The following is an excerpt from an article which claims that the conversion controversy is really about whether the prime value is to proselytize as many non-Jews who identify with Israel as possible or to follow the halacha as traditionally understood. See the original for the full article. [Also See Rabbi Cardozo]
Conversion controversy boils down to bout over Zionism by Matthew Wagner
Jerusalem Post May 6, 2008 page 3
A nasty legalistic brawl that casts in doubt the Jewishness of hundreds of converts to Judaism is really a clash of political ideologies vis-à-vis Zionism, rabbis on both sides of the fray said Monday. The clash between rabbis who see the creation of the State of Israel as a positive sign from God signaling a step closer to final redemption and those who reject any religious implication resulting from the renewal of Jewish sovereignty comes as Israelis prepare to celebrate the 60th anniversary of their independence on Thursday.
[…]
Rabbi Avraham Sherman, the haredi rabbinic judge who wrote the decision, accused Druckman of forging documents to make it seem as if he were present at dozens of conversions when, in actuality, he was represented by proxy. But Sherman’s main thrust was an attack on Druckman and other judges in the Conversion Authority, the vast majority of whom are religious Zionists, who saw the endeavor of mass conversion as a “national goal.”
“All these rabbis have one thing in common,” Sherman wrote, referring to rabbis serving on state-run conversion courts. “They all see in conversion a sacred commandment as part of their national responsibility .., in other words, the conversion is not primarily the spiritual and religious need of the individual convert who wishes to join the Jewish people and accept upon himself all the commandments. Rather, conversion is a means of improving the spiritual situation of the entire Jewish nation living in Israel. It is a way of bringing Jews closer to their Judaism. “But, in reality, for dozens of years now the vast majority of converts via the Conversion Authority remain gentile in their behavior, . except for the performance of rituals, which remain for these converts empty of spirit. These converts see themselves as belonging to the Jewish people solely in a patriotic, nationalistic way, without any religiously significant feelings of belonging. Therefore, these [conversion court] rabbis should be seen as intentional transgressors of Jewish law.”
[…]
A senior member of the Conversion Authority, who preferred to remain anonymous, said conversions serve the national interest and are therefore, a mitzvah. “We are talking about a group of people who ended up in Israel because they have some sort of connection with the Jewish people,” the source said. “Their mother may not be Jewish, which makes them gentile according to Halacha. But their father is Jewish, or one of their grandparents is Jewish or they are married to a Jew. as a result, they are considered “of the seed of Israe1.” “In addition, they totally identify as Jews. They do not all see themselves as gentiles. They serve in the IDF, they are patriotic, they are Zionistic. We have a duty to bring them closer to the Jewish people.” The source also pointed out that if the approximately, 300,000 non-Jews who, immigrated to Israel under the Law of Return are not converted, there will be intermarriage and assimilation. “The haredim are not part of any of Israel’s national endeavors because they do not see any religious value in the creation of the State of Israel. That’s why they don’t serve in the IDF. And they a don’t identify with Zionism. They also don’t think their children, who are brought up in isolated communities, will ever marry non-Jewish immigrants or their offspring. But I think they are wrong. […]
Finally the real issues are being put on the table, albeit via the media, it's not about "Who is a Jew?" but "Who is a rabbi?" and "Who is a Dayan?" or "What is a Bais Din?" and "Who is Zionist?" and "What is geirus/conversion?" and it is highly unlikely that many of the Religious Zionists in Israel and the RCA in America are ever going to find an agreement over this with most of the Charedim in our lifetimes.
ReplyDeleteThe problem I have with mass conversions is that the Torah tells us that God chose us because we are the smallest of all peoples. The Rav Soloveitchik notes that if we had been interested in mass conversions, we could have headed off the creation of both Chrisianity and Islam but our refusal to water down the process in the name of mass influx prevented that from happening.
ReplyDeleteIs this possibly the problem here? Could it be that with our zeal to strengthen Israel, and the natural blurring between "Israeli" and "Jew" we're forgetting this very principle?
