Trump's Lawsuit Against Clinton, DNC Slammed by Legal Experts: 'Garbage'

 https://www.newsweek.com/trumps-lawsuit-against-clinton-dnc-slammed-legal-experts-garbage-1691814

Legal experts quickly knocked former President Donald Trump's lawsuit filed Thursday targeting former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and a number of others—calling it "absurd" and "garbage."

Trump's attorneys filed the lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida, claiming that Clinton and other members of the DNC "orchestrated an unthinkable plot—one that shocks the conscience and is an affront to this nation's democracy." The alleged plot in question involved falsifying records and manipulating data in an attempt to "cripple Trump's bid for presidency" during the 2016 election, they contend.

Researchers decipher oldest known Hebrew inscription on 'cursed' tablet

 https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-702271

Researchers say they have deciphered a 3,000-year-old formulaic curse inscription recovered on a small, folded lead amulet found on Mount Ebal, making it the oldest proto-Hebrew text ever found in Israel.

In the 23-word English translation of the inscription, the word “curse” appears 10 times and the word “YHWH,” the biblical spelling of God’s name, appears twice, the Associates for Biblical Research (ABR) said in a press conference on Thursday night.

Orthodox petition urging people to report child abuse reopens for more signatures

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-702098

A kol koreh (declaration) that was originally opened in 2015 to prevent abused children from having their situation be ignored within the orthodox community was reopened for a limited time to allow for more people to sign it.

When it first opened in 2015, it was signed by over 100 rabbis around the world.

The declaration states that "any individual with firsthand knowledge or reasonable basis to suspect child abuse has the religious obligation to promptly notify the secular law enforcement of that information."

Anti-missionaries cry foul as Messianic Jews aid Ukraine refugees, Bibles in hand

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/anti-missionaries-cry-foul-as-messianic-jews-aid-ukraine-refugees-bibles-in-hand/

Jews for Jesus and other Messianic groups are helping Ukrainian refugees in Europe and in Israel, and are combining religious outreach with their relief efforts, drawing fire from anti-missionary activists.

The Messianic groups see their religious message as beneficial to those in distress, and say they offer it unconditionally, apart from essential aid, while critics say the groups are exploiting vulnerable people in a compromised situation.

“We give people food and medicine and Bibles and gas for their cars to get them moving. We see the Bible as just as practical as all these other things,” said Susan Perlman, one of the founders of Jews for Jesus.

Rabbi Tovia Singer, the head of the counter-missionary organization Outreach Judaism, said Messianic groups were “weaponizing humanitarian aid in order to share the gospel.”

In spat over pistol, police threaten to arrest man who shot Beersheba terrorist

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-spat-over-pistol-police-threaten-to-arrest-man-who-shot-beersheba-attacker/\

Police confiscated pistols from two civilians who shot a terrorist attacker in Beersheba on Tuesday, leading to an altercation between one of the men and an officer at a police station.

Police threatened to arrest one of the men after he refused to leave the police station without his pistol, and a crowd gathered outside the station to demonstrate in support of the men.

An Arab Israeli knifeman killed four people in the southern city of Beersheba before the two civilians confronted him with pistols, urged him to lower his knife, then shot him when he lunged at one of them.

Police said they took the pistols for ballistics tests after the incident as part of standard investigation protocol, and will return the weapons to the men after the tests are complete.

