That is, the Rabbi identifies a national issue with a halakhic issue. And Rabbi Aviner distinguishes between the laws that define the nation and its boundaries (which are a national matter, and at the moment the gateway into it is through halakhic conversion in one sense or another) and ordinary laws that do not touch on national feeling.

Benny Gantz is still not prime minister.

Don’t you see assimilation as a national issue apart from the halakhic issue?

In my opinion, the state, and many private individuals, do see assimilation as a national problem, even though they do not see a problem with Sabbath desecration, for example.

Seemingly, without the halakhic issue, someone married to a non-Jewish woman in Israel is actually assimilating the non-Jewish woman into the Jewish nation.

With God’s help, 6 Iyar 5780

To Delilah — greetings,

I too thought I would manage to absorb the women I married into the Jewish people. I thought the daughters of the Philistines would see a different image of a Jew — a strong and courageous Jew, fighting for his honor and values — and that their hearts would open to identify with my people and its values.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work. At the moment of truth, my Philistine admirers remained loyal to the society from which they came.

I am not saying that there is no chance of a real transformation. There was Ruth the Moabite, who remained attached to her mother-in-law, to her people and her God, and stood by her loyalty even in difficult situations.

The conclusion is that one must carefully examine the candidate seeking to attach herself to the Jewish people: is this a case of “love that depends on something,” which just as it came may also go, or is it a stable decision that comes from an inner conviction of the truth of Judaism.

With blessing, Samson

Samson, Samson — in your opinion, is the problem with this kind of assimilation (importing a spouse, not exporting one) something universal that is true of every nation, such that joining the national club requires a stable decision and so on, or is this something mysterious at the root of the Jewish nation specifically? And if it is mysterious, was it embedded because the Jewish people are small among the nations, persecuted and dwindling, or because our nation is a nation only through its Torah?

A national issue? Maybe. A value? No.
Beyond that, if you’re talking about losing children to the Jewish people, that doesn’t happen. The number of Jews is determined by the number of children born to Jewish mothers. A Jewish father who marries a non-Jewish woman — his children are non-Jews, just as her children from a non-Jewish father would be. And a Jewish woman who marries a non-Jewish man — her children are Jews. And certainly if they live in Israel, then they’ll also be culturally Jewish.

With God’s help, 7 Iyar 5780

To Delilah — greetings,

A glance at the entry “Naturalization” in Wikipedia seems to show that in most countries, not-so-simple “entrance exams” are required — permanent residence for a number of years, knowledge of the country’s language. In many countries, knowledge of the history, culture, legal system, and the nation’s basic values is also required.

All the more so is this true of the Jewish people, the only people in the world today over whom an existential danger hovers, whether of physical destruction or of cultural and religious destruction. When we separated ourselves from gentile culture, they hated us because of our difference; but even when we tried to be “like all other people” and be English, French, and German people of the Mosaic faith — they continued to hate us, and even intensified their hatred on the claim that we had come to take over.

And all the more so is this true of the Jewish people, who are meant to be not only a “community of fate,” but also to have a “covenant of destiny” to represent God’s name in His world and to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” the vanguard force that in the course of time will lead humanity to accept the faith of the Torah and its values.

The secret of our strength is the crown of God upon our heads, in our faithfulness to our divine mission — the secret of our survival among all the wolves. Awareness of the mission is what gives us the strength and the ability to act to transform our world. Whoever is ready to join us is welcome, but on condition that they fully identify with our destiny.

With blessing, Samson