The Community that said "NO" to Converts.
Jewish converts are welcome in Judaism, are they not? The mitzvah mentioned more than any other in Torah is to "welcome the stranger," is it not? As our very own David pointed out in a recent blog post, "… this is part of what makes Judaism remarkable: converts are not only welcome, they’re essential. Or, as Prof. (Arna Poupko) Fisher said, ‘We’re willing to let a foreigner be queen of our nation, if she’s a good person.’"
Sigh.
I stumbled upon one of the most interesting articles on Jewish converts that I’ve ever stumbled on. Although, it feels more like I tripped on it and fell in the mud. Dark, sticky, dirty, self-righteous mud. The article, featured in the New York Times Business section earlier this month tells the tale of the Syrian Jewish community in New York: An enclave of religiously devout Jews whose idea of conversion is … nonexistent. Or rather, is one of abrupt denial coupled with excommunication. It’s not even a question. The idea of conversion gets no response, no face time, no consideration – nil. Since 1935 this group of Jews has denied the idea and concept of conversion. You can’t marry a convert, no matter whether they convert Orthodox or Reformaconstructadox, in America or Israel. It doesn’t matter. No dice, no way, do not pass go, do not collect $200. And if you do find yourself madly in love with a convert and decide to get hitched? You’re cut off from the community. The. End.
“And so the rabbis turned to the heart of the matter: matrimony. Most American Jewish communities in those days (and many today) viewed intermarriage as a taboo. Conversion, however, was a loophole. The Edict intended to close that loophole. It proclaimed, ‘No male or female member of our community has the right to intermarry with non-Jews; this law covers conversion, which we consider to be fictitious and valueless.’ ”
But the edict that was passed in 1935 seems more like a backlash against the Ashkenazic community of New York. Sort of a “Go ahead and assimilate, we’ll see your dilution and RAISE you a ban on conversion!” At least that’s what I gather from this article.
I understand the concern Jews have with conversion. I understand and can consider the question of “Who is a Jew?” without taking offense. I know that, as a Reform convert, a great portion of the Jewish community doesn’t consider me a Jew and I endanger my children who might someday decide to up and move to Israel and become Yeshiveh students. And right now, I’m okay with that. I’m okay with that because I have plans, I have dedications, I have a future as a Jew. I have a passion that – who knows – could lead me to convert and convert again. What is red tape when compared to happiness and fulfilling your soul? I understand the idea of preservation, and I understand the frustration that comes with the idea of marrying out, losing the tradition, diluting such a rich people hood. There’s that oft-cited idea that in two generations there will be fewer Jews than you can count on a single hand. But I sometimes wonder how that figures up with the resurgence of Judaism and the figures of converts.
Says one of the community leaders, Jakie Kassin,
“Never accept a convert or a child born of a convert,” Kassin told me by phone, summarizing the message. “Push them away with strong hands from our community. Why? Because we don’t want gentile characteristics.”
The community leaders say that 99 percent of the children from its community stay within the community or leave and come back. I wonder how realistic that statement is? Turns out Jerry Seinfeld’s mom was a Syrian Jew of this community; but she married a J-Dub, which is what the Syrian Jews (known as Sys), and thus was cut off from the community. When you do fall for a SY, prepare for a real deep digging into your past …
“In addition to the strictures imposed by the Edict in instances of proposed intermarriage, any outsider who wants to marry into a Syrian family — even a fellow Jew — is subject to thorough genealogical investigation. That means producing proof, going back at least three generations and attested to by an Orthodox rabbi, of the candidates’ kosher bona fides. This disqualifies the vast majority of American Jews, who have no such proof. ‘We won’t take them — not even if we go back three or four generations — if someone in their line was married by a Reform or Conservative rabbi, because they don’t perform marriages according to Orthodox law,’ Kassin said.”
It seems so extreme. It seems like self-preservation to the nth degree. The article tells the story of a Sephardic rabbi who converted a woman through official, Israel-certified Orthodox conversion, yet she was denied the chance to legally marry in the SY community. The rabbi who converted her flew all the way to New York from Israel, enraged that they would not identify her as just as Jewish as he was. But that wasn’t good enough. For this community … you could observe every mitzvah, lay tefillin, go the entire nine yards and still it would not be good enough.
So I ask: Is this mode of self-preservation bound to destroy their community?
I say yes. If you can find it in yourself to deny even the most righteous, devout Jew – albeit a convert – to your community, how can you expect to keep your own community members? You can’t tell me that generation after generation will accept the blatant act of holier-than-thouism. And if generation after generation feels that it is within the bounds of Judaism – no matter what branch you fight yourself perched on – to do this, then there is something severely wrong with the SY community and I don’t think any “outsider” would want to be a member anyhow.
