nothing short of persecution in their attempt to strip us of our right, as Jews, to freedom of speech to communicate 1st-4th century documented historical, scientific and logical facts.
Recent events in Israel have strengthened the rue of the Kha•reid•imꞋ, particularly, especially the Ultra-Orthodox Rabbinate, enabling them to impose their Ultra-Orthodox standards on the entire Orthodox (moderate, not Ultra-) community of Israel.
This has empowered and emboldened them to further flex their muscles. Despite the fact that our family has lived as Jews in the Israeli Orthodox community for more than 25 years, members in good standing of an Orthodox synagogue (Moreshet Avot in Ra'anana, Israel) for more than a decade, the Israeli Rabbinate recently "unrecognized" the Beit Din of America (BDA) beit din (rabbinic court) conversions, and its rabbis (one ordained by the President of the BDA!!!), who supervised our conversions – because of this website.
Trying to drop this ax on our necks while still holding it over our head, they pedantize that "unrecognized" doesn't mean our conversions have been overturned or annulled… the extortion of "yet" remains unspoken, but is a clear threat if we don't shut down this website; and as long as we have breath and means, we will never shut it down.
We could have made this go away simply by caving to their extortion and shutting down the website (and perhaps we still could). Our conversions would magically have been no problem. Our conversions were recognized for over 25 years not only by the Orthodox Rabbinate; they were confirmed by the Ultra-Orthodox Kha•reid•imꞋ Shas rabbi (now Chief Rabbi of Ra'anana, Yitzkhaq Peretz) who signed our aliyah papers for the Israeli Ministry of Interior under the Law of Return in 1985 – the very same rabbi who now "unrecognizes" the beit din that converted us.
Until recently, especially in areas lacking an Orthodox mi•nᵊyânꞋ (which was the case where we lived back then) even one Orthodox rabbi could form a beit din with two other Jews of good reputation; satisfying Ha•lâkh•âhꞋ that has stood for millennia. (Not to mention that those being converted are not expected to know more about conversions than, or question such a decision by, an Orthodox rabbi.) But this is not about conversions. It's about the persecution of using the threat to overturn our conversions as a weapon of extortion, about attempting to take away our right – as Jews – to freedom of speech to communicate, to the world – without excluding Jews on racist grounds – historical facts surrounding the first century (not to mention science that contradicts primitive rabbinic fairy tales).
To further confirm this attempt to repress our right to freedom of speech (and Jews' right to know!), it would be ok to communicate these 1st-century historical facts "to goy•imꞋ only." But the rabbis insist on shutting down all discussion of this subject among Jews. Why? Because they realize that their medieval (actually, Dark Ages) and uneducated views conflict with the incontestable facts; and they are intent on continuing to keep that information from Jews. It's no different than the church suppressing the Dead Sea Scrolls and other early Judaic literature.
Their mistake in attempting to extort us is their failure to grasp that our conversions are, and remain, a bᵊrit with é‑‑ä, not men – and that cannot be annulled by any man and, despite the Israeli secular government (not divine) authority of the Rabbinate, that includes Kha•reid•imꞋ extortioners. This is particularly flagrant since they know there was no misrepresentation or deception and they're unable to cite any error of fact, history or logic in our website. They simply "don't like it." Well, we're concerned only with é‑‑ä's definition of a Jew in Tor•âhꞋ – one who keeps Tor•âhꞋ according to the Ha•lâkh•âhꞋ of millennia; and it is of little consequence to us what the Kha•reid•iꞋ (Ultra-Orthodox) Rabbinate, or any other person, calls us.
Ha•lâkh•âhꞋ has never permitted any such thing as mentioning conversion after the fact – much less presuming to supersede Tor•âhꞋ with an addition (see Devarim 13.1) that contradicts (or even questions) a conversion! That the Kha•reid•imꞋ rabbis recently presumed to contradict millennia of Ha•lâkh•âhꞋ by overturning thousands of other conversions doesn't phase them. History, logic, science and facts have no impact whatsoever on the Ultra-Orthodox Kha•reid•imꞋ. They don't even allow their children to study science or math beyond basic arithmetic. For such ignorant and uneducated people to claim authority to supersede Written Tor•âhꞋ puts them in the picture of the one prophesied to "declaim-words ìöã – beside, at the side of, as a peer of – the Supreme of Supremes," (Dan. 7.25). Presuming to supersede Tor•âhꞋ or Ha•lâkh•âhꞋ that has stood for millennia is displacement theology no less than Christianity or Islam.
The Kha•reid•imꞋ (Ultra-Orthodox) have been extorting us for years, holding this ax over our necks, holding us – more particularly our daughter (threatening to deny her registration to marry) – hostage, if we kept refusing to shut-down www.netzarim.co.il.
Last week (2011.12.30), Ultra-Orthodox Kha•reid•imꞋ put up posters calling us "missionary goy." But, tellingly, they were afraid to put their name on them and own up to them because they know a court would convict them of slander. Well, here's a shock for you Ultra-Orthodox: our Trust, our Reliance and our Anchor, is é‑‑ä and His Tor•âhꞋ, not you!!! Whatever you call us, whether you recognize or "unrecognize" us just isn't that important.