URGENT: ABORTION BILL IN CT: Debate THIS Friday

• BS"D
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• 20 Adar II, 5782 / Parshas Shemini (Lev. 10:19 ) / 23 March, '22
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• Leaders,
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• ALERT: Please alert the public to urge CT Legislators: Vote NO on SJR 30 {Abortion-license legislation}.
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• This is state level legislation. That means we have much more of ability to actually make a real difference.
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• For our Jewish audience, just imagine the impact on Jewish babies alone. Additionally, we all know that millions of dollars are expended on ostensibly "combating antisemitism," while the actual goals of Jew-hatred - I.e. physical and spiritual decimation of the Jewish People - are being quietly advanced - with support of anti-Torah-values "Jews" in office -, via abortionist, homosexualist, and transgender legislation - all without much of a peep from most of those pompously raising money to ostensibly defend Jews against our enemies. It's not so much that they raise money to grandstand, it's that they then abandon the most important work that their own self-adulatory mission statements mandate.
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• Let's leverage the Heavenly Assistance with which we may be graced in this Adar Sheini" (second month of Adar), and rally against those who rebel against G-d by drawing His People and others away from Him, by providing state sanction of evil.
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• ~~
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• »»» To register for the Zoom meeting, to be able to speak, by tommorow 3pm:
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• https://conta.cc/3588ReK)
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• The bill:
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• https://www.cga.ct.gov/2022/TOB/S/PDF/2022SJ-00030-R00-SB.PDF
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• Please post/ share ASAP. Thank you all,
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• Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,
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• Executive Director,
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• Help Rescue Our Children
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• NathanAdvisors@gmail.com / personal account
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• USA: 845-642-1679* «»
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• * for calls and texts, but not WhatsApp
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• Israeli Helpline: 03-721-3337

Prime Minister's Office has dismissed Rav Druckman

The Jerusalem Post - May 22, 2008 [See also YNET]

Conversion Authority head Rabbi Haim Druckman has received a letter from the Prime Minister's Office notifying him of his dismissal due to the fact that he has turned 75 and thus passed the age of retirement.

The dismissal comes at a particularly sensitive time, after a panel of rabbinical judges wrote a halachic ruling overturning a conversion by Druckman, and implied that all his conversions should be annulled.

The ruling, while not automatically revoking the hundreds of conversions Druckman performed, has still alarmed many converts who had gone through the process under Druckman's tutelage.

Chairman of the Knesset's Constitution, Legislation, and Law Committee, Menahem Ben Sasson (Kadima), asked the Prime Minister's Office Thursday to find a way to extend Druckman's position. According to Ben Sasson, Druckman's remaining in office is important "especially in these hard times, when there is a crisis regarding conversions."

During an emergency meeting of the committee, all MKs present expressed full confidence in Druckman.

According to Likud MK Yuri Edelstein, removing Druckman from office would seriously harm the little faith left with immigrants considering conversion.

"This will be seen as the government's surrender in face of a haredi attack against the conversion authority and the converts. This is another one of the government's poor attempts at survival by pleasing extreme orthodox circles, which anyway do not recognize the state's authority to convert. [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert should take an exceptional step and cancel [Druckman's] dismissal forthwith."

[...]

"Am I still Jewish?!" - personal consequences of mass rejection of conversions

Posted by: Treifalicious | May 03, 2008 at 02:10 AM Done. This decision ensures that I will NEVER return to Israel to live. They probably will revoke my citizenship anyway. As someone who converted through the Beit Din L'Giur in 1999 I am one of those people whose conversion stands to be revoked.(how else could I have converted in Israel? I asked how I can convert to Judaism, they pointed me in the direction of Ulpan Giur. Something like 2000 - 3000 people converted in these Rabbinate-sponsored conversion classes every year. . That's between 18,000 and 27,000 people - marriages annulled, children suddenly not Jewish, people then also losing citizenship and having to leave the country. 18-27,000 lives turned completely upside down) It hasn't really sunk in yet. As someone who sat through these classes in some ways they were a joke - many people were NOT sincere at all. One couple with a guy from South America converting actually put up a CHRISTMAS TREE and drove regularly on Shabbat. I would see women in my class during the day in shorts and tank tops and then later that same day see them in class with long skirts and long sleeved shirts. And these were not people like many of the Russians who treated the whole thing with naked, utter and total contempt. I felt like such a frier for actually overhauling my wardrobe and wearing the long skirts all day every day, keeping kosher and keeping Shabbat. Later on, when asked about conversion by others, I would say, "If you really want to be Jewish you will wear the long skirts and at least try to keep kashrut and Shabbat." I encouraged Orthodox conversion, discouraged Reform conversion and still do to this day. But afterwards, you cannot police people for the rest of their lives. To do so would turn the State of Israel into a fascist police state. Sure, first they have religious police to look after converts, but then they will start policing the general public, making Israel like Saudi Arabia and Iran which DO have religious police (for an idea of how people deal with religious police, see the movie Persopolis and see what happens after the Ayatollah Khomeini takes over. Basically, everyone starts leading double lives. The whole thing becomes a pointless cat-and-mouse-game). In the Jerusalem Post in one of the talkbacks there was one guy who said he would gladly go back to Christianity and wants his foreskin back. I cannot say the same. I can never go back to being a Christian. I had lived as a Jew for some SIX YEARS before I had even started the conversion class. I did not need the class in order to pass the oral exam before the Beit Din. What about the people, like my roommate, myself and others who really were sincere? What if someone was no so into it at first but then became very observant afterwards? Jewish religious observance is fluid over the course of one's life. The only real way to do this would be to go back over every single conversion, all 18-27,000 of them and do some sort of KGB like detective work to try to figure out if they were sincere at the time. But they don't want to do that because they are ultimately a bunch of lazy bureaucrats and prefer to just invalidate every conversion done in Israel over the past 9 years, upending thousands of lives. These rabbis will find themselves in the dustbin of history like the Sadducees in the not so distant future. But in the meantime, if I am not Jewish anymore, who am I?

