特朗普的女兒在美國皈依猶太教

JERUSALEM — Critics of Israel’s chief rabbinate have long complained that scores of U.S. converts to Judaism have trouble getting approval to marry in Israel. Now, one such case with a celebrity connection could break open the rabbinate’s long-standing secrecy over which foreign rabbis are approved to conduct conversions.

耶路撒冷——長期以來，以色列大拉比的批評者一直抱怨很多改信猶太教的美國人很難在以色列獲准結婚。現在，有一個牽涉名人的此類案例，可能會破解大拉比制度下長期以來關於哪些外國拉比可以獲准主持皈依儀式的祕密。

The case involves an American who, shortly after her Orthodox conversion in New York, became engaged to an Israeli, only to have the local rabbinical court in his hometown reject her status as a Jew when they tried to register for marriage.

在這個案例中，一位美國人在紐約皈依猶太教正統派後不久，與一名以色列人訂婚，不過當他們準備登記結婚時，她的猶太身份卻遭到男方家鄉的一個地方拉比法庭否認。

As it turns out, the rabbi who signed the woman’s conversion certificate also converted Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, and officiated at her 2009 wedding to Jared Kushner, the newspaper publisher now planning the presumptive Republican nominee’s potential transition to the White House.

給這位女士簽發皈依證書的拉比也曾主持唐納德·特朗普(Donald Trump)的女兒伊萬卡(Ivanka)的皈依儀式，並在2009年主持她與報紙出版人賈裏德·庫什納(Jared Kushner)的婚禮。庫什納目前正在幫助穩獲共和黨提名的總統候選人進軍白宮。

The rabbi, Haskel Lookstein, is one of the most respected Orthodox rabbis in New York, where he has for 58 years led Manhattan’s Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, after taking over the pulpit from his father. He recently received an honorary doctorate from Israel’s Bar-Ilan University in recognition for what it called “the influential role he has played in deepening Jewish values and heritage among American Jewry.”

哈斯克爾·盧克斯坦(Haskel Lookstein)是紐約最受尊敬的正統派拉比之一，繼承父親的神職之後，領導曼哈頓的Kehilath Jeshurun猶太會堂長達58年之久。前不久，以色列的巴爾伊蘭大學(Bar-Ilan University)爲了表彰“他在深化美國猶太人的猶太價值觀和傳統方面發揮了有影響力的作用”，授予他榮譽博士學位。

The case raises the question of whether Ivanka Trump — who said in a Vogue magazine interview last year that she and her husband were “pretty observant,” keeping kosher and the Jewish Sabbath — would be accepted as Jewish herself in all quarters in Israel.

這個事件引發了人們關於伊萬卡·特朗普(Ivanka Trump)的猶太人身份能否在以色列全境獲得認可的懷疑。去年，她在接受《Vogue》雜誌採訪時表示，她和丈夫“嚴格遵守”教規，持守猶太潔食和安息日規定。

More broadly, it illustrates a growing divide between Israel’s increasingly strict ultra-Orthodox religious establishment and many Jews abroad over the age-old question of “who is a Jew” that has complicated Israel’s relationship with the diaspora for decades.

在更廣層面上，它反映出以色列日益嚴格的極端正統派宗教權威與國外很多猶太人對於“誰是猶太人”這個古老問題日益嚴重的分歧。在過去幾十年裏，這個問題讓以色列與猶太僑民之間的關係變得複雜。

The Israeli rabbinate, which controls Jewish marriage and most Jewish burial sites in the country, does not recognize non-Orthodox streams of Judaism like Reform and Conservative, with which the majority of affiliated U.S. Jews identify. In rejecting Lookstein’s conversion and those of others in similar positions, the rabbinical authorities now risk alienating Jews abroad who practice modern Orthodoxy according to Halakha, or Jewish law.

以色列拉比掌管猶太婚姻以及該國的大部分猶太墓地，他們不認可非正統派猶太教分支，比如改革派和保守派——美國的大部分猶太人都屬於這些非正統派分支。以色列拉比拒絕承認盧克斯坦以及其他具有類似地位的拉比簽發的皈依證書，因此有可能疏遠國外的那些按照猶太律法執行現代正統派教規的猶太人。

“Ten years ago, if an Orthodox rabbi in good standing performed a conversion, it would have been a given that it would be accepted here,” said Rabbi Seth Farber, the founder of Itim, an Israeli organization that has been critical of the rabbinate and is pressing the case of Lookstein’s U.S. convert.

“10年前，如果是一名地位穩固的正統派拉比主持的皈依，人們肯定認爲它在這裏是會被接受的，”對猶太大拉比持批評態度的以色列組織Itim的創始人塞思·法伯拉比(Seth Farber)說。該組織正在爲盧克斯坦的美國皈依者奔走。

He added, “I’d say this is unprecedented in Jewish history, that one group of rabbis rejects another.”

