To The Editor:
The Reform movement [in Great Britain] must be very pleased
that the number of its converts has risen so steeply from 67
in 1998 to 112 in 1999. However this increase is not as
significant as it may appear since, as one of their leading
ministers, Dr. Jonathan Romain, noted, between 1965 and 1993
the figure was about 109 per year. Perhaps there had been a
drop in applications in the intervening years which they
quite understandably did not wish to publicize.
What is more heartening is that 27 of the applicants (24%)
were neither engaged nor married to a Jewish partner. This is
a considerable rise from the figure given by Dr. Romain for
the years 1948-1965 of 9% where there was no involvement with
a Jewish partner, though it is possible that some of the
current converts were at an earlier stage in such a
relationship.
What would be most interesting is the total number of
marriages solemnized by the Reform movement in 1999 and how
many of these did not involve one of their converts. Perhaps
they could provide the figures and also indicate how many of
the latter did not involve the child of one of their female
converts. These figures would give some idea as to what
extent the Jewish community is being split into two groups
which cannot freely intermarry.
Yours faithfully,
Martin D. Stern
Manchester
The Editor Replies:
One is unsure whether to call the cases of the reform
converts tragic, since it is not a tragedy when a non-Jew
remains a non-Jew and it is hard to envision many people
being fooled by the minimal requirements that the Reform
clergy generally impose on the prospective convert.
The real tragedy, of course, is the number of invalid
conversions that are represented as Orthodox. In those cases
the convert may believe that he is getting the real thing, or
he may later become more religious and believe that his
previous conversion was valid since the officiating rabbi was
Orthodox, when it was not valid since there was no sincere
and complete acceptance of mitzvos at the time of the
conversion. This is a disorder within our own community and
we should do our best to end it.