High Court of Justice says rabbinical court can annul conversions retroactively

JPost     The High Court of Justice ruled on Thursday that a rabbinical court was within its rights to retroactively annul a conversion because the convert in question had deceived the court when she said she undertook to observe Jewish law.

The ruling could reopen the wounds of the conversion crisis in 2008 when the Supreme Rabbinical Court upheld a decision of a lower court that invalidated a woman’s conversion because it said she never intended to observe Jewish law when she converted. The ruling endangered the 40,000 conversions conducted under the state-conversion system.

On Thursday, Deputy President of the Supreme Court Justice Miriam Naor, with Justices Esther Hayut and Neal Hendel ruled on a case concerning a woman born in Romania to a Christian family who converted in Israel in the state conversion system. Two years later, the rabbinical court annulled her conversion because, according to the court, doubts had been raised as to the sincerity of the convert when she converted.

She petitioned the High Court saying the rabbinical court did not have the authority to retroactively invalidate her conversion and that its decision violated the principles of natural justice. [...]

The Hiddush religious freedom lobbying group criticized the decision saying it opened up “a Pandora’s box,” the results of which could be calamitous.

Hiddush director and Reform rabbi Uri Regev said it would require “extreme detachment from reality not to know that the majority of converts from the immigrant community from the former Soviet Union do this [conversion] without true intent to accept Torah and commandments upon themselves and are forced to promise false promises that they will observe the religious commandments.” [...]

Conversion crisis - Zionist ideolgy and Halacha II

As mentioned in a previous post - the current dispute is not so much political as ideological. In other words it is not simply the result of people seeking out power over others for the sake of power. It is also not a conflict between those who are modern, moderate and involved in the world versus those who are reactionary and out of touch with reality. It is not even a dispute about halacha per se. The Religious Zionism poskim are fully aware of the halachic views and sources that concern the Chareidi poskim. [I am not concerning myself with the ignorant masses and politicians who have a distorted or no knowledge or interest in the halachic issues.]

The prime dispute is whether the halacha should be used to advance the goals of Zionism or not. I will be publishing a number of posts which illustrate these points by citing recognized Religious Zionist rabbis.

What follows is the conclusion of an article published in the mainstream Religious Zionist journal Techumin which is published by Tzomet. It appeared originally in Hebrew in Techumin #12 pp 81-97 (5751/1991). This is an English translation which was published by Tzomet in a compilation of Techumin articles known as "Crossroads"

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Conversion of Russian Immigrants

by Rav Yigal Ariel

Conversion as a Catalyst of Spiritual Renewal

The problem of conversion of women intermarried with Jews was seen in previous generations as one of the battlefronts in the war against assimilation. The feeling that any concession in this area would be equivalent to surrender in the war underlies the sharp and bitter tone of those who disallowed these conversions. These responsa do not relate to the special problems of the present aliya.

