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http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/80916/Chacham-Ovadia-Yosef-%26-Rav-Shlomo-Amar-Approve-IDF-Conversions.htmlChacham Ovadia Yosef & Rav Shlomo Amar Approve IDF Conversions
(Friday, January 14th, 2011)
Hagon Chacham Ovadia Yosef and Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar approved IDF conversions after a committee of Shas rabbis decided on Friday that they are kosher.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai will bring the halachic ruling to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, along with a recommendation that Judaism classes for potential converts in the IDF be expanded.
Knesset Law Committee Chairman David Rotem (Israel Beiteinu) intends to continue to promote the IDF conversion bill, despite the rabbinical ruling.
“The chief rabbinate did not solve the problem,” Rotem said. “We already knew that Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is a Torah scholar who knows how to solve problems, but where is the critical solution for those that were converted in the past?”
“Tomorrow another chief rabbi will come along and decide that conversions are not okay, and then what will be?” Rotem asked. “Therefore, we need to continue with the legislative process.”
Rotem’s committee plans to discuss the military conversion bill on Tuesday, at the end of which it may bring the bill to a vote.
Amar, Yishai and other senior rabbis met on Friday at the home of Chacham Rabbi Ovadia Yosef to discuss the conversions.
The Rabbonim at the meeting decided that all 4,500 conversions conducted by the army are valid.
Is this good or bad? Until now there were complaints that only a few percent of the IDF "converts" ended up keeping Judaism after their "conversions". Now all of a sudden the conversions are Okay? What's going on here? Can anyone clear this up?
Topic: Rabbi Ovadia Yosef & Rav Shlomo Amar Approve IDF Conversions (Read 1640 times)