Fake conversions: normal or scandalous?

A mild scandal is raging over some rare commonsense comments by a government attorney, who told the Supreme Court that IDF conversions are not valid unless validated by the Chief Rabbinate.

Aligned with Reform and Conservative donors, leftist parties immediately decried the state’s position.

In truth, IDF conversions are as fake as it gets. The fish is rotten from its head: IDF’s chief rabbi is appointed by militant atheists; currently the appointment is made by Ehud Barak. Most soldiers attend the conversion courses solely bexause they offer a welcome break from their military routine. These conversions do not satisfy even the minimalist Reform standards: in just three months, a good goy becomes a bad Jew.

No wonder decent rabbis do not recognize those conversions. If the atheistic state wants to import those who are not halachically Jewish (while demanding that the Arabs recognize us as a Jewish state), it is free to do so. But it has no power to make truth out of a lie. It cannot declare non-Jews to be Jews.

The debate is politically charged because many assume that by serving in the IDF non-Jews demonstrate their firm allegiance to Jews. This is a mistaken belief. They serve in the army for the same reason they pay taxes. They would just as well serve in the Russian army, or in the army of any other army of the state they happened to reside in. If they want to be Jewish, they are welcome, but there must be a proper conversion (giyur).

http://samsonblinded.org/news/fake-conversions-normal-or-scandalous-19269