All men are equal? - RaP vs. R' Micha Berger

Recipients and Publicity wrote: concerning "R' Tropper - Kiruv vs Geirus/ RaP's analysis":

RaP had written in the above post: "But what to do when confronted with interfaith couples where the Jewish one needs kiruv and the non-Jew needs conversion? This is not an easy quandary for all concerned but at rock bottom, regardless of what the interfaith couples are told or imagine, the gentile is NOT a "tinok shenishba" and has NO neshama while the Jew has a 100% holy neshama, which the converting gentile presumably desires. While male Jew can count for a minyan as would the greatest gadol on Earth, as would a 100% Halachically Jewish mother (even if she was anti-religious) give birth to a 100% Jew, on the other hand a goy MUST be excluded from a minyan. These are facts life and Jewish Law."

R' MB: Didn't HQBH make a point of having us all come from Adam so that things like this would not be said?

RaP:What micha said is really very surprising:

RaP: Yes indeed that is the classical answer and it is true, but why do you ignore the fact that Judaism holds that a non-Jew does not have THAT neshama that a Jew does have and indeed it is exactly THAT neshama that the sincere potential convert wants to have and should/does get upon immersion in the Bais Din's mikva when THAT neshama that he did NOT have enters into him/her upon immersion in the mikva of geirus. That is all I was saying and there was no need of you to move the issue into illogical non-relevant humanistic and globalistic egalitarian drive, when you could have just let the obvious Halachic reality stand without unnecessary questioning by you.

R' MB: One may argue whether the difference is qualitative or quantitative. Or whether it's inherent, or a product of our being part of a mission (whether a willing part or not).

RaP: These are just nice words that have nothing to do with anything, I am afraid. Why are you panicking and why do have so much trouble when THE key difference between a Yid a Goy is pointed out? I.E.: That a Yid has a Holy Neshama and Goy does not. That is why a Yid is a Yid and Goy is Goy. What don't I get here?

R' MB: But to deny that every human being has a tzelem E-lokim... The Tanya says such things, but I can't think of anyone else who does.

RaP: The "tzelem E-lokim" was not mentioned here nor was it discussed. And as you know, the use of the phrase and notion of "tzelem E-lokim" requires definition and context depending how it is to be used, but one this is for sure, the idea that somehow gentiles may have a degree of the the sublime "tzelem E-lokim" does NOT mean that they automatically can be assumed to have a neshama as well upon their desire to convert to Judaism. Far from it. Regardless of the sublime and noble Godly origin and roots of all mankind, to use the analogy of the Jewish sages, a gentile is in essence like "water" and only upon proper Halachic conversion does that gentile become "wine" when he/she finally immerses in the mikva as if it was a literal miracle of birth. Call it the ultimate BORN AGAIN phenomenon (of course the Christians stole this idea like almost all their best ideas from Judaism.)

So, sure, according to the Pantheistic and Panentheistic (Panentheism posits that God exists and interpenetrates every part of nature, and timelessly extends beyond as well. Panentheism is distinguished from pantheism, which holds that God is synonymous with the material universe) views of Tanya, which posits sparks of G-d in everything, but even Tanya teaches that while while animals have the nefesh habahamis and humans have nefesh, it is ONLY Jews who have a higher complete neshama, the "neshama Elokis sichlis" as the MAHARAL of Prague labels it most definitively, and it is precisely THAT "neshama Elokis sichlis" that a true ger tzedek receives upon the completion of a successful geirus and more specifically upon immersion in the mikva which for the ger is considered THE literal moment of BIRTH as a Jew when the "neshama Elokis sichlis" enters into hi/her just as it does when a Jewish baby is born to a 100% Halachicaly Jewish mother. And hence the expression of the Chazal: "Ger shenisgayer ketinok/kekatan shenolad dami" ("[a] convert who converts [is exactly similar to] like [a] newborn [JEWISH] infant/child") (Yevamot 48b).

R' Tropper - Kiruv vs Geirus/ RaP's analysis

Guest Post by Recipients and Publicity: See previous posting on Rabbi Tropper

Kiruv process versus Geirus process: Source of Rabbi Tropper's dissonance.

Plony Almony 18 [makes some excellent and valid points that deserve more attention because they point to a huge dichotomy that lies beneath two huge and inter-related subjects: KIRUV and GEIRUS.

Kiruv and Geirus are as different as chalk and cheese. Making a yid become frum is not the same thing as being megayer a goy. Many (even kiruv rabbis) make a huge error in logic and metzius ("reality" and "fact") by thinking that there is a similarity between kiruv and geirus and they assume the same methods and tools of kiruv should and can be used for geirus. Only up to a point.

But what to do when confronted with interfaith couples where the Jewish one needs kiruv and the non-Jew needs conversion? This is not an easy quandary for all concerned but at rock bottom, regardless of what the interfaith couples are told or imagine, the gentile is NOT a "tinok shenishba" and has NO neshama while the Jew has a 100% holy neshama, which the converting gentile presumably desires. While male Jew can count for a minyan as would the greatest gadol on Earth, as would a 100% Halachically Jewish mother (even if she was anti-religious) give birth to a 100% Jew, on the other hand a goy MUST be excluded from a minyan. These are facts life and Jewish Law.

I have touched on some pertinent deeper issues in the posts that Dr. Eidensohn/da'as torah had kindly posted at http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2008/07/kiruv-end-of-kiruv-as-we-know-it.html

That:

"...the real wars are among the Orthodox themselves, manifested more than anywhere else in each faction's attititude to geirus/conversion and its sister-ship kiruv/outreach, because as we see in today's world of the 21st century, there is turmoil in both how to mekarev (to do outreach) and how to megayer (to do conversions) and they are inter-related in many ways and on may levels, most of all in the real world of real lives as we see from all the problems and issues facing Orthodox outreach rabbis and outreach workers..."

And at http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2008/07/kiruv-ii-paradigm-change-for-outreach.html

"...Rabbi Tropper is a venturer because with his EJF program to welcome in by doing outreach the non-Jewish spouses of interfaith couples under "strict" Beth Din auspices (actually fueling the flames of the process, as it were) he is doing a classical juggling act, that on the one hand he is trying to preempt and ward off attacks from the Haredi world he admires and respects and needs but at the the same time he is caving in to the interfaith flood at the gate and in this he is no different to ALL other Kiruv workers out there today trying to cope with the flood tide of interfaith students (meaning students from mixed marriages or intermarrieds themseleves, or those with non-Halachic conversions), and instead of calling a spade a spade and seeing the writing on the wall, that THE AGE OF KIRUV AS WE KNOW IT IS OVER and maybe even walking away from it, he tries to to finesse it (Dr. Tom Kaplan has lots of money and what else is there to do for a living if not helping millionares find solutions to their intermarried problems?), and that is why he was slapped by the BADATS who then sent out letters of warning to all those Recipients and asking for Publicity that Rabbi Tropper's agenda and methods were not part of the solution but were more part of the problem...."

While the two fields of KIRUV and GEIRUS over-lap and are inter-connected in our times, yet they are two separate and often contradicatory entities. What scholars call DISSONANT:

While KIRUV is all about "drawing closer" (literally "lekarev" or "to be mekarev") in contradistinction, GEIRUS is about "qualifying for Jewish citizenship" (lagur = to become a "dweller/sojourner/to live among" = "to become a 'national' of the Jewish people according to its laws, as defined by the Torah and the Halachah.)

GEIRUS requires a modicum or even a lot of RICHUK (pushing away/rejection), the opposite of "kiruv" and potential converts MUST first be STRONGLY encouraged NOT to become geirim. As an historical example, Rav Yitzchok Hutner used to like to tell over the famous story from Rav A.Y. Kook about "der ger fun Paris" about a Parisian gentile who sought to become a ger but whom Rav Kook succeeeded in convincing to become Ben Noach instead and who when he ever came to meet Rav Kook on a Shabbat would come with a lit cigar to prove that he had not converted and had preferred to remain a goy. Rav Kook and Rav Hutner took great pride in the fact that a gentile was persuaded NOT to convert! Too bad not too many modern rabbis think and act like this in the world's egalitarian melting pot poly-glot culture.

That is why dispassionate legalistic cool sceptical suspicious and scholarly dayanim on a reliable Bais Din are the ideal choice for deciding matters of conversion, and certainly NOT charismatic rabbis with magnetic hypnotic charming personalities and winning ways who have toiled all their lives in Kiruv.

The dayanim on a Bais Din convened to hear and decide upon cases on conversion do not (or should not) care about hurting a prospective convert's "feelings" by rejecting the application/s to convert. This modus operandi is very UNLIKE kiruv workers who are trained to recruit, lure, beguile, make happy with lots of smiles and free hospitality and "courting", and (for lack of a better word) "missionize" leshem shomayim (hopefully!) secular and non-Orthodox Jews to become frum.

Kiruv workers have a whole range of methods relating to "how to win friends and influence people" ranging from soft-sell to hard-sell, from those who practice a gentle moderate gradualist approach to those who believe in conjuring up ex-nihilo "overnight wonders" that are obligated in immediate compliance to a rebbe/rav/yeshiva.

