The struggle against the ultra-Orthodox grip on Israel’s Chief Rabbinate in issues of personal status in Israel has a new, and very attractive, poster girl. Alin Levy, an Israeli reality TV star, says she has been told she cannot complete the process of converting to Judaism because she is an actress.
Levy blasted into the national consciousness four years ago when she was one of the most popular contestants in the Israeli version of the highly rated reality show sensation “Big Brother.” One of the youngest ever to participate in the show, at age 18, Levy was an audience favorite with her cheerful and ditzy ‘girl-next-door’ persona. Her blonde good looks, of course, didn’t hurt.
After reaching the finals of the show – but not winning – she completed her service in the Israel Defense Forces and kept a high profile – parlaying her celebrity into stints as a television gossip reporter and performer on panel shows. Constantly tracked by paparazzi, she had a high profile in the Tel Aviv social scene, complete with a Kardashian-esque sports star boyfriend.
But a few years ago, she took a deliberate step out of the spotlight. A profile of Levy published in Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Friday explained that, at the ripe old age of 23, she decided to change her life and take a more serious direction – to leave her pop culture gigs and immerse herself in Chekhov and Shakespeare at a prestigious acting school. The spread on Levy’s ‘new life’ was illustrated with an artistic photo of Levy lighting Sabbath candles and was headlined with the revelation that she was converting to Judaism.
Levy immigrated to Israel from Ukraine when she was four years old. Her father was Jewish, and though her mother met the legal requirements for immigration to Israel thanks to her Jewish grandfather, she was not considered Jewish according to religious law (halakha), and so neither was Alin. Alin said she had felt Jewish all her life in Israel. It was during her military service that she began to be troubled by that fact that as far as the Chief Rabbinate was concerned, she was not Jewish.
It upset her that she wasn’t ‘officially’ considered a member of the religion, and, according to the interview, she determined to become a full-fledged kosher Jew, she began the procedure for Orthodox conversion, studying Torah three hours each week, dressing modestly, making blessings over her food and began to observe Shabbat. Asked if she might become fully Orthodox in the end, she responded “I can’t rule it out.”
The process is standard operating procedure for secular Israelis who want to complete conversion. In order to do so, they are required to adopt a lifestyle that is far more observant to become Jewish in the eyes of the stringent conversion court.
But for the court supervising Levy’s conversion – it wasn’t enough.
Read more: http://forward.com/articles/194797/reality-tv-stars-conversion-plight-reveals-orthodo/#ixzz2wS8PSfsP
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