We are not engaged here in a “war”, but in an attempt to redeem an entire community captured by the enemy. The question applies chiefly to the second generation, the children of intermarriage, where suspicions concerning their motivation evaporates and instead the major consideration is helping Jews to return to Judaism. The problem of free-willed assimilation in the western world is not comparable to the situation in the former Soviet Union, where Jews were faced with ignorance and duress. In any event, assimilation today has become a tidal wave, where refusal to accept converts has no deterrent value. There is no difficulty in today’s secular and permissive society to live with a non-Jew without Jewish marriage. This is surely true outside of Israel, and to a great extent in Israel as well.

Conversion is not a self-contained problem, but should be seen as part of the general spiritual problem of Russian aliya. The struggle over their spiritual absorption is the heart of the problem, and it will ultimately determine the character of Israeli society in the future. The immigrants, because of their spiritual estrangement, are not rushing to convert. They find that they can manage very well without the approval of the Rabbinate.

Conversion therefore, is not the problem of the immigrants, but the interest of the Rabbinate, desiring to prevent a calamity to Israeli society. In this situation, the initiative of those who desire to convert should be seen as more sincere. The motivation is “for the sake of heaven” and nothing else. Under these circumstances, it is incumbent on the bet din to help them, even if this would be a case of “sin, in order to benefit your fellow” (Git. 38; Tosafot 4lb, s.v. ‘kofin”; Shab. 4a, s.v. “v’chi”; cf. Melamed LeHoeal 2,83).

In these circumstances, it may turn out that conversion, rather than causing injury can be the instrument of spiritual renewal not only for the convert, but for the Jewish spouse as well. In cases where the family comes of its own initiative to convert, conversion can precede the initial state of absorption. The lack of prior education is not a problem, even if it will transpire that they will not fully fulfill the requirement to study Judaism subsequently. The conversion should, however, be conditional on their being sponsored and adopted by a religious community. That kind of bond can inspire a genuine dedication to Torah and Judaism, for the convert and his entire extended family

Vaad HaRabbonim LeInyonei Giyur supports Supreme Rabbinical Court ruling against Rav Druckman

Recipients and Publicity has left a new comment on your post "Judaism as a missionary religion?":

Vaad HaRabbonim LeInyonei Giyur reveals ITS agenda (while most of what it says is valid and true, it is sad that the Vaad feels that it must go to war against the Religious Zionist and Modern Orthodox rabbis in these "Geirus Wars" because that will only inspire the other side to fight back even harder, as is the nature of these kinds of struggles:

See Dei'ah Vedibur of 3 Iyar 5768 - May 8, 2008 at http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/EMR68avaad.htm

Vaad HaRabbonim LeInyonei Giyur Backs Beis Din Annulment of Conversion By Yechiel Sever Following a precedent-setting decision at the Ashdod District Beis Din, headed by Dayan HaRav Avraham Attia, which was certified by the High Rabbinical Court (Beis Din Godol) in Jerusalem, the Vaad HaRabbonim Haolami LeInyonei Giyur founded by HaRav Chaim Kreiswirth zt"l clarified several points related to the matter, to dispel misleading information intended to undermine halachic boundaries set by leading poskim from the previous and present generations. The beis din in Ashdod ruled that conversions performed 15 years ago by Rabbi Chaim Druckman were not done according to halacha since the conversion candidates were not observant in any way. According to Vaad HaRabbonim, the following points need to be made in order to gain a proper understanding of the issue. A. Not agreeing — at the time of the conversion — to observe all the mitzvas renders the conversion invalid under all circumstances. B. The Beis Din determined that presumably the conversion candidate never accepted ol mitzvos, which means the conversion was not annulled — but rather the original conversion was never valid. C. The Vaad is deeply shocked by various individuals, officials and rabbis associated with the National-Religious camp who claim to cite various sources indicating that prominent dayanim supposedly ruled against the Rambam and the Shulchan Oruch. These individuals muddle the halachic tradition passed down since Har Sinai without demonstrating a minimal understanding of the Rambam and the Shulchan Oruch. Their status is stated explicitly in the Mishneh Torah (Hilchos Talmud Torah, Chap. 6). D. According to directives from gedolei Yisroel in 5744 (1984), every conversion, whether performed in Eretz Yisroel or abroad, must be checked to ascertain whether the applicant did in fact accept Torah and mitzvas at the time of the conversion. This directive is aimed primarily at city rabbis and marriage registrars, since it is strictly forbidden to list the word "convert" on marriage applications before verifying the validity of the conversion. E. According to both halacha and the law, every rabbi has the right to reject a conversion that appears dubious and to return the case to the district beis din. [click the link for the full article]

