[Avodah] R' Angel & Geirus Redux

[Michael Makovi]

>  *R' Angel* is not concerned with whether they are committed to keep the
>  entire Torah. He stated the following in an interview published in
>  Forward November 2007
>
>  "Rabbi Uziel argued that not only may rabbis do conversions in less than
>  ideal circumstances, but they are obligated to do so — even when the
>  would-be convert is not expected to become fully observant religiously.
>  Since so many conversion cases involve intermarriage or potential
>  intermarriage, Rabbi Uziel believed we should perform conversions in
>  order to maintain whole Jewish families that can raise Jewish children
>  within the Jewish community. He viewed himself as being "strict" in his
>  opposition to intermarriage, not as being "lenient" in matters of
>  conversion."
>
>  Daniel Eidensohn

I believe however that Rabbi Uziel's approach (along with Rabbi
Angel's, Rabbi Berkovits's, etc.) becomes very different in the
context of Eretz Yisrael. RMF says that there is no benefit to doing
these conversions, even if we could do them. But this is davka in
chutz la'aretz. But in EY, the issue we have is a gentile woman having
gentile children, and her daughters having gentile children, etc. etc.
This causes fantastically enormous problems that need not be
elaborated on.

Even a gentile man, and gentile sons of a gentile woman, are a
problem. In chutz la'aretz, most of the Jews assimilate, and kol
she'ken the gentiles born of a Jewish father. Therefore, the problem
solves itself - we instead have to worry about Chabad-kiruv for the
minority-Jew marrying the majority-gentile. But in EY, the gentiles
assimilate into the Jewish population, and become as Israeli and
fluent in Hebrew as any Jew. It is beyond a doubt that they will meet
a nice secular Jew and so forth. By doing conversions, even without
kabbalat mitzvot, we ensure that there is no intermarriage between the
minority-gentile and the majority-Jew. Kol she'ken, we solve the
horrible problem of an everlasting gentile sect that we must keep
genealogical records for her for all eternity, and the terrible
problem of legitimate, true, bona-fide Jews who lack documentation
(since bubbe married a gentile and had no ketuba), and have no
inclination to convert in an Orthodox fashion (because he or she is
Reform BUT halachically Jewish), and so become, in effect, mamzerim
who have to find a back-handed way via Itim to get proof of
Jewishness. It's hard enough for the Orthodox Jews who need a safek
conversion in Israel, but what do we do for the Reform Jews who cannot
get a safek conversion, but absolutely positively know that their
mother's mother is Jewish?

Rabbi Berkovits characterized it as an eit la'asot lashem, dropping
the law of gerut in favor of unity of Am Yisrael. Not that I'm an
expert, but he has me convinced.

Mikha'el Makovi