[Avodah] Court retroactively revokes conversions

[Michael Makovi]

> 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]."
>
> R' Daniel Eidensohn

However, it seems to me, that the Achiever isn't saying that
intrinsically, violating Shabbat and kashrut b'teiavon invalidates a
conversion. He would perhaps agree that in theory, a person who
accepts Shabbat and kashrut in theory and violates them in practice
only due to strong yetzer hara, is indeed a valid convert, in theory.
The Achiever is perhaps viewing Shabbat and kashrut, however, as
benchmarks; anyone whose teiavon (yetzer hara) is so strong and his
will so weak, that he violates Shabbat and kashrut is either so weak
that he can't be trusted to be a good Jew (nothing against him, but
after all...), or he must not be doing it truly b'teiavon, and really
he doesn't truly accept Shabbat and kashrut at all in theory ("and we
clearly know his intent, that he converts only for appearance's sake,
with no inner conviction").

In other words, violating Shabbat and kashrut doesn't necessarily have
to invalidate the gerut, but we say that it does, because these are so
important that no one violating them b'teiavon can possibly be a good
Jew (whether because his will is so weak, or because it can't truly be
merely b'teiavon), and thus they serve as benchmarks, by our own
choice and discretion, not intrinsically.

If so, then Rabbi Wolpoe's assertion still stands, that as long as one
accepts the mitzvot in theory, one is a valid ger, even if he violates
b'teiavon. The Achiever is simply an asterick on this assertion.

Mikha'el Makovi

Mikha'el Makovi