The only one they are hurting is our daughter! That's the way the Ultra-Orthodox work. She is the only real victim of their extortion. These extortions by the Kha•reid•imꞋ Rabbinate desecrate the Name (khi•lulꞋ é‑‑ä! Therefore, we are not vulnerable to extortion. While we've always been eager to get our facts right, the Nᵊtzâr•imꞋ website has never been, is not now, and will never be negotiable.
Few readers are probably aware that the Ultra-Orthodox Kha•reid•imꞋ rabbis dictate a myriad of such details as minute as which shoe one puts on first and which hand to wipe with. They have to call their rabbi to get permission for things like whether a woman dental hygienist can clean their teeth. There are a myriad of similar instances of blind, unquestioning enslavement of Kha•reid•imꞋ (Ultra-Orthodox) rank and file by their rabbi – and that satisfies the dictionary definition of a cult.
The Rabbinate were unable to find anything factual that is contrary to fact or history in our website, which proves both their extortion and their displacement theology (presuming to override Ha•lâkh•âhꞋ that has held for millennia, described in Dân•iy•eilꞋ 7.25). The Rabbinate has, for years, been trying to extort away our right of free speech, admitting that they simply don't want Jews talking at all about this topic – it's "taboo"! And Ultra-Orthodox rank and file obey mindlessly, lacking freedom of thought, much less freedom of speech. This is "thought police." Rabbi says, they do. The Ultras are abusing, not keeping, Tor•âhꞋ. Their unique displacement theology is nothing short of rabbi-olatry – a clear case of a•vod•âhꞋ zâr•âhꞋ vis-à-vis a "Jealous" é‑‑ä.
Using the threat of overturning conversions is extortion applied only to "converts," impossible to apply to "born Jews" This is a further violation of Tor•âhꞋ, contradicting the Tor•âhꞋ stipulation of "one Tor•âhꞋ" for all – and, moreover, is blatantly racist!!! This is persecution and proof that (moderate) Orthodox Jews, also being under the thumb of Ultra-Orthodox rabbinic tyranny, are being deprived of their right to free speech to even discuss 1st century facts and truth openly. The Ultra-Orthodox mantra is that "Jews don't talk about YeshꞋ "u." They're increasingly beginning to resemble Muslims.
In fact, however, religious Jews aren't even permitted to speak freely of science when it disagrees with the rabbis. Existence of dinosaurs, evolution or doubting "the great frog that spewed forth all of the frogs in the plague that struck Egypt" and other such fairy tales that have no basis in Tor•âhꞋ are off-limits to question.
Just as the Tzᵊdoq•imꞋ (Sadducees) conspired with the Hellenist Roman occupiers to convict RibꞋi Yᵊho•shuꞋa on false charges 2,000 years ago, Ultra-Orthodox Kha•reid•imꞋ today have now labeled his restored Nᵊtzâr•imꞋ as "goy•imꞋ" based on false charges. The parallel is as striking as it ironic… and alarming (considering the two millennia of spill-over to all Jews consequent to the first instance).
Meanwhile, the Ultra-Orthodox Kha•reid•imꞋ Rabbinate pays ultimate respect to the pope who usurped the original office of Nᵊtzâr•imꞋ Tor•âhꞋ Jews while dissing the very Nᵊtzâr•imꞋ Tor•âhꞋ Jews and office usurped by the pope!
Only how é‑‑ä defines a man matters in His eternal scheme of things, not what the Rabbinate Kha•reid•imꞋ call us (or you); and what é‑‑ä regards us (and you) hinges solely upon
keeping Tor•âhꞋ according to the most pristine (namely, Yemenite) Ha•lâkh•âhꞋ from Har Sin•aiꞋ,
clearing the reputation (not standing idly by the blood of a brother; wa-Yi•qᵊr•âꞋ 19.16) of RibꞋi Yᵊho•shuꞋa, whose visage has been marred (see Yᵊsha•yâhꞋu 53 in our History Museum), and his cloak (image) smeared-over with feces (see the Hebrew of Zᵊkhar•yâhꞋ 3), and
bringing these facts to the word, illuminating the world with Tor•âhꞋ.
It's not whether Kha•reid•imꞋ, or Orthodox enslaved to Kha•reid•imꞋ, call us, or you, "Jew" or "goy," but, rather, whether you satisfy é‑‑ä's definition: keeping Tor•âhꞋ according to the most pristine model of Ha•lâkh•âhꞋ (the Yemenite Jewish model), including clearing the reputation of an innocent RibꞋi who has been smeared for millennia.
Review the "Oprah-Kha•reid•imꞋ Conundrum" in our Web Café archives. The overall, global, picture exemplified by Oprah, a gentile and idolater who has helped so many so much, contrasts against Ultra-Orthodox Kha•reid•iꞋ rabbis who are ritually "frummer-than-thou" while dispensing injustice, persecution and ignorance – the opposite of Tor•âhꞋ and é‑‑ä. This will continue to be a thorn for all Jews relative to the core principles and values of Tor•âhꞋ in contrast to a misdirection-to-ritual that has lost sight of the core principles of Tor•âhꞋ and é‑‑ä. This loss of sight is why even the moderate Orthodox Jews cannot get answers that satisfy their increasingly educated children, and why so many of their most intelligent and educated children leave Orthodoxy altogether "to return to the question."
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