Conversion crisis is conflict between Zionism and Halacha I

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. […]

Conversion crisis - Victory for the Haredim

Haaretz June 1, 2008 by Avraham Poraz (served as interior minister in the years 2003-2004.)

The state's decision to stop employing Rabbi Haim Druckman, who has for several years headed the special conversion administration designed to expedite and alleviate the conversion process, followed a ruling by the Supreme Rabbinic Court. This court nullified a conversion Rabbi Druckman performed 15 years ago, and its ruling applies in effect to all the conversions performed through Rabbi Druckman's conversion administration, as well as to conversions within the Israel Defense Forces. These sad developments are part of the struggle raging between Orthodox Zionism - whose approach was reflected in Rabbi Druckman's conversion administration and the one that operated in the IDF - and the ultra-Orthodox. Remember that we are talking about nullifying Orthodox conversions, which are the most strict to begin with. Israel has more than 300,000 citizens who came to the country under the Law of Return, largely from the Commonwealth of Independent States, but are not considered Jewish according to Orthodox halakha, or Jewish religious law. In keeping with a Supreme Court ruling long ago, anyone who converted overseas in a recognized Jewish congregation, whether Reform or Conservative, is Jewish and is entitled to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return. Since Israel recognizes only Orthodox conversions performed by the rabbinic establishment (and not even those now), the Reform and Conservative movements began conducting "pop-over conversions" - conversions were performed in Israel, but in converts were sent in the final phase to Reform and Conservative congregations overseas to complete the process. This maneuver was prompted by the failure of the Neeman Committee's recommendations, accepted by the government back in 1997, to set up conversion institutes in which Conservative and Reform rabbis will officiate alongside Orthodox rabbis, and where the conversion itself will be performed in the final phase at a bet din, or religious court, recognized by the Chief Rabbinate, in other words, Orthodox. However, because of the strict requirements at Orthodox establishment courts, the number of conversions performed on the basis of the Neeman Committee's recommendations and through Rabbi Druckman's conversion administration was very small. After the Interior Ministry refused to register "pop-over" converts as Jews, those individuals petitioned the High Court of Justice in 1999. When I became interior minister in March 2003, I thought that the Interior Ministry ought to recognize conversions performed by the Conservative and Reform movements in Israel itself, without resorting to the "pop-over" trick. However, my position on this was not included in the state's reply to the High Court. Only after I exerted pressure, in October 2003, on then-attorney general Elyakim Rubinstein, did he agree to present my position to the court as a "personal opinion." [...] The government should therefore change the decision it made back when the recommendations of the Neeman Committee were adopted, and stipulate that the Interior Ministry register as Jews also people who underwent Reform or Conservative conversion. The appropriate solution of course is civil marriage and divorce, but if that is not possible yet, then the Conservative and Reform movements should be allowed to marry people and end marriages, by means of religious courts to be established by them and recognized by the state. Granting legal recognition to both of these important streams would put an end to the Orthodox monopoly, and to the sense of alienation and disaffection of hundreds of thousands of Israel's citizens. We cannot rely on conversion administrations of Rabbi Druckman's sort, particularly since the battle over conversion between Orthodox Zionism, as reflected by Rabbi Druckman, and the ultra-Orthodox will end in my opinion with a victory for the Haredim.

