Posted on 05/27/2010 10:28:19 AM PDT by Nachum
Chief of Staff's son marking bar-mitzvah; Ben-Gvir detained for heckling
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel prayed with his son, who is celebrating his bar-mitzvah, at the Western Wall and inserted a note into its stones on Thursday, after police misled the media into believing Emanuel is on his way to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and heading there. Following the maneuver, Emanuel's security allowed him to join his son at the Western Wall. Earlier, Emanuel and his family toured Jerusalem's Old City, and met with Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitz.
A bar-mitzva celebration for Emanuel's son, Zach, is to take place on Sunday.
Earlier on Thursday, right-wing activist Itamar Ben-Gvir verbally abused Emanuel and his family, as they were walking through the Cardo in Jerusalem's Old City.
Ben-Gvir also yelled at police officers "for shame," and "you won't shut me up!"
(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...
Interesting. I never knew that Emanual’s wife was a convert. There is debate at the site if the conversion was valid. That would mean that his child isn’t Jewish. It would explain a lot about his behavior.
Is the American taxpayer paying for Emmanuel’s trip with his family, which is obviously personal?
Rahm, like Obama and most other hardcore lefties, hasn’t a true religious bone in his body. They only use religion when it serves their own purposes.
It’s my understanding that if the conversion did not take place in Israel under strictly orthodox rabbis, that many will deem that Mrs. Emanuel’s was not a valid conversion, and thus the children, if they choose to be Jews, must convert as adults.
I thought he was dis-invited to Jerusalem?
There was criticsim of the boy’s Bar Mitzvah meal being at a non-kosher restaurant.
It was a conversion under Conservative, rather than Orthodox, auspices, so Orthodox Jews would not regard her or their son as Jews.
True. And his Rabbi in Chicago refuses to answer specific questions about the conversion. Also, the conversion itself was done just before their wedding. Rahm's mom was a big-time union lefty. It all sort of fits.
It was a conversion under Conservative, rather than Orthodox, auspices, so Orthodox Jews would not regard her or their son as Jews.
Isn’t that like saying the Roman Catholic Church doesn’t consider Protestant marriage ceremonies valid?
LOL
However, I still feel bad for the children... and can't imagine WHY their parents would subject them to such public scenes by having a Bar Mitzvah is Israel.
The parents must be a real set of clueless narcissists.
Really? Their synagogue is conservative? Wikipedia describes it as "modern orthodox". Big difference if it is. The shul's website describes itself upholds Orthodox belief and practice, while confidently engaging with the modern world.".
Which includes eating traif, when out and about.
Surely they don't belong to an orthodox or conservative synagogue in Chicago????
Squid.... WHAT were they thinking????
No, it gets much more technical than that — the boys, should they wish to make aliyah to Israel, won’t be allowed to — not unless they agree to convert to Judaism, under orthodox rabbis.
Rahm’s “message” no doubt said...”according to current US administration policy, this is muslim property”
What the Roman Catholic church does or does not do has no relevance to Jewish law.
Under Jewish law someone is Jewish if his or her mother was a Jew or if that person converted to Judaism in front of an approved panel of three Orthodox rabbis (I say “approved panel” because not all Orthodox rabbis’ conversions are accepted). Approval comes after a lengthy study period.
Conversion to Judaism is not encouraged, and I understand that process is quite rigorous.
An Orthodox rabbi will not perform a marriage ceremony between a Jew and someone who is not considered Jewish according to Jewish law. A Conservative rabbi will take the same position, in general, but the conversions that are accepted in Conservative Judaism (a sect that originated in New York in the late 19th century and has a following in the US, Canada and Argentina, with a smattering of other adherents elsewhere) can be much looser than those done under Orthodox auspices.
Their synagogue is a “modern Orthodox” synagogue (or as the rabbi prefers to call it, “open Orthodox”. I believe that Rahm Emanuel’s wife’s conversion to Judaism had nothing to do with that synagogue and that the rabbis who participated were Conservative rabbis.
Emanuel is not a “hater of Israel”, he is a “hater of personal freedoms”.
i didn’t know rahm was even married, much less fathered a child.
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