| Submit your comments on this article |
| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Iranian Muslim converts to Judaism |
| 2007-03-03 |
| An Iranian Muslim flight attendant who hijacked an Iranian airliner and flew it to Israel 12 years ago has converted to Judaism, an Israeli newspaper reported on Friday. “Despite the difficulties I have faced obtaining Israeli citizenship, you have warmly welcomed me,” Reza Jabari was quoted as telling the Maariv daily. “Morally I feel indebted towards you. For this reason I decided to convert.” On September 19, 1995, Jabari, who was a flight attendant for Iranian carrier Kish Air, hijacked a flight between Tehran and the Iranian resort island of Kish. He diverted the airplane and its 174 passengers to Israel, where he told authorities he had hijacked the plane because he was desperate to flee Iran and never had any intention of harming the passengers or crew. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #15 I'm not saying ZF is wrong, TW, but before you order take out, you might want to review this chart. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-03-03 22:41 |
| #14 TW: I am soooo glad you said, even though I adored Chinese food until just a moment ago, darn it! Denial is a very effective strategy for dealing with kosher food issues. NYC-area Jews deal with it by reasoning that Chinese food doesn't taste like there's any pork in it - ergo, Chinese food must not contain pork. That's all there is to it. It's never a good idea to over-think important issues like food. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2007-03-03 22:32 |
| #13 Oh dear, Zhang Fe -- I didn't know that! I've been keeping kosher by the law (no pork or shellfish, no dishes made by cooking a young animal in its own mother's milk, but I don't worry about the rabbis' rules like separate dishes for meat and milk, and separate meals as well). I am soooo glad you said, even though I adored Chinese food until just a moment ago, darn it! Anguper Hupomosing9418, just be a good person, and God and I will both be satisfied, I'm sure. ;-) You go on to Heaven, dear, and we'll see where I end up when the time comes. There is some disagreement on that point, you see. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-03-03 22:15 |
| #12 TW: Commandments like having to keep kosher (no bacon or sausage, or shrimp on the Barbie) By that measure, the vast majority of Chinese food-eating New York metro area Jews aren't religiously-observant in the strict sense of the phrase. Note that the stock for Chinese dishes is made from non-kosher materials (pork and non-kosher chicken). |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2007-03-03 22:04 |
| #11 TW, you have discouraged me from converting to Judaism. Observing just a few of the Commandments is hard enough as it is. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-03-03 19:47 |
| #10 Muslims, of course. With an s. And because Disney's Moses was awfully cute. And he did magic better than the Pharoh's court magicians. PIMF! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-03-03 14:09 |
| #9 Quite right, it does not have shit to do with God, wxjames. The Jews don't consider themselves to have a monopoly on God or salvation, so there is no need to convert to Judaism to attain that, unlike Christianity and Islam. The rabbis teach that God fearing Christians and Mulims will go to Heaven before Jews who wrong their fellow man. Rather, it has to do with choosing to take on the responsibility to observe all the Commandments*, not just the ten familiar ones, painting a target on oneself for antisemites to aim at, and making that commitment not only for oneself but for all of one's Jewish descendents. The reason it's hard is to discourage those who begin conversion for the wrong reasons: because one is in love with a Jew, because Madonnah made Kabbalah fashionable, because one is in an emotional funk and Judaism looks like a fix for that, because Disney. I do hope that answers your question, my dear. * Commandments like having to keep kosher (no bacon or sausage, or shrimp on the Barbie), male circumcision... there are at least 613, if I recall correctly. Why would someone take that on when God will accept them just as well without all that? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-03-03 14:07 |
| #8 Doesn't have shit to do with God, does it ? Want to be in the club ? Jump ! Jump higher ! |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-03-03 12:40 |
| #7 Jews do not encourage conversion. That's been policy since about the 3rd Century AD, I believe, although God Fearers (google Noahide, if you want more in depth info), who agree with Jewish core beliefs but don't want to go through conversion, have been a common fixture in Jewish synagogue congregations since the at least the 1st Century BC. (It is said that the emperor Nero's mother was a God Fearer.) It can take up to three years of serious study, with frequent challenges to the certainty of one's decision, before one can convert to the stripped down, Reform version. I don't even want to think what the Orthodox rabbis in Israel put this man through... but I'll bet he has read the entire Old Testament, the first couple hundred years of rabbinic law, tales and poetry in the Midrash and Talmud, and key sections of rabbinic arguments for the last thousand years or so, including why turning on/off the light on the Sabbath was determined to constitute work (physics was involved, as I understand it), and can discuss intelligently any of that corpus when asked. Rote memorization in a language not known by the reciter is not part of the process. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-03-03 12:08 |
| #6 Anonymoose might be referring to muslims who currently have Israeli citizenship. In which case, conversion would increase the number of Jews relative to the population as a whole without changing the absolute population at all. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-03-03 11:40 |
| #5 I understand Israel is already crowded, another 25% would make them packed Cheek-to-jowl. Perhaps why conversion is not actively sought? |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-03-03 10:30 |
| #4 This is very unusual not because a Muslim wanted to convert, many do, but because the Jews permitted it. Israel could probably increase the number of Jews by 25% in a few years if they allowed most Muslims to convert. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-03-03 09:10 |
| #3 He should feel indebted. He probably has a pretty good idea of how his home country would have handled his case. |
| Posted by: mac 2007-03-03 05:21 |
| #2 Just a wild guess, but I would bet Israel didn't let this guy work in his previous field after he arrived. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2007-03-03 01:06 |
| #1 Wow! Iranian Double Indemnity Death Fatwa in 5, 4, 3,... |
| Posted by: PBMcL 2007-03-03 00:28 |