[Avodah] Court retroactively revokes conversions

[s kadish]

I noticed quite a few comments recently about the recent conversion
controversy. Since my family and I have been deeply and personally
involved in the world of Israeli gerut for quite a number of years
already, I would like to relay what we have learned from this intense
interaction. We have been in many of the "Special Conversion Courts"
dozens of times, including once at Rav Druckman's, and been personally
involved with a great many gerim. We know a great many of the dayanim
involved and have spoken to them personally about the issues. Frankly, we
are not interested in getting involved in a debate about the controversy,
but we are interested in perhaps clarifying some of the metzius based
on our experiences, and the conclusions we have drawn from them.

Kabbalas ha-mitzvos: All of the special conversion courts including
Rav Druckman's require KHM. There has been a lot of debate recently
about the shitah best known from Rav Uzziel, which was shared by Rav
Unterman and Rav Goren zt"l (the latter is considered a RZ "gadol"
today in Israeli circles), and by Rav Goren's two talmidim, Rav Chaim
Druckman & Rav Zephania Drori shlit"a (commonly considered two of today's
gedolai Torah in those same circles). It was also the live tradition in
many non-Ashkenazic communities (and shared for instance by Rav Chaim
David Halevi, in his own right a gadol ba-Torah). This a very important
shitah, and a very convincing one in my personal opinion, but all of
that is completely besides the point in the recent controversy. The
reason is simply that there is simply no court that actually relies
on this lekhatechilla (including Rav Druckman's). Period. In reality,
all of the courts try to find evidence that the prospective convert is
keeping Torah and mitzvot in their personal lives.

I have seen a great many prospective converts given quite a hard time,
including instances where I thought the dayanim went much too far. I have
never seen *any* Israeli conversion court that takes its task lightly,
and I have been in many different ones. The differences between them are
mainly in the personalities of the dayanim, not in the shitos involved,
though those differences in personality can be quite significant. In
my opinion, most people who are accepted are sincere at the time; they
have gone through a long, meaningful process. How many remain observant
by common Orthodox standards in the long run is a great deal less, but
(contrary to the rumor among Russian-speaking immigrants) there is no
"gerut police" and such a thing has no place in any gerut system.

There are also political differences between the courts, the most vivid
being between Rav Druckman and Rav Rozen (which came out in the most
recent controversy). I respect both of them. The point often lost is
that the attempt to disqualify Rav Druckman as head of Minhal ha-Giyur
means not just to disqualify the single court he headed, but ALL of the
non-charedi batei din alike (including Rav Rozen's)! These batei din
include gedolei Torah who are among the leaders of religious Zionism
and supported by its entire Torah world.

Another thing that should be clarified is that Rav Uzziel's shitah has
*two* components, not just one:

1. Kabbalat ha-Mitzvot is a matter of accepting responsibility, and not
that the beit din acts as some sort of a "frummo-counter". This is the
most controversial aspect of it, which has been much debated recently.

2. "Russians" are not "stam goyim". There is a Torah obligation to
encourage those with a personal connection to the Jewish people to
formally join it through gerut. Especially for people who are born into
Jewish families ("zera yisrael"), identify as Jews, and have even suffered
anti-Semitism (and quite a few have). Or who are married to Jews. This
in not just the opinion of Rav Uzziel and those cited above, but also of
many Ashkenazic poskim in modern times such as Rav Azriel Hildesheimer,
and is widely accepted (including to the best of my knowledge by the RCA).

Despite the widespread discussion of #1, in our experience it is #2 that
is truly the motivation for the batei din. The ingathering of the exiles
was never promised to be lily-white: The State of Israel has accepted --
rightly and justly -- the surviving remnant of communities that suffered
Hitler, Stalin, and 70 years of communism. These included intermarried
families and their descendants. It is precisely this point that those
who disqualify the RZ batei din most disagree with: The charedim view
the recent aliyah of 1,000,000+ Russians as a Torah tragedy rather than
as a historical vindication of Netach Yisrael. That is the difference
that makes all the difference.

Shabbat Shalom,
Seth (Avi) Kadish
Karmiel, Israel

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