Rabbi Tropper is from those kiruv workers (his main stock in trade) who works using the hard-sell method and he is very good at what he does in kiruv and is famous for his heady, strong-willed, blusterry speeches meant to bowl over his listeners, and yes he can be very intimidating and insulting to his listeners who may not share his moods. (Guess what: This is actually good kiruv believe it or not, because it is prone to induce a mind-shift as a form of "shock therapy" in his listeners opening them up to new Torah ideas they had never heard before), although he can also take it slow and gentle when he works with very diverse audiences who he knows will not go for his shock tactics. And yes, he generally holds that those who become his disci[les must adhere to quick adherence to his utterances and rules.

Rabbi Tropper's kiruv methods as such are not an issue in this dialogue, nor do I think that his role in getting Rabbi Slifkin's books off the frum radar screen has anything to do with the current set of "Kiruv vs Geirus" issues that are riling Rabbi Tropper and confusing those who come face to face with him today because right now the man is a walking dichotomy. A sort of split personality, not fully conscious of the depth of his inner turmoil and extent of the self-contradiction he is spilling wherever he goes nowadays, as his kiruv side battles and tries to reconcile itself with the issues of geirus he has now immersed himself in for better or worse, and he is in over his head this time. While Rabbi tropper is agadol in the kiruv world, he is a zero in the world of dayanim and batei din. And yes, he is a big talmid chochme, but most rosh yeshivas (which he also claims to be of Kol Yaakov Yeshiva) are not involved in shimush lema'aseh and they are not dayanim. You do not go to a rosh yeshiva if you want to get divorced or are looking for a geirus. Rosh yeshivas are generally never poskim except for what goes on inside their yeshivas, and unlike a kiruv worker who can and MUST walk all over the range looking for people to mekarev, a dayan on the other hand, MUST contain himself and restrict himself to a very narrow venue, the Bais Din and its confines where he sits in judgment of cases and of others.

In short, how to reconcile Kiruv ("drawing people close") and Richuk ("distancing" people)? How to reconcile the need to be a sweet Kiruv Worker (who must always be winning JEWISH friends and influencing people to eventually become/morph into being Haredi/Yeshivish) and on the other hand with a conflicting task, the enforcing the rules and dictates of Batei Din in regard to conversions that requires, per force, the distancing and pushing away of people, certianly gentiles and if need be even the Jews attached to those gentiles.

Quite a Faustian predicament that Rabbi Tropper does not seem to have resolved for himself. While the Reform and Conservatives "have sold their soul to the devil" and are accepting gentiles to easily into the Jewish people ch"sh r"l and many in the Modern Orthodox and Religious Zionist movements are teetering on the edge of a slippery slope and look like they have thrown in the towel as they water down the halacha and make appearing before a Bais Din a mere formailty and an exercise in rubber-stamping by the Bais Din that has no standards, there are those poskim, dayanim and batei din alive TODAY like in the BADATZ/Rabbi Shternbuch/Rabbi Sherman/Rav Eliashiv/Rav Nochum Eisenstein & Beit Din Le'Inyanei Giur who INSIST on strict/er Halachic standards and are willing to oppose and fight against the tide of de facto and de jure assimilationism and intermarriage and not join it in any way shape size or form (while seemingly Rabbi Tropper THINKS and alleges he is speaking for them, but his actions at EJF over the years say otherwise).

So what Rabbi Tropper did or not do at the time that led to Rabbi Slifkin's books being banned in the frum world are essentially immaterial. For sometimes to catch a ganef one must act like a ganef, and ultimately the Torah world is better off without giving legitimacy to the pseudo-scientific makeover of midrashim, agadettes and Chazals by neophytes.

Indeed Rebbetzin Bruria Hutner David, principal of BJJ and the holder of a doctorate from Colombia University, see the full thesis at http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~spotter/david-chajes.pdf "THE DUAL ROLE OF RABBI ZVI HIRSCH CHAJES: TRADITIONALIST AND MASKIL." (Columbia University, Ph.D., 1971) shredded no less than the Maharitz Chiyas in her lengthy PhD thesis debunking as "Haskala" his non-traditional and anti-chazal views and interpretetions of agadattes. So if she could do that, what Rabbi Tropper did to Slifkin (minus a PhD) is peanuts, although his mthods were very devious and deceitful, but often that is how people are made frum, with all sorts of "tricks" -- sad to say but very true, and one hopes that the "victims" stay frum or all else all hell can break loose...

So Rabbi Tropper's past involvements with Slifkin and Gidon Busch and the Age of the Earth questions are really not so much the REAL issues as are his PRESENT state of conflict and lack of clarity about whether he wishes to be perceived as the biggest kiruv worker of the times or as the biggest enforcer of Halacha of Geirus in modern times and unfortunately HE CANNOT BE BOTH simultaneously and he cannot have it both ways. He cannot have his cake and eat it this time! And he and Dr. Tom Kaplan are having a hard time realizing this reality! Especially Dr. Kaplan who as a tycoon businessman is not used to seeing his EJF "business plan" go awry and shouted down from the left and right of the Orthodox and Haredi world. It is too much of an ego-deflator and both Rabbi Tropper and Dr. Kaplan take their egos VERY seriously.

Anyhow, there is not "one single way" to do kiruv and Rabbi Tropper has had many successes in this regard that he does not need to apologize to anyone for his kiruv work and successes, and with success there will come some failures which he is allowed to have as well. But his role as the Inquistor in chief of dayanim and batei din in the field of geirus brings out his darker side and now he is being told where to get off, and he even shows himself the door, knowing that it's bed time and curtains for bonzo the self-proclaimed EJF ubber geirus dayan who is lema'aleh mikol hadayanim since we already have one rashkebehag in the form of Rav Eliashiv shlit'a who does not need Rabbi Tropper and Dr. Tom Kaplan and their acorn-aspiring EJF a la Obama style politicking and steam-rollering and saying different things to different audiences and hoping noone either notices or dares to speak up.

The real issue is the dichotomy in Rabbi Tropper's inner psyche that he has not and cannot bridge: How to be a famous and successful kiruv worker and at the same time be an enforcer of strict bais din standards for geirus functioning as some sort of ubber dayan deciding which batei din and dayanim are strict enough, when he himself as a 100% kiruv worker does not in essence think and function in those terms. For heaven's sakes, he is married to a baalas teshuva, and he belongs in the Baal teshuva movement and must learn to leave issues of geirus to the batei din and dayanim to muddle through and sort out and not be so condescending and paternalistic towards them. "Let go, and let G-d"!
____

Plony Almony 18: I think the comment about Gideon Busch Z’L is more appropriate to be on your post regarding various keiruv approaches but I can understand why the commenter chose to put it here.

RaP: This tragic chapter should not be dragged into the discussions here because no one knows the true facts of the true state of Busch's mind and personality. Seems he was not an emotionally healthy person and every kiruv organization, indeed every college and high school has its share of horror stories and suicides, and Busch basically frazzled the cops to fire on him. NY cops are sometimes over-cautious and ready to fire and do not take chances and they cannot be blamed so quickly for what happened and neither should Rabbi Tropper be dragged into this tragic matter. It's like asking that Busch's relatives, pediatrician and pyschiatrist also be liable for not taking good enough care of him.

Plony Almony 18: She probably wanted to call attention to Tropper all-or-nothing approach to keiruv, an approach which requires total transformation, cutting off any non-orthodox connections (which includes family), shunning secular studies and arguing that you cannot be a talmid chochom and having a college degree in the some time...

RaP: So again, no need to drag the Busch saga into this. Rabbi Tropper is not unique in this regard because there are many rabbis and some institutions all over the world who do what he does. Rabbi Tropper's success stories in kiruv are far, far greater than the few failures and EVERY kiruv rabbi has many, many people who he did not make frum and went off... It is an occupational hazard.

Plony Almony 18: An approach which in cases of married couples when the couple is not on the same page, the more observant spouse is encouraged to divorce the less observant spouse instead of finding some middle ground and waiting for him or her to catch up.

RaP: This is a very touchy area and again there is no consensus and each case has to be evaluated and judged on its merits. Not just among BTs but among the frum and in the world at large every day rabbis and therapsist bring couples apart and also split them up. That is the reality. And it's no different in kiruv situations which usually involve a whole range of issues that have nothing to do with religion. This is a very complex area of life that requires great expertise and can be easily abused even by the greatest professionals, so don't blame Rabbi Tropper for another occupational hzard of being a susccessful kiruv rabbi who is forced into couples counseling.

Plony Almony 18: Many keiruv organizations (which the noted exception of Chabad) do not realize that for some people adopting stringent lifestyle, dropping out of college, adopting penguin dress would not be beneficial. Making them swallow more than they can chew would end up with disastrous results.