I began reading this article with understanding and compassion, even a little admiration for what they are trying to do. But as it went on and I considered how dangerous the idea of what they are doing is for the Jewish community, it stung. It is almost as if they are saying the Judaism of the rest of the world is not good enough – it just isn’t enough. Forget the converts of Torah, forget Ruth, forget the great sages who themselves were converts. Forget that the Torah teaches us to welcome the stranger – not to mention that this mitzvah is repeated more than ANY OTHER mitzvah …
I wonder, who does this community think it is? And as a convert, what does this community and their 70+ year-old edict really mean? Rather, does it mean anything at all?
I’m hoping to write...
1) http://www .jewber...
There are dark sides to every religion (it was a Hindu who Ghandi) and this is a dark side of Judaism. If you take the whole chosen people thing too seriously, you fly right up your own anus and never come out. These people obviously have and I hope they are happy with each other.
Funny coincidence. After I read your post I went back to Jane Gerber’s “The Jews of Spain” (I’m just finishing it), and she mentions them in a round-up of the Sephardic community today:
“…Most of them had originated from Aleppo, the largest wave coming between 1911 and 1920. They settled together in one neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, and their community was later joined by about 10,000 Jews from Egypt. Over the years, they have risen above their modest origins and now form an affluent, closely knit community numbering approximately 35,000, including many prosperous businessmen and some professionals. They tend to marry among themselves, or within the greater Syrian community of Mexico City or Israel, and have built a solid base of schools, a community center, a summer resort where their children can socialize exclusively within the community (Deal, New Jersey), and rabbinical institutions to assure the perpetuation of their culture. Coming from a learned community that boasted generations of rabbis in Syria, they have established several day schools where almost 90 percent of their children study. Until recently, the older generation still spoke the Arabic-Jewish dialect of Aleppo. Their continuing identity as a close-knit subgroup within the American Jewish community down through the third and fourth generation defies the assimilating trend of this country’s immigration history. In addition, they have tended to remain religiously traditional in a cluster of their own synagogues.”
Fun facts to know and tell.
Interesting! I’ll have to plan to pick up that book too
to me these people are nothing more than syrian arabs that think they are jews. they should convert to judaism!
they do not practice judaism at all and they represent a shame to jews whether by origin or by conversion.
mainly in this circumstance, certainly i endorse woody allen when he says: “I’d never join a club that would allow a person like me to become a member.”
Not Jewish, but working on it.
We want to attempt to understand why Orthodox wouldn’t want any gentile characteristics. This is why we kvetch. Isn’t that part of why those of us Jews-by-choice choose? What they have is what we want so dearly that we protest and harumph when we aren’t handed it simply because we asked.
This apparent convert-rejection is a good sign; it means that this Torah and the Yiddish task-at-hand are so beloved that it is guarded more closely than the rarest jewel. Let it be guarded; may we find ourselves patient with the process of Moshiach.
Chavy,
I’m sure this conversation is long dead, but perhaps you’ll see this comment somewhere.
I once took a guided group tour of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Nachlaot. In that section of town there is a Syrian synagogue which we got to check out inside. While we were there, it was explained that the community was very small, mostly because there was no embrace of Jews from outside the community and no conversion into the community. Why? Because for hundreds of years it was forbidden by the Muslim rulers of Syria, on pain of death, for the Jews to proselytize. Over the years, what originated as a external prohibition was adopted as internal custom. (This seems to happen a lot in Judaism, unfortunately.) I wasn’t at all tempted to want to enter that community, and while it seemed exclusionary in the extreme, I couldn’t help but wonder how long such a community was destined to survive, and whether within a few generations you wouldn’t have pointy-headed Syrian Jews continuing to keep to themselves despite the genetic damage to their community. (Conversion is, after all, a huge genetic advantage to the Jewish world. Among other things, of course.)
They are, of course, a rare group (and destined to remain rare). But they are not the only group that reject the notion of conversion. (I mention elsewhere in the blog that Mukacz chasidim reject all of the halacha surrounding conversion.) Practically speaking, this is a community that has chosen to dwell alone. Not much we can do about that except see what happens to them over the coming years. Perhaps they’ll go the way of the Shakers, or perhaps they’ll find a way to thrive. Who knows?
It feels very strange to look at other Jews who choose to self-isolate this way and know there are social barriers between us. I think there is a desire to feel, when converting to Judaism, that the whole Jewish world is open to us. It’s jarring to find it otherwise, but it really is otherwise. In many chasidic circles, the “royalty” (those with generations-long connections to the founders of the sects) generally marry people with similar yichus (pedigree), while joiners from outside, baalei teshuva, or converts are matched up with similar partners. I used to see this as elitism, but to some degree, perhaps, there is wisdom in people with similar backgrounds marrying each other. They understand much more about where the other person has come from, are more likely to have similar educational backgrounds and, I believe, have a greater chance of success in marriage. A very strange silver lining to what appear to be prejudicial practices!