[Avodah] Rav Sternbuch's psak regarding kiruv of non-Jews

[Daniel Eidensohn]

I am raising an issue of great importance for the future of the Jewish 
people. There seems to have been a major revolution in the last few 
years in the approach to dealing with the both intermarriage and the 
non-Jewish children of intermarriage - and yet very few rabbonim seem 
aware of it. My purpose in writing the following is to provide 
intelligent discussion of these issues as well as to establish a 
literature that can be utilized by others. As Rav Sternbuch has noted - 
halacha depends upon accurate written discussions of issues that can be 
analyzed and debated. A statement by a rav - no matter how big - which 
doesn't provide the critical issue of context and sources is very 
problematic for use by others.

The issue  was raised one  Shabbos when I received some  guests sent by 
a  well known kiruv organization.  In the course of discussing how each 
one of our guests had come to be interested in this particular program - 
the guest who was most interested in Yiddishkeit stated. "I was raised 
as a Methodist because my mother is a Methodist - but I am Jewish 
because my father is Jewish." To put it mildly I was shocked - how could 
this obvious fact not have been checked prior to admitting this young 
man into the program. The program is involved in bringing Jews with no 
Jewish education to Israel where there have a great time - and also 
learn about Yiddishkeit. The expenses of the participants are heavily 
subsidized by wealthy benefactors. I said nothing but after Shabbos I 
called the director to inform him of the problem. His response was, "We 
know that he is not Jewish but we were told to accept him since he has a 
Jewish identity."

In the subsequent months I have mentioned this to various rabbonim - who 
have all expressed shock that this is officially sanctioned. No one knew 
any teshuvos written on the subject which justify this approach. However 
I have found that this is not simply a quirk with one kiruv organization 
- it represents a major conflict between different kiruv organizations. 
The big money seems to be going in the direction of kiruv for non-Jews 
(with some kind of Jewish identity) with the hope of converting them. A 
friend of mine told me that on three separate occasions he was sent 
guests for Shabbos from a Russian kiruv program here in Jerusalem and 
found out that they were all non-Jews. When he complained, the program 
simply stopped sending him guests.

Similarly there has been a major effort to actively pursue intermarried 
couples and using various techniques - representive of the best American 
marketing techniques - convince the non-Jewish spouse to convert. This 
latter approach is spearheaded by R' Leib Tropper of Yeshiva Kol Yaakov 
in Monsey. See his website [Eternal Jewish Family - Convert to Judaism, 
Jewish Conversion, Universally Accepted Halachic Conversions for 
Intermarried Couples <http://www.eternaljewishfamily.org/>] - especially 
the videos of testimonials from satisfied customers. It has the official 
backing of Rav Eliyashiv, Rav Dovid Feinstein, Rav Reuven Feinstein as 
well as many others important rabbis. I have not been able to locate any 
written teshuvos dealing with this either - even though it also 
represents  a major change in the traditional approach to this issue.

I mentioned this information to Rav Moshe Sternbuch who found my 
revelations disturbing and he wrote a letter which he asked me to 
translate and distribute. He personally read and approved the 
translation. The original letter and its translation can be found at the 
following links.

http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/RSternbuch_KiruvNonJew_Aug07_heb.pdf
http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/RSternbuch_KiruvNonJew_Aug07_eng.pdf

Some of the discussion aroused already can be found at the following link

http://rabbisedley.blogspot.com/2007/08/kiruv-for-non-jews.html
http://haemtza.blogspot.com/2007/08/patrilineal-descent-and-conversion.html

One of the assertions being made is that Rav Moshe Feinstein has 
approved kiruv for non-Jews who have a Jewish identify. This assertion 
has been made by one of America's most widely respected poskim who was a 
very close talmid of Rav Moshe who said it was an oral psak that he 
received. I have combed the Igros Moshe and there is no support for this 
in the Igros Moshe. However recently I was challenged by a certain rosh 
yeshiva who asserted that what the hetar for this type of kiruv is 
inherent in the clearly stated teshuva of Reb Moshe regarding the 
Falashas. I rechecked this teshuva and - contrary to my challenger - it 
seems clear that this teshuva not only does not support this  assertion 
but seems to directly contradict it. My translation of the teshuva is as 
follows:

       Igros Moshe Y.D. IV. #41 page 271

 After much investigation it appears that if the Falashas are not
 given a Jewish education they will deteriorate even more and will
 refuse to convert and this can possibly cause – G‑d forbid!
 –intermarriage between Jews and the Falashas. Therefore l’maaseh
 they should be given a Jewish education and be influenced through
 this education to convert as they need to do - as I have written to
 your brother R’ Mordechai Tendler. One should not be concerned by
 the fact that we are teaching Torah to people whose status as Jews
 is in doubt. Since it is actually possible that they are Jews and
 since there is a reason for this education - it would appear there
 is no prohibition to teach them Torah. But you should not teach them
 false halachos - an act which itself is prohibited. In other words,
 don’t tell them that we in fact view them as definitely Jewish.
 Instead tell them that while in fact there is a doubt about their
 status as Jews nevertheless we are prepared to educate them in G‑d’s
 Torah and His mitzvos. Please note that until they are actually
 converted they are not to be considered as definitely Jewish even in
 regards to counting them as part of a minyan or to receive an aliya
 to the Torah. They are not to be shamed or embarrassed but on the
 other hand they should not be deceived with false flattery. On the
 other hand l’chumra they are required to keep all the mitzvos
 because maybe they are in fact genuine Jews.


Reb Moshe is acknowledging the danger of intermarriage from a non-Jew 
who views himself as Jewish. However he allows the teaching of Torah 
only because the person is a "questionable Jew". It follows that if the 
person is definitely not Jewish he would not have given this heter. 
Otherwise Reb Moshe would have simply said "any non-Jew who has a Jewish 
identity should be educated in Torah and converted".


Daniel Eidensohn