[Avodah] Court retroactively revokes conversions

[Daniel Eidensohn]

R' Richard Wolpoe wrote
>
> In support of Micha's quote from R. Chaim ozer......
>
> When I learned the sugya of Giyyur with R. Parness one summer [circa 
> 1973] he concluded that a prospective ger who is mekabel "ol mitzovs" 
> - despite admitting that he might give in to temptation - is 
> acceptable.  IOW he did not have to plege absolute compliance, just 
> sincere acceptance.
>
> What more can one ask from any normal human?  can perfection ever be 
> considered a prerequesite?
The only problem with this assertion is that the Achiezer specifically 
rejects the validity of the conversion when it is obvious that the ger 
is not going to keep Shabbos or kashrus. He does acknowledge that people 
are fallible and that sining after conversion does not invalidate the 
conversion as a general rule. However he asserts that Shabbos and 
kashrus are so essential to being a Jew - you can not have conversion 
without them. He states this both in Achiezer (3:26) and 22 years later 
in (3:28). Dr. Finkelstein discusses this in detail in his sefer on 
geirus, In his book Achiezer (3:26) is translated as:

"Where, however, it is evident that later he will certainly transgress 
Torah prohibions - the violatin of the Sabbath and the eating of    
non-kosher meat [i.e., nonobservance of the Jewish dietary laws] - and 
we clearly know his intent, that he converts only for             
appearance's sake, with no inner conviction, this constitutes a proven 
assessment that what he says - that he accepts the commandments upon 
himself is not [worth] anything. Consequently, this is a flaw in his 
acceptance of the commandmetns that prevents [the conversion from taking 
effect]."


Consequently you can't bring the Achiezer as proof that never keeping 
Shabbos or kashrus can not show that the gerus is not valid. If their is 
clear  evidence that the ger never intended to keep Shabbos and in fact 
never has kept Shabbos - there was never a conversion according to the 
Achiezer.


Daniel Eidensohn