For once, I agree with your blog. Though it is not just a clash between charedim and Zionists per se, but also between charedim and modern society in general.
ReplyDeleteI quote the following from the excellent blog of Rabbi Prof. Jeffrey Woolf of Bar-Ilan University, a talmid of Rav Soloveitchik zt"l (http://myobiterdicta.blogspot.com/):
>"Last night I attended the emergency meeting of the Rabbis of Tzohar, called in order to protest the indignities heaped upon R. Haim Druckman, the viciousness of the Bet Din ha-Rabbani ha-Elyon and the baldfaced violation of the sensitivities and halakhic status of 25,000 converts!"
>"A highlight was the impassioned address by Rav Aharon Lichtenstein who inveighed heavily, and passionately, against this act of sacrilege, this desecration of the Torah's honor. He stated clearly that it is the Dayyanim who dared to disqualify R. Druckman who are, themselves, disqualified. Hatred and prejudice disqualify one from sitting in judgement. At the same time, he cautioned that those who support R. Druckman must conduct themselves as befits God-fearing, Orthodox rabbis and not to stoop to the muck-filled level occupied by Rabbis Attiah, Sherman, Izrer and Scheinfeld. (Though, in typically ethical fashion, he did not name them.)"
>"I don't know how this will play itself out. However, I am willing to be optimistic that the nihilist forces that delegitimize Jews (by birth or halakhic conversion) aren't part of their specific community will not prevail. I saw the determination in the eyes of the Tzohar rabbis. As Ben Gurion said after the bombing of Tel Aviv, 60 years ago Shabbat: אלה יעמדו."
So yes, it is gedolim versus gedolim! It is one Torah ideology versus another! And there is only one answer: Get rid of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate and its courts, so that each Israeli can be married by the rabbi THEY choose and be converted by the beis din THEY choose, not the one the political Chief Rabbinate "system" forces them to go to.
Let the charedim choose Rav Sherman, Rav Elyashiv, and the Badatz for their marriages and conversions. I have no problem with that, even though I think their approach to Torah is terribly wrong. But let them go to whoever they want to.
I myself choose Rav Lichtenstein, Rav Druckman, and Tzohar! I'm sorry the charedim have a problem with that, but let it be their problem, not mine.
Itamar Ross
To garnel ironheart: You must be careful with the words "mass conversions" here. The cases that have been at the center of the controversy at the present time were not "mass conversions" in the sense that hundreds or thousands of people were converted in one fell swoop overnight. But rather, what appears to be the case is that these are an accumulation of multiple individual conversions going back to 1999, almost ten years worth of individual conversions (that may seem like a large group now because they are, bit it was not a "Mass conversion" of all of them in front of one sitting in one session of one Beth Din), and that a ruling has now ben issued that the standards relied upon by the Batei Din ("religious courts") for those indivual conversions were not good enough according to the latter ruling by another supposedly "higher" religious court, and then the latter court's rulings have in turn been challenged by Israel's Chief Sefardi Rabbi Amar.
ReplyDeleteTherefore noone is arguing, or should ne arguing with your quote from Rav Soloveitchik that "mass conversions" done "factory style" in any way are damgeous and should not be done as they do not help Israel or the Jewish people.
Valid conversions can only be done on a case by case basis, and if there are questions about many conversions done individually over a long period of time they can likewise also NOT be negated in one fell swoop and by one ruling but each and every case must be CAREFULLY reviewed on a case by case basis. Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done! So that people will accept the rulings and not rebel against them with possible unintended reactions and consequences.
Halachah is ULTIMATELY very fair.
I read somewhere that 28,000 conversions were performed in a 9 year period. Assuming a 5 day work week and 3 weeks off for Holidays, that's about 13 conversions per working day as the average, or perhaps one every 30 minutes.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if 30 minutes enough time to ascertain whether a person is a serious candidate for conversion, and has properly gone through the conversion process.
I read somewhere that 28,000 conversions were performed in a 9 year period. Assuming a 5 day work week and 3 weeks off for Holidays, that's about 13 conversions per working day as the average, or perhaps one every 30 minutes.
