Melamed LeHo’il(2:83):If a Jewish woman marries a non‑Jew then according to halacha her children are complete Jews. Nevertheless the children will be attracted to follow after their father and they will end up sinning through no fault of their own. Therefore it is better for the beis din to commit a small sin to accept the father as a convert and to train him in the Jewish religion so that the children will turn out all right. Nevertheless it is necessary for the beis din to caution the father that he must keep and observe all of the Jewish laws in particular Shabbos and to only eat kosher food. It is a good idea to receive from him a promise instead of an oath concerning this.
But it never happens that way. Do you know why?
ReplyDeleteBecause the Jewish woman who marries a Gentile man is rarely marrying UP economically and her husband is more often than not working class.
The Jewish man who marries a Gentile woman is much more likely to be affluent and have no problem at all attracting a nice young Rabbi who is looking to make a name for himself by converting the Gentile wife and financing a shul in the process. The Rabbis justify it, by saying thus "If it were not for this man who married a Gentile, the whole community would not have a place to pray and look at the Jewish education we are providing for the whole community just by accepting the sinner. Imagine how many we will save in with the money we can raise by accepting this one. And, anyway, what is the difference, if his children grow up to be frum, then the conversion is good and if they grow up to be not frum, nothing was lost anyway".
This is why the names of intermarried men fill the plaques on the walls of every Chabad house in America.