RaP: Why do you exempt Chabad? That shows you do not know what is happening. Chabad is a huge enterprise. The policies and methods they use in Crown Heights are not the same as in Beverly Hills. Chabad in Kefar Chabad and in Tzefas is more extreme in all areas is anything you will see in many other places. So yes, while over-all Chabad is more patient, once they feel they have won over someone they do exactly what people like Rabbi Tropper does, don't fool yourself and do not create false impressions. There is no "one way' to make people frum nor is there "one way" for how BTs should be frum. There never has been nor will there ever be. It is as varied as the human condition. And as the saying goes there will always be a need and a market for: "Different strokes for different folks"!

Rabbi Tropper & Prague - what happened?

There was a recent conference of European rabbis in Prague. The focus of the conference was officially on two things - remembrance of the Holocaust and Kiruv. But there was also a discussion of conversion Rabbi Tropper had been invited to speak - however the strong negative reaction to his speech resulted in his leaving in the middle of his drasha. Ostensibly Rabbi Tropper was interested in investing some of EJF's money in European kiruv efforts. Why would anyone be upset about a wealthy benefactor?

Some of what I am saying is conjecture but it is built upon solid facts. The facts are not in dispute - but my interpretation might be. This is also not a tale about the good guys vs. the bad guys. Everyone involved wears a black hat and dark suit.

If you will remember back a few years there was a turning point that will probably be remembered in history books as the Slifkin affair or by others as the Making of a Gadol affair. R' Slifkin raised questions from Science against our Mesorah and presented answers. He dealt with such things as the age of the universe. His approach and explanations were at one time very welcome in the world of kiruv. But then they migrated into the mainstream. Gedolim such as Rav Moshe Sternbuch and Rav Moshe Shapiro were disturbed by the familiarity with which R' Slifkin spoke about our sages and their supposed fallibility in knowledge. Similarly there were many gedolim who were outraged about Rav Nosson Kaminetsky's stories about gedolim which conveyed their human foibles. The awesome barrier which separated us from the gedolim was breached. The enemy was no longer outside but were people honored as insiders. Both of these rabbis were viciously slandered. [Rav Nosson Kaminetsky asked me to clarify that the rabbis who are against R' Slifkin are not necessarily against him. In particular he has a very close relationship with Rav Sternbuch who greatly appreciates his book - while saying that there are clearly changes that need to be made]

One of the most dedicated crusaders against R' Slifkin was Rabbi Tropper. He convinced Rav Dovid Feinstein and others that R' Slifkin's approach was dangerous by describing two of his students who had gone off the derech because of their reading of his books. While the students in fact did not go off the derech because of R' Slifkin - they served their purpose. Rabbi Tropper is a zealot. A man driven by a vision of the way things should be, must be. A man who is driven by a pure and simple understanding of Truth - and his indispensable role in achieving it.

Let's go forward in time to last year's EJF conference in Washington D.C. It was massively publicized with cover photos and large articles describing in detail who was there as well as the speeches. The conference will go down in history for the speech given that said that whoever believes that the world is more than 6000 years old - can not be a dayan for geirus. A rabbi who wore colored shirts was not to participate in a beis din for conversion. Here was a major weapon to be wielded against those who didn't share Rabbi Tropper's vision of Yiddisheit - i.e. the Modern Orthodox as well as many American Chareidim. The point of the conference was geirus and the universal standardization according to the standards of Rabbi Tropper. Rabbi Tropper had and has a lot of money due to his backing by billionaire Tom Kaplan. Many of the participants in fact went primarily to receive a significant amount of money from R' Tropper. Rabbi Tropper drew a line in the sand and said, "If you want to participate in my universal conversion program - you must accept my beliefs in these matters." Ignored or not noticed was Rabbi Tropper's advocacy of proselytization for intermarried couples and their non-Jewish kids. This was strongly denounced by Rav Moshe Sternbuch as well as all the other members of the Bedatz. But I digress.

Last year there was also the surrender of the RCA - the Modern Orthodox American Rabbis to the Chief rabbinate or to Rav Eliashiv's standards of geirus. Something which even many Modern Orthodox rabbis realized was necessary. None the less it represented the serious submission of a significant number of rabbis to a handful of Israeli authorities who don't share the same vision of Yiddishkeit or the world.

It is now November 2008. So now we have Rabbi Tropper - a world famous rabbi with a lot of money. A lot less power as the result of the strong criticism of the Bedatz against his approach - but still a force to be reckoned with.

He is invited to speak in Prague. He comes with the resources, desire and need to invest money in kiruv [?] in Europe. All are waiting anxiously to hear what he wants to do and how. But instead of a reasoned discussion of the issues and the various views and what he would like to do and what he would like to learn from them - he starts lecturing them. He lectures them about their shortcomings and failures.

But most of all he attacks the Modern Orthodox rabbis - those who don't share his vision of Yiddishkeit. He attacks all those who don't accept his standards of geirus. There were many people who were greatly embarrassed by his rudeness and insensitivity. He is perceived as the proverbial bull in a china shop. There are many who are furious. He comes not to work together with the Europeans rabbis but rather to dictate to them. He is lecturing them as the old school master to a bunch of kids who just got caught violating the rules.

He becomes aware of their anger at his comments. He defends himself - but it is too late. He loses it and walks out of the angry assembly in the middle of his presentation in great irritation. There is even a petition circulated to ban his future attendance of the meetings. He came to conquer and command and instead he was rejected.

A parallel event was happening with Chief Rabbi Amar who similarly was deliberately held at arm's length by the European rabbis. They now see their salvation from within - and resent the condescension of outsiders who have no understanding of Europe and what impact Israeli chareidi rules have on this foreign place.

Eternal Jewish Family - 2 day conference (Lubicom)

Yeshiva World Reports:

A distinguished group of Dayanim from Eretz Yisroel and Europe will participate in a two-day conference on November 2-4 at the Downtown Marriott in Philadelphia. The third Dayanim Conference is sponsored by the Eternal Jewish Family International and the Lillian Jean Kaplan Jewish Pride Through Education Project of Horizons, an internationally recognized kiruv and Torah education center based in Monsey, headed by Harav Leib Tropper, Rosh Yeshiva of Kol Yaakov.

The overseas guests will include Dayan Avrohom Sherman, Chief Dayan of Israel’s Supreme Rabbinical Court, Dayan Raphoel Eliyahu Aisherig (Chief Rabbinate, Israel),  Dayan Chanoch Ehrentrau, Chairman of the Conference of European Rabbis and Dayan Menachem Gelley (UK). Some 40 dayanim and Roshei Yeshiva will participate in the conference which will air some of the important emerging halachic issues that constantly come to the fore on universally accepted conversion standards in intermarriage. All but some of the dayanim at the conference are part of a growing network of independent batei din in North America that have adopted the geirus standards of leading poskim, as is being promulgated by EJF International.

The conference will be opened by Harav Shmuel Kaminetsky, Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva of Philadelphia and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah of Agudas Yisroel. Also addressing the conference will be Harav Reuven Feinstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Mesivta of Staten Island and Chairman of the Halachic Committee of EJF, Harav Dovid Olewski, Rosh Yeshiva of the Gerer Mesivta (Brooklyn) Harav Betzalel Tuvia Wettenstein (Belzer Dayan of Monsey)and Rabbi Eliyahu Levin (Lakewood).

The topics to be aired will include halachic and practical applications of many contemporary issues, such as children of mixed marriages, including enrollment in yeshivas and Jewish day schools; adopted non-Jewish children who reach Bar/Bas Mitzvah; working with Jewish spouses who were either frum from birth or baalei tshuvah; administering a bais din that is involved in geirus; and what constitutes geirus lechumrah and geirus al pi sofek.

Harav Tropper, chairman of the Rabbinic Committee of EJF, said that this important conference will allow the rabbonim and dayanim the opportunity to hear divrei halacha from prominent dayanim in the field as well as to exchange experiences of the various botei din. The conference discussions will be based on the principles of geirus as dictated by such leading Torah luminaries as Harav Sholem Yosef Elyashiv and the piskei halacha of the late venerable sage Harav Moshe Feinstein zt”l, as is conveyed by his son Harav Reuven Feinstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva of Staten Island, who serves as the chairman of the halachic committee of EJF.

The presence of the dayanim from Europe is particularly noteworthy in light of the recent partnership between the Conference of European Rabbis, headed by Dayan Eherentrau and the Eternal Jewish Family International, headed by Harav Tropper, to step up efforts in Europe to head off problematic conversions in intermarriage. While EJF does not set up Botei Din, it works closely with a network of Botei Din in Israel and Europe. In the US, the Botei Din function in such cities as Baltimore, Monsey, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, New York,  Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Montreal, Miami, Lakewood, Dallas, Toronto, Houston, and Vancouver

Concurrent with the Dayanim Conference will be a pilot one-day seminar for women mentors who work with women candidates for geirus in intermarriage. Many of the mentors who will be participating from all over the country are also involved in kiruv work in general while others are specifically focused on the education of conversion candidates once a decision is made to pursue a universally accepted conversion. The seminar, coordinated by Mrs. Leah Roberts of EJF, will delve into many important issues that the mentors confront on a daily basis.

(Lubicom Press Release)

Eternal Jewish Family - Craves attention

Guest Post: Recipients and Publicity's comment to "Eternal Jewish Family - What are they doing these ...":

EJF makes dubious claims about a meeting in Detroit.