他補充說：“我得說，這在猶太曆史上是前所未有的——一個拉比團體否定另一個拉比團體。”

Itim handles up to 150 cases a year of modern-Orthodox converts from the United States who are struggling to get married in Israel or are experiencing other issues with the religious establishment. As Farber put it, “Almost everyone has problems nowadays.”

Itim每年處理多達150起類似案件——美國現代正統派猶太教皈依者在以色列爭取婚姻權或經歷其他與宗教權威相關的難題。按法伯的說法，“如今，幾乎每個人都遇到問題。”

The U.S. convert, who is appealing her case to Israel’s supreme rabbinical court, declined to be interviewed, and the rabbis discussed her situation on the condition that she not be identified in order to protect her privacy.

那名改信猶太教的美國女性正把自己的案件上訴至以色列最高拉比法庭。她拒絕接受採訪。爲了保護她的隱私，拉比們討論她的情況時都避免暴露她的身份。

Her supporters said she converted just over a year ago, after about a year of study, and soon met the man who would become her fiancé in Petah Tikva, a bedroom community near Tel Aviv. The rabbinical court there first ruled in April that her conversion was invalid.

她的支持者稱，她在一年前剛改信猶太教，之前學習了一年左右，然後很快在特拉維夫附近的城郊住宅區佩塔提克瓦遇見了後來成爲她未婚夫的男人。今年4月，當地的拉比法庭首次判決她皈依無效。

After a preliminary hearing in the supreme rabbinical court in Jerusalem, Rabbi Itamar Tubul, the director of the chief rabbinate’s department of personal status and conversion, wrote a letter to the Petah Tikva court saying that the conversion certificate signed by Lookstein was “approved by the chief rabbinate of Israel.” (Two other Kehilath Jeshurun rabbis also signed the certificate.)

在耶路撒冷最高拉比法庭的初步聽證會之後，大拉比的個人身份和皈依部主管伊塔馬爾·圖布勒拉比(Itamar Tubul)給佩塔提克瓦法院寫信表示，盧克斯坦簽發的皈依證書是“經過以色列大拉比批准的”（Kehilath Jeshurun猶太會堂的另外兩名拉比也在這份證書上籤了字）。

But the Petah Tikva court issued a second ruling against the conversion June 8, saying it had found no mention of Lookstein on its lists of approved rabbis.

但在6月8日，佩塔提克瓦法院再次判決這一皈依無效，稱它沒有在自己的獲准拉比名單上看到盧克斯坦的名字。

Lookstein, 84, is now in an emeritus position at Kehilath Jeshurun, which has a membership of 1,100 families, and is considered one of the most established and mainstream Orthodox rabbis in America.

84歲的盧克斯坦目前是Kehilath Jeshurun猶太會堂的榮退拉比，他被認爲是美國最權威、最主流的正統派拉比之一。該會堂的會衆包括1100個家庭。

In a telephone interview, he said this case was a first for him, though he was not aware of anyone else who had been converted by him or his colleagues at Kehilath Jeshurun who then tried to marry in Israel.

盧克斯坦在接受電話採訪時稱，他首次遇到這樣的案例，不過他並不知道是否還有經他自己或Kehilath Jeshurun猶太會堂其他同事之手皈依猶太教的人曾嘗試在以色列結婚。

“The irony is that this woman is very meticulous about her religious observance,” Lookstein said. “She is as Jewish as I am, and as Jewish as the rabbis signed on the certificate, except in the eyes of the Petah Tikva rabbinate.”

“諷刺的是，這位女士一絲不苟地遵守猶太教規，”盧克斯坦說，“從猶太教身份的角度講，她和我以及其他在證書上簽字的拉比是一樣的，只有佩塔提克瓦的拉比不這麼認爲。”

“The bottom line,” he added, “is that the rabbinate in Israel is not respecting and honoring the work of the Orthodox rabbinate in America on conversion.”

“其實是，”他補充說，“以色列拉比不尊重和承認美國正統派拉比主持的皈依。”

Lookstein said he expected that the woman would ultimately win her appeal and be able to marry in Israel. “But the battle is taking so much out of this woman and causing such pain at a time when she should be happiest in her life,” he lamented, adding that the Petah Tikva rabbis were perpetrating “a terrible sin” because “the Torah is very explicit that a convert should be treated with love and never afflicted.”

盧克斯坦說，他希望那位女士能最終贏得上訴，可以在以色列結婚。“但是，這場戰鬥耗費這位女士這麼多精力，給她一生中本該最快樂的時光帶來巨大痛苦，”他嘆息道。他還表示，佩塔提克瓦的拉比正犯下“嚴重的罪孽”，因爲“《托拉》(Torah)明確指出，應該用愛對待皈依者，永不折磨他們”。