ReplyDeleteAssuming that figure is correct, it still is not the case that there is only one beit din for all conversions throughout Israel, much less throughout the world. In fact, the Israeli Yated has called for a reduction in the number of conversion courts, so it seems clear there are multiple conversion courts.
In addition, the overwhelming majority of the process of conversion takes place before the final beit din - in the Diaspora in my experience the beit din itself often meets multiple times with the candidate, plus there is a sponsoring rabbi or rabbis and sometimes community support as well. The conversion process I have seen is almost never less than a full year, and 3 to 5 years is not uncommon.
To anonymous of May 6, 2008 9:18 PM:
ReplyDeleteYou are being silly. It is NOT the entire conversion process that takes 30 minutes, but facing the Dayanim may take that amount of time.
The conversion process begins when the candidates for conversion make the decision to convert in the first place and agree to undergo whatever educational curriculum has been prescribed for them by their rabbis and teachers who usually work with and are appointed by the Batei Din.
The educational proces may take days, weeks, months, years or decades depending on the rate of observance performance, commitment, capability, life circumstances, and spiritual and personal growth of the convert in Yiddishkeit, in Torah and Avoda and yes even in Gemilut Chasadim, (the prospective convert is essentially a student during his transformation into becoming a full Jew eventually)
At some point it is agreed between the rabbis and the student/convert that they are ready to go before the Beth Din.
The roles of the teachers is the key because it is they who are really the ones being relied upon by the Beth Din that the student/prospsective ger is now ready to come formally before the Dayanim on the converting Beth Din, and there is no reason why all the business cannot be done and formalities concluded in less than an hour at that point. The Dayanim are not the teachers and they are experts at what they do, and that is to sit in judgment!
I think that that is fair description of the process and it is unfair and grossly distorting to make it sound like there is "conversion mill" performing undue amd hasty conversions against Halachah when there is no such evidence that that is the case in this Rabbi Druckman business unless more specific information comes to light.
Please be more careful with your choice of words and examples. Thank you.
RaP says:
ReplyDelete"The educational process may take days, weeks, months, years or decades depending on the rate of observance performance, commitment, capability, life circumstances, and spiritual and personal growth of the convert in Yiddishkeit, in Torah and Avoda and yes even in Gemilut Chasadim, (the prospective convert is essentially a student during his transformation into becoming a full Jew eventually)"
JG responds: Yes that is exactly what the conversion process should be. I taught women studying for conversion for ten years. Everyone learns at her own pace.
Rabbi Druckman's school is an 10 month school year program for all candidates in a classroom with lessons, homework and exams. The problem is that it is NOT learning for conversion, it is getting a GED in Judaism. This is not what our tradition specifies.
RaP says:
"At some point it is agreed between the rabbis and the student/convert that they are ready to go before the Beth Din."
JG responds: Yes and for each person it is different. The point is commitment and continual growth rather than putting on the uniform and answering multiple choice questions on an exam in night school.
RaP:
"The roles of the teachers is the key because it is they who are really the ones being relied upon by the Beth Din that the student/prospsective ger is now ready to come formally before the Dayanim on the converting Beth Din, and there is no reason why all the business cannot be done and formalities concluded in less than an hour at that point. The Dayanim are not the teachers and they are experts at what they do, and that is to sit in judgment!
JG - Yes, you are correct that the teacher is the one who forms the one on one relationship with the perspective ger. It is a labor of love, I will tell you. It is very much like raising a child, you teach Aleph Bet but you also go shopping for groceries, clothing and cook in the kitchen together. You have to be up nights dealing with issues about family and friends, things that happen at work etc. Remember, it is all new and all very different from what she was raised with. You are re-raising a person who is fully grown.
When we say "it is easier to learn all of Shas than to change a single character trait", imagine what it is like for the person who was raised a Gentile to become a Jew.
Shabbats and Yom Tovim should be spent with your family. You don't want to mislead anyone into Judaism if they will not want it in 20 years, so you put your heart, soul and family into it completely.
