I've spent the past few days debating whether or not this topic is appropriate for this website. Obviously, I decided I should post it here, rather than my personal journal. So, with that in mind, I want to put out a disclaimer now. This post is about religion. If you don't believe in religion, fine, whatever. I really don't want to debate it with you. There are plenty of other blogs in which you can do that. So, if you do comment by making some comment about how all religion is irrational or stupid or whatever, I'm going to ignore you. You've been warned.
I've been trying to learn more about Jewish culture on my road to conversion. I've also been looking for people facing the same things I am, and I found one in Southern California. She has a blog on livejournal, and I've been following it for a few weeks now. In one entry a few days (maybe a week or so) ago, she mentioned, in passing, a ruling that the Chief Rabbinical court made regarding Deaf (or deaf, the article makes no distinction) converts.
Basically, Rabbi Avraham Sherman of the Chief Rabbinical Court said that because the deaf are not required to fulfill the commandments given to Jews, and a conversion means that one is embracing those commandments, the deaf cannot convert.
I've read a wide variety of opinions on this ruling. One says that Rabbi Sherman only said this because the deaf woman in question may have only wanted to convert so as to marry her Jewish boyfriend. That, of course, is a lot more important in Israel than it is in the US, where interfaith marriages are abundant (relatively speaking). Another says that his idea of why people convert is all wrong; people convert in order to be Jewish, not for the purpose of fulfilling the commandments. Since being Jewish involves a lot more than just the commandments... the language, history, traditions, food, etc... someone who isn't obligated to fulfill the commandments can still be Jewish. This was the attitude taken by the minority opinion in the ruling.
Others highlight other issues with the ruling: what if a Jewish couple adopts a deaf child, can that child not be considered Jewish, then? Additionally, women are exempt from many of the commandments (the 'positive' commandments having to be done at a certain time). So, if the cornerstone of conversion is following the commandments, and women are exempt from some of them, does that mean women can't convert, then? That would make it mighty difficult for the Jewish population to grow, then, since you're only born a Jew if your mother is a Jew (by orthodox and conservative standards, at least. My understanding is that Reform will consider you Jewish if either of your parents are Jewish).
Furthermore, the Deaf now have the ability to communicate with the hearing, something that was not possible when the Bible was originally written (primarily because it was difficult to teach the deaf to read and write). So, what was considered a major handicap before is now only a minor one.
This ruling interested me thus in two ways. Having just come out of an ASL class, where we spent a good deal of time learning about Deaf Culture, it seems stupid that the court would restrict conversion based on such a trivial impediment. I consider being Deaf about the same as missing an arm or leg... you may be at a disadvantage compared to a full-bodied person, but you can do just about all the same things. The second was obviously the relation to Judaism, and the interest I've taken in it.
With so many people outraged at the verdict (I have yet to see one person who agrees with it), I wonder if it won't be stricken down sooner or later. Then again, I don't know how the Chief Rabbinical Court is run.
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That does seem like a pretty silly ruling, quite frankly. I mean, limiting someone's ability to convert based on a physical handicap doesn't seem smart at all. I would be interested in learning what they were thinking when they passed it down.
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That makes absolutely no sense at all! I mean, what is he saying?? That according to the Jewish doctrine, all deaf people go to hell?? Whaat? God wouldn't have made deaf people period if they couldn't be converts. Sorry, not fussing at you. Just saying, I agree with the others who replied that it doesn't make any sense.
Secondly, I wanted to respond to this:
"Since being Jewish involves a lot more than just the commandments... the language, history, traditions, food, etc... someone who isn't obligated to fulfill the commandments can still be Jewish."
Seems to me that's two different things though isn't it? You said your post was about religion. So to be a Jew religiously, what must a person do? I don't think that its about traditions and food when it comes to the religious aspect, though certainly there are many laws on traditions and food in the Jewish faith as far as I can tell. I don't see how a person could be a Jew without following the commandments, is what I'm saying. ( Though I confess I'm a Christian and personally I don't have extensive knowledge of Jewish faith but what's in the OT of the Christian Bible. ) But I agree with you that because a person is deaf means that they can't follow through with the commandments. And even before they had sign language, I think a deaf person back then would have been taken care of their family and the family would have seen to it that they follow the commandments, whether they understood or not.
Interesting post!
No no no no no. You are confusing Jewish doctrine with Christian doctrine. Jews do not believe that everyone will go to hell, and I'm almost positive they don't believe in the same hell as Christians do (the whole fire and brimstone thing). The Jews do believe that there is one god and all that, but they don't believe that believing in him is the only way to the afterlife, as both Christians and Muslims think. Some passage about there being a place in the world to come for the righteous of all nations, not just the Israelites. Besides, Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, etc were not Jewish.... no one was until Moses brought the ten commandments down from Mt. Sinai.
In fact, one of the things the rabbis do is ask why anyone would want to convert... why the convert is interested in all the extra responsibilities of being Jewish, and all the extra demands, coupled with the hate that seems to be directed towards the Jews quite often. So, conversion to Judaism is nothing like conversion to Christianity.
Yes, and no. Yes, there is a religion of Judaism, and yes, there is a Jewish culture. But it's pretty difficult to separate them. I mean, you'll find people who consider themselves Jewish atheists (Jsaj is one of them, and I think embryowassup is as well). These people follow many of the traditions, without believing in God. On the other hand, though, the traditions are part of the celebrations for the religion. I mean, you have sukkot, where you eat under a canopy for 8 days. You have Passover, where you don't eat leavened bread for 8 days. You have Yom Kippur, where you fast in order to ask for forgiveness for the wrongs you did in the past year, and to start anew. Those have pretty religious significances, but are also celebrating the history of the Jews.
Then you have all the dietary laws, i.e. don't eat pork, don't mix meat and milk, don't eat shellfish, etc. That's what created the traditional foods for the Jews. And by eating only those foods, you are fulfilling the commandments.
But the whole point of converting is that your soul was Jewish all along, and you're just reuniting with your people. Reform Jews, for instance, tend to be much more secular than Orthodox Jews. But they still consider themselves Jewish, even if they don't follow the commandments to a T. By converting, you are recognizing the fact that you are one with all the other Jews in the world, and thus will take your place among them in the world to come.
I hope I made sense... I have a feeling I got way off topic.
Before there was a way to really communicate with the deaf, they were never really taught language, and so they couldn't do a lot of the commandments, such as study the Torah. If they can't read, and can't be read to, they can't study the Torah. They may be able to perform some of the commandments, but most of them would be incomplete without the prayers and/or blessings that go along with them, such as the washing of the hands before a meal on Shabbat.
That's why the deaf were excluded from the obligation of performing the commandments. Yes, simply by living in a Jewish household, they would have followed some by default, but they could not do all until there was a way to communicate with them. It is STILL difficult to get deaf children to really understand language today, many many years after we've had sign language around. Compound words (such as headphones and doghouse) are especially difficult to grasp. That's why most graduate high school with like a 3rd grade level of language. But, because there are many Deaf people who can communicate well, and spend all this time learning how to communicate, it isn't nearly the barrier it used to be.
~C
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I believe that is totally wrong and stupid to do. How is that even fair? Plus we aren't suppose to judge people right? So who is he to be the judge of what someone can and can not do.
http://www.progressiveu.org/032913-lupus-uncureable-wait-what
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I agree. It's a silly ruling, and since so many people feel so strongly against it I doubt it can last very long.
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I agree with the above comments. It seems like more people will protest it as soon as they are aware of the ruling, and hopefully soon will be overturned.
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This was not a smart choice, it's silly and it makes no sense. Hopefully they'll change the ruling, if not they might have a mess on their hands.