APPLIED BIOLOGY:

Israel Deports Some Converted Immigrants: State Rejects Haredi Rabbis' Conversions to Judaism (Nathan Jeffay,  December 17, 2011, Forward)

Prague-born Ragachova, 37, moved to Israel a decade ago, and in 2004 converted to Judaism in the Bnei Brak rabbinic court of Nissim Karelitz, one of the world's best-respected and most stringent Haredi rabbis. Karelitz was so moved by the genuineness of her commitment to Judaism that he knelt before her by way of congratulation.

Prior to this ultra-Orthodox conversion, Ragachova had applied to become Jewish in the modern-Orthodox state-run conversion courts. But they did not accept her application. So she took the private Haredi track.

She now has a conversion certificate that is accepted by virtually every rabbi in the world, in contrast to the state conversion she originally applied for, which is viewed with skepticism by large sections of the Orthodox community. But because she took her conversion into her own hands, Israel's state rabbinate and Interior Ministry insist that she is not Jewish.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 17, 2011 9:34 AM
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