If you read the Post and the jewishsf.com articles, it's clear he's converting from Ethiopian Jew to Eastern European Jew.

If I were his PR guy, I would have suggested Shyne Diamond.

Madonna and Moses Michael Leviy (Levy?) should make a cover CD of Hannukah songs.

I'm not suprised. It was just a matter of time.

hugging up on rick santorum? he's a catholic. i don't follow.

That's a reference to Sammy Davis' infamous hug with Richard Nixon..

It's literally impossible to convert to any form of Judaism while in prison. We're talking a process that takes a minimum of a year up to 6 years study under the direct supervision of rabbis plus a little thing called circumcision for men. Also, there's no such thing as converting from "Ethiopian Jewish" to "European Jewish" you're either a Jew or you're not. If his mom's not Jewish then he isn't either.

Dvorah
Yes you are born into a religion..but you are only an individual OF that religion if you have faith in it. That is why majority of people convert. They are born into a religion..find that it is not what they truly believe in or agree with..so they convert. It has nothing to do with his mom being Jewish. He'll officially be Jewish after he begins practicing the religion. The part where you said it takes a miniumum of 6 years to convert..I'm not arguing that. It might be true. I'm not Jewish so I don't know but if he converted..that makes him officially Jewish.

Dee, Judaism is not a religion in the sense that Christianity and other faiths are a religion. In Judaism, there are two ways to become a Jew, be born to a Jewish mother or go through a valid conversion. If non-Jewish person wishes to follow the tenets of Judaism that is their choice, however, that does not make them a Jew until they go through a valid conversion.

A valid conversion involved 1-6 years of study prior to the actual conversion. The reason it is not possible to go through a valid conversion while in person is that not only does the person not have the required access to resources (weekly study with rabbis, texts, etc) but the conversion itself requires going before a rabbinical court in addition to mikvah and circumcision. Also, once one has converted the person has to live a Jewish life, attendance at synagogue, prayer 3 times a day, etc.

Well, Madonna did it.
;)

Ugh, you had to bring up Madonna and her cult? :P

FUN FACT number 3067:
Did you know that converts to judaism are not looked upon as equal to people who are born jews.

shyne am very fucking dissapointed my nigga you fucking gay i dont like you no more and you music you a dickhead nigga stay in jail for ever man u usless nigga

I think it is up to him if he wants to change name and become jewish he has his own mind and his own life to live. people should mind there own bisness and leave M.M.L. alone.

Hey, I am proud of shyne. His raps are hot. Reppin the faith.

This is cool, you have to try it. I guessed 14573, and this game guessed it! See it here - http://www.funbrain.com/guess/

I can't believe it, my co-worker just bought a car for $17186. Isn't that crazy!

As for iamthetruth's claim about converts to Judaism, it is completely false that valid converts to Judaism are seen as lesser. In fact, the exact opposite is the truth. Converts to Judaism are seen as Jews in every sense of the word and are held in the highest esteem for having chosen a path that wasn't required of them by birth.

As for someone being able to decide that they're Jewish because that's how they feel. Well, I'm not from the US, don't live in the US, and don't have US citizenship. I could claim that I'm an American but guess what, I'm not. The same goes for being Jewish, anyone can say they're Jewish but if they are according to the "rules" of Judaism they can keep on claiming it but they aren't.

Who's to say that he didn't meet with a Rabbi while in prison to study. A visit to a beit din and mikvah are probably unlikely to have occurred, but a creative Jewish chaplain might have been able to find a way to help. I think it is possible that Shyne went through a conversion process that would pass muster amongst the most traditional branches of Judaism. Since the details are lacking from all reports, withholding judgment isn't a bad idea. And hey, if he is finding that Jewish traditions help him keep his yetzer ha-rah in check, then at least there's a positive regardless whether or not he is truly now a member of the tribe.

To correct a couple of earlier posts. You can't convert from Ethiopian Jewish to European Jewish or vice-versa because they're both Jewish and the words "Ethiopian" and "European" simply denote the country of origin of one's ancestry and possibly a collection of minor regional variations in religious practices. However, when a large number of Ethiopian Jews immigrated to Israel there were some Orthodox rabbis who questioned whether or not the immigrants were truly Jewish and wanted them all to go through the conversion process just to be sure. I visited Israel during this controversial period of time, and there were many protests held by the new immigrants.

Officially, converts to Judaism are not looked upon as unequal to people born Jewish. An oft quoted quote (from the Talmud?) says that converts are considered to be Jews to such an extent that you're not even supposed to remind them that they were ever not Jewish. In practice, there are likely some Jews who are suspicious of whether or not a person who has converted has the right motivations or will follow through on their new commitment. In addition, the Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox branches of Judaism do not generally recognize conversions performed by rabbis from the Conservative and Reform branches of Judaism.

Judaism not only doesn't proselytize, but features a conversion process that is relatively difficult. This may be due to the fact that Jews lived for so long amongst nations that were frequently openly hostile to them that prosyletization would just be an invitation to attack. There is some evidence that Jews did prosyletize a couple thousand years ago (one of the authors of the Christian Bible complains about the efforts of Jewish missionaries), but this practice has been replaced with traditions that require a prospective convert to be turned away three times before they can begin the process (what better way to repel sting operations from hostile authorities who wanted to catch Jews in the illegal act of converting people, which often carried the death penalty).

Things are opening up a bit these days. There are introduction to Judaism classes at many synagogues and institutions of Jewish learning full of people thinking of converting (as well as curious folk, priests, nuns, and reverends who want to better educate themselves on Judaism). There must be at least a few hundred conversions a year in the US, which is probably an order of magnitude greater than the number before 1950.

For more info, see the a soc.culture.jewish faq.