How can ANY teacher do this in a classroom full of 35 students in a night school??
The Dayyanim should meet several times with the perspective ger. Yes, they are not the teacher, they do not have the close personal relationship with the ger, but they DO have the judgment, which I as the teacher do NOT have.
I can see and report things (ie, she is coming to learn less and less because I leave it entirely up to her, she only dresses modestly in shul or she has a Jewish boyfriend etc), but I am not a Judge.
The Dayyanim who are accepting a convert are changing Creation for eternity. They stake their own souls on the quality of their decisions. The gravity of Giyur should not be taken lightly.
It takes a Dayyan to first accept a ger into a learning program and then to monitor her progress to decide if it is worthwhile to continue. Teachers and community Rabbis who would recommend a perspective ger to a Beit Din do NOT have the judgment to rule on the sincerity of the candidate. This is especially true as personal relationships between the perspective giyoret and her teacher grow deeper during the process.
I was on the phone with the Dayyan who supervised the giyoret process at least every day. The teacher is not supposed to have judgment, only to do what the Beit Din tells you to do.
You are correct that the formality of the conversion ceremony is brief, but what goes into it for the months and years beforehand is very intense. When you megayer someone, as a Dayyan, you birth and raise a child; you can hire a nanny (ie teacher) to help you, but the real responsibility is on the Dayyanim.
Getting back to Rabbi Druckman and his conversion court, Rabbi Druckman spent an average of 30 minutes on each of the 27,000 gerim who were converted over the past 9 years. This is 30 minutes total for evaluating who should be accepted into the program, how they are progressing, how sincere they are etc etc.
Even the formal process of conversion (the declaration before the Beit Din, the dam brit if necessary, the tevila) should take much much more than 30 minutes per candidate on the part of the Beit Din. And from what I have gleaned from reading Rabbi Sherman's Psak this is the criticism of Rabbi Druckman's program.
Far be it from me to even attempt to pass judgment on a Talmid Chacham such as Rabbi Druckman. This is only my personal experience. I am not attempting to evaluate the merits of Rabbi Sherman's case, I am certainly not qualified to judge anyone, only to report.
"On the other hand there is a concept in Halachic thinking which states that children of mixed marriages (and similar cases) are from "zera yisrael", from Jewish seed (4), and consequently cannot be viewed as complete gentiles. Still they are not halachically Jewish. They are somehow part of the family but not fully."
ReplyDeleteThis is where we can get into real trouble. There are 375 million Arabs who are also "zera Israel" genetically; who are fully biologically Semitic. DNA from the regional Arabs is identical to samples taken from Kohanim.
If we say that Europeans who have, at best, a partial biological connection to "zera Yisrael" (and we can quantify this now fairly accurately) cannot be viewed as "complete Gentiles" what is the "halachic" status of 375 million Arabs whose "zera" is absolutely identical to that of Kohanim?
Many Syrian Arabs say they are Jews, that is that they believe they are the true Israelites who evolved into their current observance. They follow the Written Law and a modified version of the Oral Law.
Their historians say that they descend from the remnant of Ancient Israel who have always inhabited the Land of Israel and that the land belongs to them. Their DNA samples support this claim.
These Arabs, avoid pork and shellfish, wash netilat yadayim, wash their dead and bury as we do, dress modestly, separate husband and wife during menstruation, forbid Kol Isha, eat a big meal on Friday night etc etc.
If there is such a halachic concept of "zera Israel" how can we avoid the claim that Palestinian, Syrian and Jordanian Arabs, who many historians and geneticists seem to agree descend from the original Israelites of 2000 years ago have rights to the land that is now the State of Israel?
In my opinion, arguments which go down the path of "Jewish race" will only serve to NEGATE Jewish claims to the Land of Israel.
If we stick to Judaism is a religion, then those who our Rabbis say are Jewish are Jewish.
Those who would advocate for a "Jewish race" rather than a Judaism as traditionally defined by our Sages should be careful what they wish for, because it just might backfire!!