[Avodah] conversion standards [was: R' Angel & Geirus Redux]

[T613K at aol.com]

In Avodah Digest, Vol 25, Issue 107 dated 3/24/2008 "Michael Makovi"  
<mikewinddale at gmail.com>
writes:



>>I would say you cannot possibly draw a line - NO ONE  can possibly hold
a distinction between one who promises to try to keep  halacha, and one
who says that he won't keep halacha because he simply  cannot. It is
not a theoretical question of where the line would be drawn;  rather,
it is objectively impossible to even consider drawing a line.  EVERY
ger will mess up. EVERY bar mitzvah will mess up. EVERY *Jew*  will
mess up. NO ONE can keep all the mitzvot perfectly, and so NO  posek
can demand this. Poskim can argue on how close to success (in  perfect
mitzvah performance) the ger must achieve, but they all must  concede
that perfection is impossible.<<
 
>>>>>
You have set up a straw man because no posek demands perfection (or a  
promise of perfection) from a ger.  The usual requirement is that the ger  agrees to 
keep Shabbos, kashrus and taharas hamishpacha.  It is obvious  that he will 
do so with better and better fidelity as he learns more of the  halachos with 
the passage of time.  IOW a ger must agree to be observant  and Orthodox.
 
Unfortunately there are Orthodox rabbis who will convert people even though  
these converts openly state that they have no intention of being  observant.   
I have recently written about several such cases, on  Areivim.  These rabbis 
have caused untold harm to Klal Yisrael. 
 
My husband, for example, refused to convert someone's fiancee in  Chattanooga 
-- the woman openly stated that she did not intend to be  observant.  But a 
previous Orthodox rabbi had accepted two such converts,  women who were active 
in our shul but did not keep kosher, Shabbos or taharas  hamishpacha.   So the 
people in our shul -- most of whom were  non-observant themselves -- could 
not understand why my husband was being so  "fanatic" and stubborn.  The women 
involved took it very personally and  concluded that my husband rejected them 
as Jews, and there were certainly hurt  feelings and a great deal of machlokes 
in the shul, ultimately leading to our  departure from Chattanooga.  This was 
all the fault of a rabbi who did not  adhere to minimum standards of Orthodox 
conversion.
 
Again, no one asks or expects from a convert a commitment to keep mitzvos  
"perfectly."  That is not the issue.
 
 


--Toby  Katz
=============





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