Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site aecom.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!unc!mcnc!decvax!linus!philabs!aecom!teitz From: teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz) Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish Subject: Re: Ethiopian Jews - " racist Ultra-Orthodox" Message-ID: <1135@aecom.UUCP> Date: Thu, 7-Feb-85 11:38:26 EST Article-I.D.: aecom.1135 Posted: Thu Feb 7 11:38:26 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 11-Feb-85 06:55:02 EST References: <3780002@csd2.UUCP> Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY Lines: 29 The token giyur as it was called does not alleviate the problem of mamzerut. A Jew who is a mamzer can never undo him status. So if the problem with the Ethiopians was mamzerut they would be stuck The idea of the gerut, as I understand it, is for the Ethiopians to show that they accept modern rabbinic explainations of the Torah. By modern I mean the Talmud, which they did not have. They must show that they are willing to join rabbinic Judaism, and not the version they have been practicing, because their version is not recognized, and if tey want to join the Jewish community they must accept the laws as we have them. The only probem I have is their contention of coming from the Queen of Sheba. Aside from the traditional commentaries who say that the ruler was not female but rather a male, and the use of the feminine is to show a weak ruler, or to show that a delegation was sent to Solomon rather than the king himself, I still have one problem. Was the queen, assuming she was a woman, Jewish? If not, then the Ethiopians are not Jewish either, and then their gerut is a very real one. If she was Jewish then the gerut would be a symboic lic acceptance of rabbinic authority Eliyahu Teitz. > The "racist Ultra-Orthodox" people mentioned in Bill's article are > just trying to save the Israeli society from a disaster. If the > Ethiopian Jews don't undergo a "token" giyur then their children > would be considered possible mamzarim by jewish law (like it or not).