Israel – Rabbis representing the Ashkenazi haredi rabbinical leadership were poised to send a letter to Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger demanding that he “clarify” his stance on city rabbis who refuse to recognize conversions performed by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
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“We want nothing less than a written statement from the chief rabbi detailing his position regarding conversions that a city rabbi deems to be invalid because the convert did not embrace an Orthodox lifestyle,” said Rabbi Nahum Eisenstein, who has close ties with Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the preeminent halachic authority for Ashkenazi haredim.
“The chief rabbi needs to clarify that in no way was the letter [sent to the Knesset Immigration and Absorption committee] meant to convey a message that contradicts Halacha.”
Last week Metzger wrote in a letter to the Knesset committee that if a city rabbi refuses to register a couple for marriage because of his refusal to recognize a conversion performed by the Chief Rabbinate, an alternative registrar would be provided.
Metzger’s letter marked the first time that either of the chief rabbis promised to provide a solution for dozens of converts to Judaism from the former Soviet Union who are unable to marry in Israel because their local rabbi refuses to recognize their conversion.
The letter comes after the Chief Rabbinate’s legal adviser Shimon Ulman told the Knesset Absorption Committee that legal action would be taken against rabbis who refused to recognize the conversions.
Ulman argued that city rabbis, who are appointed and derive their authority from the Chief Rabbinate, were obligated by law to respect the decisions of the Chief Rabbinate.
In the wake of Ulman’s comments ITIM, The Jewish Life Information Center, prepared to file a petition to the High Court against the rabbis.
Rabbi Shaul Farber, head of ITIM, said that he hoped he would not have to go to the High Court to petition against the rabbinate.
“We should support rabbis’ opinions against intermarriage,” said Farber. “But once a person converts to Judaism in a rabbinical court, he or she is Jewish. It is inconceivable that one rabbi can unilaterally decide that a person who went through the entire conversion process is not Jewish.”
Farber called Metzger’s letter a “positive step”.
However, Metzger’s letter aroused the opposition of haredi rabbis who claim that large percentages of those converted by the National Conversion Authority, which works under the aegis of Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar, are not Jewish because they did not embrace an Orthodox lifestyle after their conversion.
Rabbi Gedalia Axelrod, a former head of the Haifa Rabbinical Court, who is working together with Eisenstein, wrote a letter addressed to the “rabbis of Israel” calling to fire Ulman for trying to interfere in religious matters.
“We call to express support for rabbis in Israel who are steadfast in their refusal to marry a gentile with a Jew,” wrote Axelrod.
“If a rabbi does not have the power to protect his faith in his refusal to marry a gentile with a Jew, it would be better to permit civil marriages.”
There have been numerous cases in which city rabbis, who are responsible for registering the residents of their city for marriage, have refused to recognize conversions performed by the Conversion Authority or by rabbinic courts in the IDF that convert soldiers as part of the Nativ program.
Both bodies convert under the auspices of the Chief Rabbinate.
This summer, Rishon LeZion Chief Rabbi Yehuda David Wolpe refused to issue a marriage license for a couple living in his city because he deemed the bride’s conversion was to be invalid, since, he believed, the woman was not living an Orthodox life.
Wolpe made a similar ruling regarding a young man who converted in the IDF.
Ashkelon Chief Rabbi Haim Blau also refused to marry a couple even after the local rabbinical court verified the bride-to-be’s conversion.
The rabbis of Rehovot, Beersheba, Ma’aleh Adumim, and other cities do not automatically honor conversion certificates issued by the Chief Rabbinate, but perform further investigations.
About 2,000 non-Jews from the FSU who immigrated to Israel under the Law of Return are converted every year. The State of Israel sees the conversion of these non-Jews as a national goal, saying it fosters unity and prevents intermarriage. Many religious Zionist rabbis identify with this goal.
However, Ashkenazi haredi rabbis are opposed to any attempts to encourage mass conversions.
In a halachic decision that received extensive media exposure when it was published over a year ago, Rabbi Avraham Sherman, a member of the Supreme Rabbinical Court, cast doubt on the validity of thousands of conversions performed by the Conversion Authority and the rabbinical courts in the IDF.
In June, Metzger, who got appointed chief rabbi with haredi backing, praised Sherman’s decision at a conference sponsored by Eternal Jewish Family in Jerusalem.
mi rav harashi
There is no halachic requirement for converts to lead a charedi orthodox lifestyle. That is a political chumra designed to try and prevent the emergence of an judaically educated (and 100pc Jewish) group of gerim in Israel who have the knowledge and will to challenge charedi monopolies over social issues.
once they are mgayer khalacha and latter on r”l are not frum they are 100 percent jews who are not frumr’l not goyim
just allow civil marriages in Israel and you won’t have this problem
R. Eisenstein needs to come to grips with an important fact of life: The tail does not wag the dog. Neither he, nor R. Elyashiv for the Chareidi vox populi has the moral authority to exclusively make this determination. Until such time as the Chareidim are machshiv non-Chareidi Orthodox rabbis as relevant to this discussion, we in the non-Chareidi camp with continue to ignore him/them.
what is not being expressed here is that the rabbis who are not recognizing these conversions are employees of the state of Israel. I respect their rights not to recognize conversions of the state rabbinic court but if they chose to do so then they need to step down from their state paid job.
Trouble is, these mass conversions create an Erev Rav. A great number of these FSU immigrants have no intention to keep the mitzvot, but literaly take a blood oath in vain. You can argue tinuk shanishba in the case of irreligious Jews, but when a convert has learned and agreed to all of the mitzvot, it is completely different. It is bad enough to support a marriage of irreligious Jews, but we don’t have a choice. Here, we are only converting them as a political convenience, so therefore they should be denied, it is what is best for them. Let the rabbinate verify their intention to keep the laws of taharat ha mishpacha individually and in good faith.
Metzger and Elhyashiv are unfortunately going to have to reconcile themselves to the reality that if they don’t approve of the conversions, it won’t matter and the government will simply find some rav who does and grant citizenship. They have been marginalized already and they risk becoming totally irrelevant if they persist (whcih may be what they want anyway so they can become “martyrs” to their backward principles on the “mi yehudi” issue and gayrus.
Get real guys!! The issue is with “geirim” who, after conversion, did not for one minute keep basic mitzvos- Shabbos, kashrus, taharat mishpacha- in any fashion