A slim majority of Jewish Israelis, 52 percent, say in a poll they believe the state conversion process for non-Jews should be “more welcoming and lenient in order to enable more potential converts to join the Jewish people.”
A large majority, 71%, say they back the IDF’s conversion process for soldiers who wish to convert to Judaism. Nearly half, 45%, support the program’s expansion, according to the latest Israel Democracy Institute Israeli Voice Index survey, released today.
Israel’s state conversion system has been a politically divisive issue since as many as 300,000 non-Jewish family members of Jews moved to Israel during the great wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s.
Many of these Russian-speaking Israelis have lived their lives as Jews and have no other identity, but encountered difficulties converting to Judaism in Haredi-controlled state rabbinic courts that have demanded stringent Jewish observance as a precondition for conversion.
Asked who they believed should determine a person’s Jewish status for the state, 36% said it should be a “yet-to-be established new government conversion agency,” 32% sided with the Chief Rabbinate, and 17% backed “private conversion courts for each of the religious streams – ultra-Orthodox, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform.”
Most Israeli Jews want more lenient, welcoming state conversions
It is totally not important what the majority wants or doesn’t want re conversion to Judaism. Judaism and the Torah is not a product which can be voted upon. It does not belong to the Jewish People to decide yay or nay. To give an example. If I am the owner of a property , all the people in the world cannot decide for me whether or not I should or should not sell my property.
G-d , the creator of the world , is also the deciding factor of whom he has chosen to be his chosen people. G-d in his infinite kindness has also allowed any person in the world to convert to Judaism. When someone would like to join the ranks of Judaism and convert to Judaism, the only way possible is to do it according to the instructions given by G-d himself.
At a very basic and beginning introduction to conversion the convert has to accept in totality the laws of the Torah. The convert has to read and read again over and over the 13 principals of faith as prescribed by the Rambam. Any person if he/she wants to convert to Judaism , can convert if they do it according to the Halacha (Jewish Law). If someone converts , and does not do it correctly he/she is not only hurting themselves. They will ultimately be hurting their spouse and their children. It’s not a good idea. Better do it right from the beginning or don’t do it at all.