I feel like we’re either part of the club or we aren’t. If you want our money, our media, our votes of confidence, than you need to accept that we belong in the club. And we bring with us a wide range of perspectives…

Well Said!

I have been going through the conversion process for almost a year, and thankfully I am almost done.

My intelligence is insulted by how the author of this rant managed to lump together the Law of Return, the Israeli government, and the Israeli Rabbinate together without any regard for the real reasons why these conversions are being questioned.

As I have followed this "battle" closely, the issues at hand are as follows:
1) American Rabbinical authorities have no uniform standard, not even a general outline, for conversions - or did not until recent developments.  This of course is a reference only to the Rabbinical Council of America, which is Orthodox.  The Reform and Conservative branches have no standard at all, and apparently seem not to care about that fact.

2) Even if someone in the United States wanted to convert, it is near impossible to find a Rabbi willing to do it.  Because there has been so much disorganization and lack of knowledge about the qualifications of the people conducting the conversions, many Rabbis have been too frightened to even enter the field, for fear of their respective entire reputations' utter destruction.

3) The American בתי דין, or Rabbinical Courts (but literally, courts) have been permissive in their judgments.  They tend to make for easier conversion processes.  At least, this is the major reason the Israeli Rabbinate is undertaking the policies that it is.  This point is very debatable, but so few are actually qualified to argue.

The American Rabbinical establishment (and establishment does not always refer to some horrible shadow government or group of elitists) or better, the American Rabbinical infrastructure, is weak.  There is no real hierarchy, and consequently no standard.

The major reason, though, that American Rabbinical authorities are being targeted is because they are so disorganized.  How legitimate the allegations of reckless conversion court proceedings is, is again debatable.  But for sure there is a mess in being able to verify the credentials of the judges sitting on them, especially when there are no standard ones.  Up until now, there have been no established courts for conversion, only temporary ones set up to oversee individual conversion proceedings.

As you can see, the author has absolutely no idea what she is talking about, and is only looking for an excuse to get mad.  For sure, conversion issues around the world are hot right now.  I highly recommend that the global Orthodox bodies coordinate a sane and applicable policy for future conversions.  I also recommend the Conservative Movement straighten itself out for its own converts' benefit, and maybe they can save the Jewish people a lot more grief by ending its Rabbis' practices of shotty conversions.

This is not a matter of American support for Israel.  It is remarkable that you are criticizing the Israeli Rabbinate for critiquing American Rabbinical institutions.  You said they shouldn't because it is like biting the hand that feeds you.  Essentially, you are advocating for the Israeli Rabbinate to view general American financial support for Israel as a payoff.  If that would not be a perfect example of CORRUPTION, I have no idea what is.

How is this about membership cards?  That makes no sense.  There is no motivation to maintain such power.  The Israeli Rabbinate is under pressure to undertake more conversions, easier conversions and quicker conversions in order to end any problems of secular Israelis marrying each other in the future when one of the partners maybe a Russian or Ethiopian whose position as a Jew in Jewish law is in doubt.

If you think the whole thing is no big deal, then you obviously care nothing about the Orthodox-practicing segment of the Jewish people (as well as the absolute majority of Jews, considering the fact Reform and Conservative Jews have conversion processes, that means they even have standards for who can and cannot declare him or herself to be a Jew).  Many of those secular Jews you refer to and infer care nothing about this issue, have been becoming more religious.  Many of them, in your lifetime (many can mean 5% to the Messiah's arrival) will also become observant and this will matter for them.

My Mother had a Conservative conversion 30 years ago.  While (even) the Israeli Rabbinate may accept individual Conservative Rabbis' conversions today from those days, they simply do not have the resources to investigate every single Rabbi.  I am undergoing conversion because this is the standard that the Rabbinical leadership has legislated for the community today, making it law.  An individual's observance of Jewish law can include not eating cheeseburgers, not eating pork, not driving to the Synagogue on Shabbat, and tithing his fruit, but it makes not one difference if that person gets hyper-sensitive about Halachah's requirements for Jewish status.  If someone accepts all those other Jewish laws, he or she should have no freaking problem with the ones regarding who is a Jew and who is not.