The president of the Rabbinical Council of America said Wednesday that the burning issues of personal status such as "Who Is A Jew," "what is a legitimate conversion," and a "get" (Jewish divorce) should not be debated in the political arenas of Jewish life, the media or major American Jewish organizations.
"The average American Jew hears these questions discussed in the lecture circuit or in the media and gets the impression these are political issues, when, in fact, they are religious issues," declared Rabbi Milton Polin.
"Politics is the art of the possible and, therefore, involves give and take. These issues are halachic and in many instances are based on divine imperative. We don’t play politics with God’s law."
Polin, in an address at the closing session of the 38th Annual Midwinter Conference of the Rabbinical Council of America, at the Orlando Hyatt, pointed out that issues of personal status are now being debated in the political arena without reference to halachic underpinnings.
"A Jew is one who is born of a Jewish mother or has been converted according to Jewish law. It is not the ritual of conversion alone but also the commitment to the total Jewish way of life that makes a convert a Jew. Rabbinical groups which have allowed these issues to be placed on the political agenda have abdicated their rabbinic responsibility and authority," Polin stated.
"Decisions of personal status must be determined by religious authorities and not lay leaders," he stressed.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
