<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1609" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"
bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document
face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<DIV>
<DIV>In Avodah Digest, Vol 25, Issue 107 dated 3/24/2008 "Michael Makovi"
<mikewinddale@gmail.com><BR>writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2><BR><BR>>>I would say you cannot possibly draw a line - NO ONE
can possibly hold<BR>a distinction between one who promises to try to keep
halacha, and one<BR>who says that he won't keep halacha because he simply
cannot. It is<BR>not a theoretical question of where the line would be drawn;
rather,<BR>it is objectively impossible to even consider drawing a line.
EVERY<BR>ger will mess up. EVERY bar mitzvah will mess up. EVERY *Jew*
will<BR>mess up. NO ONE can keep all the mitzvot perfectly, and so NO
posek<BR>can demand this. Poskim can argue on how close to success (in
perfect<BR>mitzvah performance) the ger must achieve, but they all must
concede<BR>that perfection is impossible.<<</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Again, no one asks or expects from a convert a commitment to keep mitzvos
"perfectly." That is not the issue.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============<BR></B><BR></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Planning your summer road trip? Check out <A title="http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016" href="http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016" target="_blank">AOL Travel Guides</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>