Attorney General Scolded Rabbi Druckman, But No Charges Brought

De'ah veDibur reports: [helpfully referred by Recipients and Publicity]

The State Prosecutor's Officer has been ill at ease. An investigation conducted by reporter Eliezer Levine showed that efforts have been made to cover up Rabbi Druckman's acts because publicity could embarrass Attorney General Meni Mazuz, who decided to forego an investigation of the affair without offering any rational explanation. The State Prosecutor's Office is cooperating by keeping the extent of the affair under wraps and a series of potentially explosive documents that have been lying for weeks in the offices of the Chief Rabbinate, State Prosecutor Eran Shender and his assistant for criminal affairs, Shuki Lemberger.

The conduct of the judicial system and figures who identify with Rabbi Druckman, such as Rabbi Yisrael Rosen, who once served as head of the Conversion Authority, is highly suspect. In his letter the Attorney General lists numerous faults in Rabbi Druckman's conduct. Similarly letters by Rabbi Rosen indicate he viewed the matter in a very serious light and was debating whether Rabbi Druckman is worthy of sitting on the panel of a conversion beis din.

Yet surprisingly they recently chose to refer to the incriminating facts as a matter of little consequence. In an inexplicable move, various figures decided to back Rabbi Druckman and point a finger at the dayanim who stood up to him, merely doing their job by gathering the facts, particularly Rabbi Druckman's testimony, in order to issue a ruling.

From a legal angle the Attorney General views Rabbi Druckman's acts with great severity. Quoting a letter the Attorney General sent to Rabbi Druckman several months ago under the heading "Complaints Regarding Failures and Defects in Your Conduct," Mazuz writes, "I cannot accept your explanation as sufficient reason to sign an official document that does not properly reflect what is written in it. We are dealing with a conversion certificate, which according to the law in Israel has ramifications in terms of how the individual is registered and his or her status. As such those who sign these documents must list every detail meticulously."

Mazuz goes on to reproach Rabbi Druckman for his conduct. "Conversion dayanim representing the State should avoid performing conversions outside of Israel. The dayanim are supposed to perform conversions within the framework of the government system, which has guidelines and limitations on accepting conversion candidates, in part based on the legal situation in Israel which grants converts citizenship. In accordance with Interior Ministry directives, converts are not to undergo government conversion unless they are present in Israel." Mazuz cites a High Court ruling (Guzman vs. the State), which determined, "The beis din decision to stipulate the conversion conditions are only provided while the candidate is in Israel is a proper one."

Atty. Mazuz also discusses Rabbi Druckman's conflicting roles, i.e. serving as a government conversion dayan and at the same time as a private dayan. "A conversion dayan," writes Mazuz, "who in addition to his public work is involved in performing conversions outside of the government system, creates a conflict of interests and is liable to convert somebody who does not meet Interior Ministry guidelines."

Mazuz speculates that the case in question that he was referring to, in which Rabbi Druckman signed a certificate for a conversion that took place in Europe and falsely represented himself as having been present, may not be an isolated incident. "Material provided to me for review included additional complaints regarding conversions performed long ago and which allegedly included your signature on the conversion certificates relating to conversion cases in which you did not participate. It was also claimed that your beis din converted two tourists, in violation of the practice coordinated with the Interior Ministry."

Despite the serious flaws the Attorney General pointed to regarding Rabbi Druckman's conduct, Mazuz fails to reach any firm conclusion. The police have not received instructions to open a criminal investigation against him and the Civil Service Commissioner has not even been asked to hold a hearing for disciplinary infractions. In fact there has not even been a recommendation that Rabbi Druckman, who is directly subordinate to the Prime Minister's Office, resign from his post. "I've reached the conclusion that the combination of circumstances is not enough to justify opening either a criminal or disciplinary investigation," writes Mazuz. The Attorney General does acknowledge he found improprieties, saying therefore he chose to send the letter "to call his attention" to the matter.

It seems in this case that the Attorney General decided to switch from jurist to chastiser. Instead of doing his job and taking concrete measures he is acting like a retired judge, sending the unruly converter a lecture on proper conduct. Mazuz has not offered a single word of explanation why he opted not to launch a criminal investigation, leaving his motives shrouded in mystery.[...]