The latest Sukkos-edition of the English MODIAH has published an EJF press release in the guise of an article exactly as it has already appeared online on Yeshiva World (September 28, 2008) so this must mean a lot to EJF. But, as usual, a closer scrutiny of the brief article reveals a lot of shaky double speak, deviousness, and misinformation that one wonders if all the rabbis and dayanim contacted by Rabbi Tropper and EJF are not being taken for the ride of their lives, given the numbers of batei din supposedly conscripted by EJF and the supposed scope of it all.

Here is the article as it appears in the MODIAH, a very reputable Torah-true paper, with comments following starting with "RaP":

"HAMODIA.
Community.
8 Tishrei 5769 – October 7, 2008
Page C14.

New EJF-Affiliated Beis Din Established in Detroit

([Photo. Caption reads:] Vaad Harabbanim of Detroit, Eternal Jewish Family agree on geirus standards for beis din. (R-L:) Rabbi Doniel Neustadt, chairman of the Vaad Harrabanim of Detroit; Rabbi Chaim Bergstein, dayan; Rabbi Meilech Silberberg, dayan; Rabbi Ari Kostelitz, dayan; and Rabbi Leib Tropper, chairman of the Rabbinic Committee of EJF (foreground). Also participating was Rabbi Zachariash, former chairman of the Vaad Harabbanim.)

A fully functioning beis din that subscribes to the standards of Gedolei Yisroel on universally accepted conversions will serve Detroit and its environs, representatives of the Vaad Harrabanim of Detroit and the Eternal Jewish Family announced, following a meeting between Rabbi Leib Tropper, chairman of the Rabbinic Board of the EJF, and the Vaad Harrabanim.

The beis din agreed to follow the standards on geirus according to the piskei din of such past and present poskim as Hagaon Harav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l; Hagaon Harav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l; the Minchas Yitzchak; Hagaon Harav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, shlita, and Hagaon Harav Reuven Feinstein, shlita.

Following his visit to Detroit, Rabbi Tropper said that he was extremely impressed with the caliber of the dayanim and that he had no doubt that ‘it would emerge as one of the model batei din’ around the world. He said he was overwhelmed by ‘the reception and sincerity of the beis din’ in adopting the standards of Gedolei Yisrael on universally accepted conversions.

The Rabbanim and dayanim of the Vaad Harrabanim who participated included Rabbi Doniel Neustadt, Yoshev Rosh of the Vaad Harrabanim; Rabbi Meilech Silberberg; Rabbi Chaim Bergstein, Rabbi Ari Kostelitz, and Rabbi S. Zachariash, former chairman of the Vaad Harrabanim.

The Rabbanim complimented EJF on its accomplishments since its establishment three years ago. They were enthusiastic about becoming part of a growing network of batei din in the U.S., Israel, and Europe that would follow the geirus standards of the leading poskim. The Rabbanim also thanked Mr. Tom Kaplan for his support of this new affiliation between EJF and the beis din.

While EJF does not establish batei din, it works with existing batei din and those in formation that function in accordance with the standards of the foremost Gedolei haTorah. The Detroit beis din, which was established 26 years ago, is the 18th in the worldwide network of batei din that subscribe to the EJF standards. Other batei din are located in Israel and Europe.

