Chief Rabbinate, the new Inquisitor

It's been a while since I wrote. Since then, a lot has happened between here and the other side of the Atlantic. I haven't even read the Peter Beinart article yet, and who knows when I'll get to the flotilla fiasco and JTS' strategic plan. Right now, I've got two pieces. The first, below, is about the following article: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3896261,00.html

Read the article.

Are you as upset as I am? Apparently the Chief Rabbinate could tell me I'm not Jewish. The Chief Rabbinate could tell Masorti rabbis, or my American rabbis, Conservative and proud, that they aren't Jewish. Tell that to the millions who have gone before us, many al kiddush Hashem.

If this article is accurate, the Jewish State is starting an inquisition that we should never have to face. What right do the extreme right-wing Jews have to say to us, "We're so elite that we get to tell you if you belong or not"? Didn't we found a state to find the equality, fairness and safety we deserved, that any people deserves, to call their own? Apparently, we've forgotten why we have a state in the first place. We want a state where we can be Jewish without anyone persecuting us. We tried to found that state, but a bunch of women who tried to exemplify that mission got spat at and had chairs thrown at them over a mechitzah...or worse. Some get attacked, even miles away from Jerusalem, in public. (I stand with Noa Raz and Nofrat Frenkel.)

And apparently, as Lubitch points out in this article, after they are randomly and repeatedly summoned and investigated, Israelis must pay taxes for someone to deny them their homeland.

I cannot sit still anymore and watch the government destroy the state and cause such pain to our beautiful, intricate myth that we call Judaism. The glasses through which I see the world are broken. Right now, flotilla fiasco aside, the State of Israel is starting to lose me. That scares me. But if the state that is supposed to be my homeland may not even consider me or my family as Jewish, how can I trust that it is my homeland?

I look forward to the day when this nonsense and pain will end. All of us who refuse to accept the behavior of the Chief Rabbinate must speak up, no matter where we live. Let us realize that day in the near future. The task will be long, but it is time to continue on the journey, full speed ahead, towards its accomplishment. It's high time for some tikkun.