{"id":5279,"date":"2008-09-22T11:02:42","date_gmt":"2008-09-22T19:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=5279"},"modified":"2008-09-22T11:02:42","modified_gmt":"2008-09-22T19:02:42","slug":"an-unorthodox-dip-in-the-mikveh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=5279","title":{"rendered":"An UnOrthodox Dip In The Mikveh"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jpost.com\/servlet\/Satellite?cid=1222017347621&amp;pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull\">From the Jerusalem Post<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p> The Orthodox establishment&#8217;s ban on non-Orthodox converts and brides using state-funded mikvaot (ritual baths) is a desecration of God&#8217;s name, Rabbi Barry Schlesinger, the newly reelected president of the Masorti (Conservative) Movement&#8217;s Rabbinical Assembly in Israel, said on Sunday. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;We have to put an end to the discrimination against Conservative converts and brides,&quot; Schlesinger said. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;Tax-paying Israelis, interested in adhering to Halacha, are being prevented from using indoor mikvaot that are run and funded by the state just because they are not Orthodox Jews. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;Instead they are forced to perform their tvila [ritual immersion] in the sea or in a natural spring, where they are exposed to the elements and to less than ideal hygiene,&quot; he said. <\/p>\n<p>A spokesman for Religious Services Minister Yitzhak Cohen said he was unaware of any restrictions on the use of mikvaot. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;We actually want to encourage as many people as possible to use the mikve,&quot; the spokesman said.  <\/p>\n<p>Rabbi Yitzhak Ralbag, the official marriage registrar in Jerusalem, said he personally refused a woman slated to be married in a Reform ceremony written permission to use the mikve. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;If she wants to use the mikve nobody will stop her,&quot; he said. &quot;But don&#8217;t expect me to give a Reform marriage legitimacy. The pig also tries to prove it is kosher by showing that its hoofs are cloven.&quot; <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the Jerusalem Post: The Orthodox establishment&#8217;s ban on non-Orthodox converts and brides using state-funded mikvaot (ritual baths) is a desecration of God&#8217;s name, Rabbi Barry Schlesinger, the newly reelected president of the Masorti (Conservative) Movement&#8217;s Rabbinical Assembly in Israel, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=5279\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,37,193,18,89],"tags":[12810,3920,12812,8892,12813,12811],"class_list":["post-5279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservative-judaism","category-israel","category-jerusalem","category-orthodoxy","category-reform-judaism","tag-barry-schlesinger","tag-jerusalem-post","tag-marriage-registrar","tag-rabbi-barry","tag-ritual-baths","tag-ritual-immersion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5279"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5280,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5279\/revisions\/5280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}