In North America, the batei din function in such cities as Baltimore, Monsey, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Montreal, Miami, Lakewood, Dallas, Toronto, Houston, and Vancouver.”
~~~~~

"HAMODIA.
Community.
8 Tishrei 5769 – October 7, 2008
Page C14."

RaP: This article should have been accurately called: ""Established Detroit Beis Din meets with EJF to discuss conversions" as will be explained below. Notice how the various press-releases are being spread around in various Jewish papers and media sources. At times it's the Jewish Press, or online Jewish media, or papers such as the Modiah that do not publish online, so that all the carefull layering and spread of press releases about this and that meeting between Rabbi Tropper and yet another group of rabbis and dayanim seems to unfold like a forest in bloom. But is it?

"New EJF-Affiliated Beis Din Established in Detroit"

RaP: Why does the first line, the headline, have to start with a borderline lie?! The implication for anyone who reads English is that it is EJF that is setting up this beis din in Detroit when a few paragrpahs down the same piece says that EJF does not set up batei din and that this one in Detroit is 26 years old! So what new tricks is Rabbi Tropper coming to teach them, if any? None, because the news item is not for the rabbis in Detroit, it is part of PR campaign that is costing EJF heavy money to get the message across that EJF is the "only show in town" when thinking of conversions, when it is a false claim to project onto the Orthodox Jewish public, simply because right-wing Haredim and Hasidim such as Satmar or Lubavitch don't care about Rabbi Tropper and his antics, and the left wing Modern Orthodox who use the RCA and its rabbonim and dayonim won't care either, see http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2008/02/rca-announces-establishment-of.html and http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2008/07/conversion-crisis-r-angel-r-riskin-try.html and http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2008/05/80-relgious-zionist-orthodox-rabbis.html as examples, so what is all this trumpet blowing worth, except that it makes Rabbi Tropper into a household name worthy of an Obama PR drive.

"([Photo. Caption reads:] Vaad Harabbanim of Detroit, Eternal Jewish Family agree
on geirus standards for beis din. (R-L:) Rabbi Doniel Neustadt, chairman of the Vaad Harrabanim of Detroit; Rabbi Chaim Bergstein, dayan; Rabbi Meilech Silberberg, dayan; Rabbi Ari Kostelitz, dayan; and Rabbi Leib Tropper, chairman of the Rabbinic Committee of EJF (foreground). Also participating was Rabbi Zachariash, former chairman of the Vaad Harabbanim.)"

RaP: The photo shows how choshuv these Detroit rabbonim really are and how they are sitting with serious faces towards the camera and towards Rabbi Tropper. Neither now nor later are any of them actually quoted verbatim. Why not? Are all these dayanim mute? Iws only Rabbi Tropper abale to verbalize what transpires? Ah yes, "the world (of conversions) according to Tropper, the next chapter"! One wonders what the dayanim are thinking about all this and if they know that Rabbi Tropper and EJF are controversial in the Haredi world and MO world? Do they know that the BADATZ sent letters to RECIPIENTS at many other batei din not get involved with EJF and that EJF and Rabbi Tropper received negative PUBLICITY for their hidden agenda that they spent literal MILLIONS of dollars on to convert the non-Jewish spouses of intermarried couples? Or is all this now not discussed?

"A fully functioning beis din that subscribes to the standards of Gedolei Yisroel on universally accepted conversions will serve Detroit and its environs,"

RaP: But wait, what lies are these, the beis din exists in Detroit for 26 years already and no doubt performing some conversions has been one of it tasks, and they are such ehrliche people that why are they being misrepresented as if Rabbi Tropper is organizing them for the first time to be a "reliable and obedient" beis din on conversions?

"representatives of the Vaad Harrabanim of Detroit and the Eternal Jewish Family announced, following a meeting between Rabbi Leib Tropper, chairman of the Rabbinic Board of the EJF, and the Vaad Harrabanim."

RaP: Question: Rabbi Tropper is referred to here as "chairman of the Rabbinic Board of the EJF" but in the photo caption he is referred to as "chairman of the Rabbinic Committee of EJF" so could someone please explain what is the difference between the "Rabbinic Board" and the "Rabbinic Committee" of EJF? Are they different or are they the same thing and the typist drawing up this info-mercial was perhaps careless? If the EJF "Board" and "Committee" are indeed different, what are the differences and why is Rabbi Tropper "chairman" of BOTH the "Board" and the "Committee"? And who appointed him to these positions that he can sit in judgment as a kind of uber-dayan passing judgment on other dayanim and batei din no less that have presumably been performing their holy work long before Rabbi Tropper and his allies ever dreamed up the EJF junket? This is all very troubling.

"The beis din agreed to follow the standards on geirus according to the piskei din of such past and present poskim as"

RaP: How condescending! Would anyone imagine that such an illustrious beis din with such choshuve rabbonim and dayanim would pasken in any way other than the "piskei din of such past and present poskim"? The sheer chutzpa of this statement actually borders on stupidity because it reveals an utter lack of derech eretz and pathetic paternalism. Does Rabbi Tropper and his yingelach of EJF think that dealing with and writing about a prestigious beis din is like setting up another kiruv program on a forlorn fardorbenne campus and that they are dealing with "student organizers" and pontential kiruv candidates? It is obvious that Rabbi Tropper and the person writing this tatty shameful article are wedded to a bad kind of kiruv paradigm (the paternalistic kind that most BTs intuitively resent and reject) and that they have no clue how to work with batei din. No wonder the rabbis always look glum and unhappy to be in the pictures with Rabbi Tropper since he seems to be treating themeno better than a wild rancher rounding up his select steers to be branded as "his"!

"Hagaon Harav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l; Hagaon Harav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l; the Minchas Yitzchak; Hagaon Harav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, shlita, and Hagaon arav Reuven Feinstein, shlita."

RaP: Besides the usual pathetic retrocative meaningless invocation of deceased rabbis zt"l who were never involved with EJF, the article introduces a new twist, that the "Minchas Yitzchak" is now another deceased rabbi who approves of EJF. Well, well, the "Minchas Yitzchak" is none other than HaRav HaGaon Yitzchok Yaakov Weiss zt"l who passed away in 1989!!! He became "the Edah Charedis head in 1979 with the death of Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum" of Satmar (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzchok_Yaakov_Weiss ) so now we are being told that perhaps even the Edah Hacharedis and its BADATZ support EJF retroactivly too? What fraud is that? All of which flies in the face of the fact that the BADATZ of today and the heirs and allies of Rav Weiss are the most publicly outspoken group of rabbis denouncing Rabbi Tropper and the EJF, see http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2008/02/bedatz-letter-regarding-ejf-signed-by.html

"Following his visit to Detroit, Rabbi Tropper said that he was extremely impressed with the caliber of the dayanim"

RaP: This is sheer arrogance and chutzpa. Did he check up on their other activities as well such as hashgochas on foods and restaurants? Who is he to "judge" these dayanim? What formula does he use to arrive at being happy or not with reputable dayanim? What kind of ne-man-show is this? It is beyond a joke, it is a caricature of a grand inquisitor.

"and that he had no doubt that ‘it would emerge as one of the model batei din’ around the world. He said he was overwhelmed by ‘the reception and sincerity of the beis din’ in adopting the standards of Gedolei Yisrael on universally accepted conversions."

RaP: Oh, and until he turned up in Detroit they were not going by what Gedolei Yisroel were saying? Give us all a break please! The chutzpa just never stops, and it is surprising that the dayanim in such photos don't tell him to get lost and to aplogize for writing such childish drivel in fake news releases that he and EJF spread all over the world with the services of professional hired-gun PR companies, including that of Rabbi Tropper's own sister in law, and supported by the Kaplan Millions.

"The Rabbanim and dayanim of the Vaad Harrabanim who participated included
Rabbi Doniel Neustadt, Yoshev Rosh of the Vaad Harrabanim; Rabbi Meilech Silberberg; Rabbi Chaim Bergstein, Rabbi Ari Kostelitz, and Rabbi S. Zachariash, former chairman of the Vaad Harrabanim."

RaP: All well known and honorable rabbonim who do NOT need a haskama from the frenetic globetrotting Reb Leib Tropper. Question: Why was Rabbi Zachariash camera shy? Maybe he knows something the others don't? But his name is dragged into it willy-nilly.

"The Rabbanim complimented EJF on its accomplishments since its establishment three years ago. They were enthusiastic about becoming part of a growing network of batei din in the U.S., Israel, and Europe that would follow the geirus standards of the leading poskim."

RaP: Note how there are no verbatim quotes on the record, just secoind hand descriptions by an unkown writer of this poor PR piece. Such babyish words it's astounding. For heaven's sake, these are major rabbonim and they are being made to sound like puppets and they are endorsing some kind of new fangled product of their master. And by the way, how exactly is Rabbi Tropper and EJF to "lead" this ever growing list of batei din? By Email? IM? Fax? Teleconference? All expenses paid meetings paid by the Lillian Jean Kaplan Foundation? How does that reconcile with not taking shochad, or is that a minor technicality?

"The Rabbanim also thanked Mr. Tom Kaplan for his support of this new affiliation between EJF and the beis din."

RaP: What? They thanked who? Why? For what? Is he the "posek" of note here? And do they know he is NOT a "Mr" but a very smart PhD with an agenda, see ttp://daattorah.blogspot.com/2008/02/who-is-behind-eternal-jewish-family.html Do they know that Dr. Tom Kaplan is not neutral in the EJF saga, he has sponsored all expenses paid get-aways in fancy hotels ("kiruv" to GOYIM) by "reaching out" to the NON-Jewish spouses in intermarriages to convince to obtain Orthodox conversions? Are all these batei also signing on to THOSE goals, so nicely concealed behind all the talk about following poskim and deceased rabbis zt"l? Are the batei din hooking up with EJF aware that when the BADATZ came out against EJF's mission that EJF cancelled its controversial get aways for mixed marriage couples and PR events for rabbis? see http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2008/03/eternal-jewish-family-conference-in_27.html

"While EJF does not establish batei din, it works with existing batei din and those in formation that function in accordance with the standards of the foremost Gedolei haTorah. The Detroit beis din, which was established 26 years ago, is the 18th in the worldwide network of batei din that subscribe to the EJF standards. Other batei din are located in Israel and Europe."

RaP: So far this is the first honest statement and it should have been the lead. The heading of the article should correctly have said "Established Detroit Beis Din meets with EJF to discuss conversions" and not like it makes it sound that some great gedila was achieved. Nothing has changed, just that Rabbi Tropper rode into town, and naturally a photographer was ready to snap a pic and a press release was concocted and sent out to a few prize Jewish news outlets about what was in essence a minor meeting, one of thousands between Orthodox rabbis working with conversions on a daily basis and doing the best they can.

"In North America, the batei din function in such cities as Baltimore, Monsey, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Montreal, Miami, Lakewood, Dallas, Toronto, Houston, and Vancouver."

RaP: Ok, so there is Yiddishkeit and there are rabbonim, batei din and dayanim in those cities, but that does not mean that Rabbi Tropper should be allowed to falsely project himself as some kind of "chief rabbi in charge of all Orthodox conversions" when he is clearly not.

Shavei Israel III - Proselytizing not kiruv/Finding Jews that don't exist

Guest Post: Recipients and Publicity's comment to "Shavei Israel II - Exploiting Law of Return Loopho...":

For once I agree with Jersey Girl's attitude here. [See JPost article she forwarded]

But Bartley, while I admit that my post was somewhat far-reaching, it does make a very good point, that in spite of Shavei Israel's posturing and to be blunt, MANIPULATION of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate's requirements for conversions, if you just take a hard cold look at what Shavei Israel is up to, and the JP article was a good example, they are searching high and low for ANY people with the remotest connections to the Jewish people, and they will work with people that halacha is clear are pure gentiles, meshumadim and outright Christians who do not have have a Jewish mother, for a few generations, and may even have been Catholics for a long time and in fact don't even want to "come back" to the Jewish people and Zion so that to get involved in "kiruv-like" activities to haul these people in that is a very controversial, and probably Halachically forbidden, activity.

Your contention that Shavei Israel is no different than a kiruv operation is wrong because they are working with the goal to reach people who THEY know will often times be gentiles and will require conversions, which is not and should not be the classical definition of "kiruv" which means reaching out to non-observant Jews and trying to mekarev them.

If you had read what I have written in some earlier posts about Kiruv that Dr. Eidensohn kindly published, you will see that what Shavei Israel is doing is like the current Reform Judaism effort of "Keruv" to non-Jews and to non-Jewish partners of Jews in the hope of bringing into the Jewish people and not even trying to convert them. This is the Achilles heel of the EJF/R. Leib Tropper/Tom Kaplan effort in spite of its counter-claims, and that is that in effect Shavei Israel, the Reform movement and even EJF are promoting a kind of evangelical Judaism that seeks to proselytize people into becoming Jews when they are neither asking for it nor need it.

Descendants of Marranos (Anusim) II - should they be encouraged to convert?

Recipients and Publicity comment to "Descendants of Marranos (Anousim) - should they be...":

It seems that the modern-day affliction of the "urge to merge" gentiles with Jews is to be found everywhere in the Jewish world in all shapes and sizes: Reform Jews wishes to welcome non-Jewish mothers and do "keruv" to the universe; Chabad and Aish HaTorah work quietly to help the spouses and family members of supporters get easy conversions; the Israeli government welcomes hundreds of thousands of non-Jews into Israel; the Religious Zionists work to convert people in bulk; RCA rabbis go easy on conversions of congregants' inter-married congregants; and even Litvishe Haredim have "kiruv" that leads to conversion such as Rabbi Leib Tropper and his EJF that promotes and welcomes gentile spouses of Jews. So is it any surprise that the Sephardim have their own version and weakness, based on the revisionism of Jewish history and nutty search for Marranos (any "interested" Hispanic may apply) that they now call "Anusim" or "Converso" as can be seen from this small but significant item published in the usually strict-about-conversions Jewish Press:

"The Jewish Press.
Friday, August 1, 2008. Page 47.
West Coast Happenings.
Jeanne Litvin, West Coast Editor.

Shul News: Recently Rabbi Simcha Green, formerly of Young Israel of Santa Barbara, became the spiritual leader of Congregation Ahavat Torah in San Jose, California, which became a Sephardic shul two years ago. Congregants come from Morocco, Syria, Iran, Romania and other communities – including Israel. This shul is an outreach center for Anusim (Conversos), previously referred to by Ashkenazim as Marranos. They are interested in hearing from people who include themselves in this category. On August 12- 18, they are hosting a Sephardic Heristage Week. Events are planned for both kids and adults. They include a Shabbos dinner for college students and singles, a Sephardic Food Cookoff, a talk on Jewish pirates during the Revolutionary War, and a symposium on the history of Conversos (to be held at San Jose State University)."

Kiruv XIII - Entering the final closing stage of kiruv

Recipients and Publicity wrote:

MODERN KIRUV'S HISTORICAL PARADOX

or

KIRUV a VICTIM OF ITS OWN SUCCESS!

or

KIRUV'S TROUBLED AGE FROM THE 1980s TO THE 2000s VERSUS KIRUV'S GOLDEN AGE FROM THE 1950s TO THE 1980s.

or

ENTERING THE FINAL CLOSING STAGE OF KIRUV.

I am not disputing Dr. Eidensohn's craving for sources and I will be glad to read all the sources he can come up with. But the following comments relate to something more serious than searching for sources (somewhat like looking for a flight data recorder "black-box" after a catastrophic plane crash) when analyzing the flight, what went wrong, why the crash took place and how to help any survivors if there are any is very beneficial.

The small comment by Tzurah that: FFB's have an attitude that "...In fact, they were always taught not to proselytize, so kiruv looks like it might be a little assur (esp. if one might end up teaching Torah, even inadvertently, to actual non-Jews). Also, one has to go out into the non-frum world and expose oneself to myriad spiritual dangers. If it might be assur, and it might endanger your neshama, why take the chance? ..."

The problem is in fact far deeper than it seems. One thing to note is the success to which kiruv rechokim has been "mainstreamed" and has won a lot of recognition in the frum world. Much of it lip-service but impressive nevertheless. Even the Reform and Conservative movements have launched "keruv" (with an "e") drives aping the Orthodox and Haredi "kiruv" (with and "i").

But as has been stated and reported in earlier posts on this blog, kindly posted by Dr. Eidensohn for which I give him a big public thank you!, the first age of Kiruv, from about the 1950s to the 1980s is over.

It was a type of golden age with all the excitement of something new coming out of the social dislocation of the 1950s and 1960s and the remorse of the Holocaust on many people's mind.

And in those days the MAJORITY of Jews were not intermarried so most youth and young adults who joined Orthodoxy and some of its earliest outreach programs came from reliably Halachicly Jewish backgrounds with a Jewish mother and Jewish father.

However, symbolically and practically with the Reform movement's official acceptance of patrilineal descent, meaning a Jewish mother was not required to be called a Jew and just having a Jewish father was enough, and with the vast majority of Jews remaining secular and unaffiliated and slipping into mass assimilation, intermarriage and even apostasy to Christianity (hundreds of thousands of them joining the new so-called "Messianic movements"), as proven by the USA National Jewish Population Surveys of 1990 and 2000 the MAJORITY of those born from the 1980s onwards are coming from interfaith unions and many people who think they are Jewish, born as they are from only Jewish fathers or converted by Reform and Conservative, are not Jewish Halachicly, and this then creates our present TROUBLED AGE OF KIRUV from the 1980s to the present times, with so many people in kiruv programs not being Halachicly Jewish and the numbers keep on growing EVEN CREATING A LARGE DEMAND AND MARKET FOR ALL SORTS OF QUESTIONABLE CONVERSION, so that kiruv efforts fuel demands for conversion.

Thus in a span of roughly sixty years, since after the Holocaust, the KIRUV MOVEMENT HAS EXPERIENCED TWO STAGES: A GOLDEN AGE FROM THE 1950s TO THE 1980s AND A TROUBLED AGE FROM THE 1980s TO THE 2000s.

What do I mean by this?

Basically that the Baal Teshuva Movement that started after the Holocaust and took off in the 1950s and 1960s surprised EVERYONE because the religious world was as surprised as the secular world that it was happening at all. Very few took it seriously at first and many thought it was a passing craze, like the hula-hoop or bell-bottoms. And very few would have imagined or dared to say that it was a fulfilment of ancient Jewish prophecies in the Tanach that one day the Jewish people would return to BOTH its land in Zion and to its Torah heritage and then some. But it was all dream like.

In the early days Chabad rabbis rabbis were welcomed guest-speakers in Reform and conservative synagogues to talk about "Hasidism" and "Kabbalah" but when synagogue members took them seriously and the Lubavitchers had the audacity to then set up their own Chabad shuls next door all hell broke loose and they were banned from the Reform and Conservative places. The same thing happened to the Aish HaTorah people when they played their Discovery seminars at Reform and Conservative places to packed houses in the 1980s until they started influencing too many people and then they too were banned.

The point is there was so much SPONTANEOUS success with people becoming frum, with real professional kiruv workers being trained and encouraged to do it, that few realized that this would all change with new circumstances. Incidentally, many who would become leaders of the Baal Teshuva movement were themselves Baalei Teshuva from the Golden Age of Kiruv.

But then things changed and the with more assimilation and intermarriage there were less real Halachic Jews then there had been BUT that did not stop people, all people including gentiles and non-Halachic Jews, from wanting to learn more, and here is where a GREAT PARADOX kicks in, that in the newer TROUBLED AGE OF KIRUV the Halachic questions went deeper than ever before, that KIRUV WENT BIG TIME "CORPORATE", and it was no longer a case of lone ranger Chabad rabbis and a handful of NCSY rabbis doing kiruv, in their place arose KIRUV CONGLOMERATE BEHEMOTHS WITH HUGE FUNDS AND PRACTICED METHODS with all this experience, and organization and funding being poured into kiruv rechokim at a time when the texture and make-up of the rechokim had changed from a majority who came from two Halachic Jewish parents to a majority who came from intermarried homes or were intermarried themselves. (That is why Rabbi Leib Tropper's EJF efforts are so cutting edge, because he is showing that he understands, and is working with, the new "kiruv paradigm" and why he was also shot down by the BADATZ who sent out letters to rabbis who were Recipients and making Publicity that such as Rabbi Tropper and the EJF planned, was not to be done nor encouraged, and THAT KIRUV PROGRAMS MUST NOW DISCOURAGE GENTILES FROM JOINING THEIR PROGRAMS AND CERTAINLY FROM WANTING TO CONVERT TO JUDAISM.

So it is again the tides of society and history that are forcing the hands of some leading rabbis, leading to a literal "mekarev beyemin umerachek besmol" ("bring close with your right hand and reject with your left hand") situation.

And that is why there is presently so much confusion in the field and in general, that while some talk rosily and dreamily about "kiruv" in our times, it is not related to reality and the facts on the ground, since they think or assume conditions are like it was in the Golden Age of Kiruv in its first sate from the 1950s to the 1980s when it is NOT

Or maybe some resort to the false logic that "the more people who are married to gentiles the more kiruv must be done", which is a dangerous game to play, because what will be done with those gentiles if they are brought into Jewish communities, and it is reported that in some Reform temples the majority of board members are not Halachic Jews!

While others are confused why there are these protests by other rabbis who object to "reaching out" to Jews when they are objecting to those who are gentiles according to Halacha from being brought into Judaism for the wrong reasons.

It is a very confusing and unsettling situation that will clarify itself in time, as people choose to go into one direction or another over the next generation or two.

It will probably not take more than another 30 years to accomplish the FINAL STAGE OF KIRUV once the Kiruv workers can get it through their heads that the gates are closing quickly and only those Halachicly Jewish should be mekareved.

That will take another 30 years or so and then the total span of the kiruv era will be over, having lasted no more than about 100 years (one hundred years) stretching from the 1950s into about the middle of the 21st century, that will be marked and recalled as unique era in Jewish and Torah history!

To be continued...

Kiruv VII - Aish HaTorah - what makes it tick?

Recipients and Publicity commented on "Kiruv VI - an embarrassingly shoddy attack on Aish...":

AISH HATORAH AND CONTROVERSY ARE NOT NEW TO EACH OTHER!

While Aish HaTorah is arguably the most successful young adult kiruv program in the world (not inclusive of Chabad, or of NCSY with is for teens), starting from a handful of students in the mid-1970s its empire has been built up by its founder, guide and rosh yeshiva, Rav Noach Weinberg, from a dream he had and a handful of students to a worldwide multi-multi-million empire that has recruited billionaires, and the likes of Hollywood directors and moguls like Steven Spielberg and has spawned programs that have promoted the likes of Margaret Thatcher, Bibi Netanyahu and Micheil Gorbachev and many others.

It is well known that in the USA, Rav Elya Svei, the rosh yeshiva of the Philadelphia yeshiva, had often levelled public criticism's of them and that it was part of a rivalry of Hashkofas between the very yeshivish Rav Elya Svei and Rav Noach's brother and Aish's mentor the more eclectic Rav Yaakov Weinberg, late rosh yeshiva of Ner Israel in Baltimore MD.

The Haredi world in America is never sure what to make of Aish HaTorah and how to react to them.

Essentially Aish stays clear of all major yeshivas and their leadership in America.

They have there own internal leadership system with the most successful Aish rabbis (meaning those who have raised the most millions or better yet, tens of millions each for Aish) and they answer to no one but Rav Noach Weinberg and a few carefully chosen close assistants that act like a "ruling council" based mostly in Aish Jerusalem. All Aish rabbis have their own internal conference in Jerusalem at least once a year and they all the skills and tools of the modern technological and business age.

The Aish HaTorah phenomenon ties in with the second phase of the age of kiruv in the world. The first Golden Phase of Kiruv from the early 1950s to the 1980s was an idealistic age with Baalei Teshuva returning for idealistic reasons and few old-time Aish rabbis come from that time, but they are a tiny minority.

Most Aish rabbis were hand-picked and groomed from the 1980s onwards, they are Yuppies - with a "Y" - (short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional") http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuppie Generations X-ers (a term used to describe generations in many countries around the world born from 1965 to around 1982) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X who are "operators" and businessmen with the attitudes of investment bankers and hedge fund speculators, products of the rise of the age of the "Masters of the Universe" types, as described in the Tom Wolf novel "The Bonfire of the Vanities" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bonfire_of_the_Vanities when Wall Street greed and materialism were the order of the day and the age of the Hippies (with an "H") was finally buried.

Aish HaTorah understands the age of materialism and the shallowness that is the outcome of the comfortable lifestyle and it has adjusted its calling card and signal to that frequency and thereby gets its audience's attention, but at the same time, many of its cadre of activist rabbis also come from this same milieu and while that may make them superb kiruv professionals, but to some looking in from the outside they can come across and are seen for the shallow, power hungry, manipulative and GREEDY lot that they often are.

So that rather than knocking the writer of this article and saying "well there go the secular again" try to stop a minute, take what it says with a grain of salt and not get so self-righteously upset that only looks like a smokescreen for honest debate and analysis, and tune in to the inner core of what is being said and it is not a flattering picture because the truth in this case is not flattering.

Now of course making people frum is a great thing and it is what kiruv is ultimately all about, but it is known among all reliable kiruv circles that Aish HaTorah plays loose with lots and lots of things to achieve its own goals and it is well-known in the kiruv world that Aish will facilitate with shady conversions if they have to, and it cannot be otherwise because they are so connected to the intermarried young generation X-ers and many of them are just not Halachic Jews. Like for Chabad, and for Rabbi Leib Tropper and his EJF, it's tough for Aish because so much BIG money, prestige, power and jobs are at stake!

So it's a tough call for them and for the frum world that is expecting positive fruits from all this kiruv activity and hallabaloo, but to resort to knee-jerk defenses of Aish on this blog is not required because Aish has it's own websites and propaganda machines that are supported by tens of millions of dollars that are meant to go to kiruv and "outreach" so let's see how they react it and not shed crocodile tears for them.

There is much more to be said about Aish and how it has both helped and corrupted the world of kiruv. They want to have their cake and eat it so that sometimes that can lead to indigestion and vomit.

To be continued...

Kiruv V - Orthodox and Reform meld - the slippery slope

Recipients and Publicity in his continuing series on the dynamics of contemporary kiruv

KIRUV TODAY: WHERE ORTHODOXY AND REFORM MEET!

Or

THE AGE OF ORTHODOX AND HAREDI KIRUV MEETS REFORM AND CONSERVATIVE KERUV!

Or

1980s to the present: A dangerous turning point in the history of Kiruv Rechokim and the Baal Teshuva Movement and Revolution.

Just in passing reference to Chabad, it would be worthy to note that with the mere existence of Chabad husband & wife shluchim/shluchos teams, lets assume that there are about five thousand of them in the wide world and if each couple brings in just one secular couple a year into their sphere of interest, not a far-fetched idea, then that makes five thousand new couples and ten thousand new "recruits" a year, and if even a quarter are not Halachically Jewish, then that means that all over the world, Chabad is responsible for pulling in 2,500 people into Jewish religious life who require Halachic conversions PER YEAR, and if one multiplies that over ten years that amounts to 25,000 people in that category which brings the entire matter to critical mass, and if one just doubles the figures assuming that Chabad rabbis and rebbetzins can each pull in more than one couple a year, that means that in the last ten years 50,000 people are involved in Chabad and Orthodox life who had not started out life as Halachic Jews, so that one clearly sees that what is happening is that with the success and spread of Orthodox kiruv, as practiced by Chabad or Aish HaTorah or NCSY or any group active in the field, many tens of thousands of non-Halachic Jews are being drawn in, just based on the UJA's groundbreaking and eye popping National Jewish Population Surveys (NJPS) www.ujc.org/njps of 1990 http://www.jewishdatabank.org/NJPS1990.asp and 2000 http://www.jewishdatabank.org/NJPS2000.asp (the 1990 report was so bad that they had to doctor the results of the 2000 report, but that is another subject) and that it is therefore beyond any shadow of a doubt that KIRUV AS WE KNOW IT OF REACHING OUT TO JEWS ONLY IS OVER, the "NEW" KIRUV IS ALL ABOUT REACHING BOTH JEWS AND THE NON-HALACHIC JEWS ATTACHED TO THEM. (That is why Rabbi Leib Tropper and his "kosher" EJF efforts are so cutting edge and relevant and when the BADATZ finally got to smell the coffee and wake up and sent notices out to Recipients and it received Publicity that ehrliche Orthodox rabbis were not to join in the EJF worldwide effort to welcome in non-Jews to Orthodoxy conversions no matter how "appealing" or "right" things mayy seem from a so-called kiruv perspective.)

And this brings us to the main topic of this post, that it can safely be stated, based on both the admissions of those in the field and the statistical and social realities, that the BROAD RANGED AGENDAS of BOTH the huge Orthodox/Haredi/Hasidic kiruv organisations and movements and those of the REFORM movement, with the Conservatives running a close second ARE THE SAME, in that they are:

(a) NOT to be repelled by the thought of having to reach out to non-Halachic Jews and even gentiles thereby rejecting them from mass strict Halachic conversions as required by Halacha itself of course, but on the contrary to

(b) REACH OUT and "MEKAREV" the non-Jewish and gentile spouses or children of non-Halachic Jews and provably gentile mothers, and even easing up on welcoming any gentiles who drop by a for "coffee and kiruv".

So that this is what it adds up to:

What the Reform and their Conservative allies are doing DE JURE (officially), the major kiruv movements are doing DE FACTO (unofficially) and at times even approaching the de jure efforts of Reform and even, believe it, being in the same boat with the same students and sharing the same synagogue spaces, such as when Orthodoxy's Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald's huge NJOP program http://www.njop.org/ runs programs for the last twenty years in almost every Reform, Conservative and even Reconstructionist synagogue and venue, not caring about Orthodox venues or what his Orthodox kiruv co-workers may think about it all!

It must be noted that Reform goes even further, that it has decided to outright proselytise gentiles not personally connected to Jews or Judaism in any way in order, they rationalize, to increase the numbers of Jews. This is like allowing a bunch of alcoholics to run a liquor business in the hope that they will bring in "more sobriety and more business" or like offering free bread and cheese to mice in the hope that they will join the human race in not being pests. All very distorted, yet taken very seriously in Reform and Conservative circles.

The Reform call it "keruv" with an "e" faking dikduk correctness, but the Reform and Conservatives are now as much into "keruv" as the Orthodox and Haredim are into the less correctly spelled "kiruv":

The official Reform movement site http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:R53f-qHU8NYJ:www.urj.org/outreach/+keruv+Reform&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us states openly:

"Union for Reform Judaism / Outreach

Reform Jewish Outreach serves a diverse population: men and women; interfaith and interracial couples; converts, those in the process of conversion and religious seekers; Jews of color; people of all sexual orientations; single adults and blended families; rich and poor; young and old and in-between.

As Reform Jews, we are committed to actively welcoming all and building vibrant, inclusive congregational communities. We seek to perform the mitzvot of ahavat ger (loving the stranger) and keruv (drawing near all who are far). The William & Lottie Daniel Department of Outreach and Membership, together with the URJ-CCAR Commission on Outreach and Membership, has a dual mission:

*to empower and encourage individuals and families, including interfaith families, to make meaningful Jewish choices in the context of membership in a Reform congregation

*to assist Reform congregations in their efforts to become sacred communities that welcome the full diversity of Jews and their families and those seeking to join or come closer to the Jewish people, through effective recruitment, engagement and lifelong retention of members"

And that gets one thinking, hey, if Reform is so positive about this stuff, instead of preaching the old doctrines of "Berlin is Jerusalem" and their notoriously schismatic Pittsburgh Platform (1885) opining that:

"3. We recognize in the Mosaic legislation a system of training the Jewish people for its mission during its national life in Palestine, and today we accept as binding only its moral laws, and maintain only such ceremonies as elevate and sanctify our lives, but reject all such as are not adapted to the views and habits of modern civilization.

4. We hold that all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet, priestly purity, and dress originated in ages and under the influence of ideas entirely foreign to our present mental and spiritual state. They fail to impress the modern Jew with a spirit of priestly holiness; their observance in our days is apt rather to obstruct than to further modern spiritual elevation.

5. We recognize, in the modern era of universal culture of heart and intellect, the approaching of the realization of Israel s great Messianic hope for the establishment of the kingdom of truth, justice, and peace among all men. We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious community, and therefore expect neither a return to Palestine, nor a sacrificial worship under the sons of Aaron, nor the restoration of any of the laws concerning the Jewish state."

But see, today they talk of "keruv" and are actually envious of Chabad's and other Orthodox groups outreach that they must ape that, because in any case, most kiruv in the first stages does not expect anything different than just hanging out with the rabbis and attending some generalized classes and having a good time at Shabbat dinners "across America" or whatever.

The Conservative's Dr. Gary A. Tobin's "Opening the Gates: How Proactive Conversion Can Revitalize the Jewish Community" (San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers, 1999) and in http://www.jewishresearch.org/PDFs2/ShmaFamilies_4_03.pdf he concludes

"...The American image of Jews as either central or eastern European, largely Ashkenazi descendants from Fiddler on the Roof does not reflect the complexity of the American Jewish family.

Those who are subject to nostalgia often long for some particular time and place, and associate it with some particular mythology of “how life used to be. ”Moreover, the Jewish community as a whole continues to cling to an ideal that may not even be desirable. Maybe bringing non-Jews to be part of the Jewish people, for example, so that we grow and prosper rather than diminish is desirable rather than horrifying. Perhaps we should embrace the growing diversity rather than be afraid.

If the Jewish organizational and institutional structures — our synagogues, community centers, federations, and the vast array of human service and educational institutions — are going to do their job in helping the Jewish community to be vital and strong, they should embrace who we are, rather than lament who they think we used to be or think we should be. For, indeed, we live neither in the 1950s nor in the time of Abraham. We live in the 21st century, and we should deal with the reality of who we are—now."

The Conservatives also have a program called "Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs: Our Mission":

"The Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs is an organization of approximately 270 Conservative/Masorti Jewish men's groups consisting of 25,000 individuals across North America and the world. The FJMC involves Jewish men in Jewish life by building and strengthening Men's Clubs in the Conservative/Masorti Movement.

Our objectives are to train and develop leaders to build and strengthen Men's Clubs; to create and implement programs to involve men in Jewish life; and to be an active and influential participant in the Conservative/Masorti Movement."

And one of their biggest aims, is what else, "keruv" http://www.fjmc.org/keruv.html , naturally, with things like "Congregations with Keruv Programs and Consultants":

"What's a Keruv Consultant?

The Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs Keruv Initiative seeks to provide guidance and comfort to those within our congregations who are intermarried, whose children are intermarried, or who have extended family of another faith

Keruv Consultants are experts in the implementation of the FJMC Keruv programs, as defined by the FJMC Publications, HEARING MEN'S VOICES - VOLUMES FOUR & FIVE, Building the Faith & Let's Talk About It.

The issue of intermarriage confronts us as a community and within our own families. Given the fact of the dual faith marriage, how do we reach out to encourage these families to adopt a Jewish lifestyle, indeed to increase their involvement in Jewish life? Where do we begin as a congregation and as individuals to transform ourselves to make this outreach a success? should this be a priority at this time? With the publication of ''HEARING MEN'S VOICES: Building the Faith'' in 2001 there has been an outpouring of interest at program after program led by men's clubs in synagogues throughout North America"

and this is backed up with articles from the Baltimore Jewish Times "Conservatives Grapple With Intermarriage":

"The high stakes were not being glossed over.

"The bad news is, the way things are, there probably won't be a Conservative movement in 50 or 100 years," said Stephen Lachter, noting that the 2000 National Jewish Population Study saw the percentage of Conservative Jews slip below that of Reform ones. "The good news is that those of us in the Conservative movement have the power to change that."

Later, he added, "We are all Jews by choice. We make choices about our Judaism every day. It's not unusual that people move along. They take an introduction to Judaism course. They take a basic Hebrew course and then they convert to Judaism. That happens in our synagogue and I assume it happens elsewhere. You need to provide people with information. But you have to do it in a positive, effective way"."

and the Washington Jewish Week "consider best approaches to reaching out to intermarried families":

"...a new Conservative movement initiative to guide congregations in welcoming intermarried families.

The keruv think tank and training program last week in Baltimore was the second seminar organized by the Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs to help rabbis and lay leaders address a range of issues arising from intermarriage. (Keruv means "bring near" in Hebrew and is often used to refer to inreach and outreach.)

The seminar included sessions titled "Broaching Conversion to the Non-Jewish Partner" and "Developing Strategies for the Non-Jewish Spouse," as well as advice in areas such as the proper language Jews should utilize to talk to a non-Jewish son- or daughter-in-law...

But Simon stresses that the keruv project is not sanctioning intermarriage, but merely reacting to the large percentage of Conservative Jews with intermarriages in their own families -- and encouraging those who are intermarried to raise their children in the synagogue.

In addition, non-Jewish spouses who feel welcome are more likely to explore conversion, say Simon and local Jewish leaders who attended last week's conference.

"We need to figure out a way to welcome [the non-Jewish spouses of intermarried couples] into our shuls or lose these people," said Stephen Lachter, past president of the Adas Israel Men's Club and a keruv consultant who attended last week's seminar...

"As a result of having the kind of policy we're talking about, [and] without setting any kind of precondition, these individuals ultimately decided to embrace Judaism," Weinblatt said.

Lachter called the keruv initiative "the most profound and important thing going on in the Conservative movement today."

"What else could be more Jewish than to treat people in a caring way?"."

The important thing to note is that both the Reform and Conservatives have taken over and now embrace and welcome the language AND THE ACTIVITY of "keruv"/"kiruv" OPENLY, OFFICIALLY with unashamed keruv/outreach to those of doubtful Halachic Jewish status as well as to to pure gentiles, so that then it is really no different to the often HIDDEN, UNofficial yet also unabashed mekareving that Orthodox, Haredi and Chabad rabbis and kiruv workers are doing when they too lure and welcome into their midst the same people that that the Reform and Conservatives are now "keruving" out to.

This is a dangerous turning point in the history of Kiruv Rechokim and the Baal Teshuva Movement and Revolution.

In the first stage of the Golden Age of Kiruv from the 1950s to the 1980s when Reform and Conservative were still cock-sure of themselves and did not care if their youth joined "fringe groups" (and even if they did care, there was nothing they could do about it in any case), but from late 1980s and especially from 1990, when the frightening truths about intermarriage and Jews and gentiles welded and melded and wed to each came to the fore in the shape of the 1990 UJA sponsored National Jewish Population Survey in the USA they panicked and began their "keruv" initiatives to all and sundry and it was at that time, combined with the results of Reform's decision to accept patrilineal descent as being enough of a criterion for Jewishness that then meant that one could no longer take for granted the "Jewishness" of anyone who claimed to be Jewish, and with the rise in intermarraige across the board, THE AGE OF KIRUV AS WE KNOW IT WAS OVER, and thus began THE AGE OF ORTHODOX AND HAREDI KIRUV MEETS REFORM AND CONSERVATIVE KERUV that has been ongoing from the late 1980s into the 21st century.

Thus the very real squabbles and battles over conversions, which are valid and which are not, and how far kiruv workers should be involved in the process has become a key issues all over the world. In Israel, the struggle involves rabbinical organs inside and outside of the official state of Israel's legal and legislative structure in both the Halachich and secular legal domains due to the political realities of living in the political state, but the issues are just as critical and burning in North America, the UK, Europe and wherever large groups of Jews are to be found facing the assimilation, intermarriage and conversion issues of the day.

The following analogy may be a little sharp, so please pardon it, but the word "kiruv" or as spelled "keruv" share the same root as the word "kirva" and alas also "kurva" and as much as "kirva" may refer to the elevated spiritual state of "kirvat Elokim" of being close to God, yet in another context and degrading sense there is also the word "kurva" in Hebrew and Yiddish which means "prostitute" since it is also a form of "coming (too) close" but of the wrong type of "closeness" that while it may give momentary pleasure also carries with it risks of disease and degradation and even death. Similarly the Biblical word "zona" can mean healthy "sustenance" and denote positive nutrition such as with breads as "mazon" yet it shares a root, if used against morality of "zona" a woman who "sustains" a man sexually with fleeting carnal pleasures for the wrong reasons and with degrading results that are paid for rather than attained in a moral and legitimate way.

The Reform and Conservative's "keruv" must be seen as the dark side of Orthodoxy's Kiruv in order for the Orthodox and Haredi kiruv rabbi and professional to retain a correct perspective and a clear conscience that they are not swimming in the same cesspools that the Reform and Conservatives created for themselves in the first place.

Thus it's clear that THE challenges for the Orthodox erhliche and Halachicaly uncomprisng kiruv rabbi and professional is to cut through the haze and the maze that now links Reform and Conservative "keruv" with Orthodox and Haredi "kiruv" OUT THERE IN THE FIELD, in the so-called "real world" where "East meets West" and how to split this atom requires the brains of an Einstein, the wisdom of a Solomon, and the prophetic spirit of Eliyahu Hanavi in CORRECTLY bringing the hearts of JEWISH fathers and mothers and JEWISH sons and daughters together but NOT to cause spiritual Chernobel-like meltdowns that will hurt everyone who comes close to the radioactive and toxic mess of the inevitable interplay between bad kiruv and conversion decisions..

To be continued...