Mevaker approved. No comments from R Nochum
The new beis din recently established by Chief Rabbi
Lau for conversion appeals could be torpedoed by top
officials in the existing beis din system says the
Vaad HaRabbonim Haolami LeInyonei Giyur headed by HaRav
Chaim Kreiswirth.
In a recent article published in Yated Ne'eman, Rav
Nochum Eisenstein, chairman of the Vaad HaRabbonim Haolami
LeInyonei Giyur, called on marriage registrars to ensure
that Russian immigrants who come to register are indeed
Jewish, and to check the authenticity of all geirim
planning to marry. After its publication, Ha'aretz
published a series of articles against the article in
Yated Ne'eman.
Chief Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lau recently set up that special
beis din which is authorized to investigate, when
necessary, whether a convert has fully accepted the ol
mitzvos. If not, the conversion is considered invalid,
even bedi'eved. Rav Shlomo Dichovsky, a member of the
Beis Din Hagodol, has been named av beis
din.
Despite skepticism expressed by Rav Eisenstein in Yated
Ne'eman about the supposedly unique composition of the
beis din--since the task can really be given to any
regular beis din--hope was expressed that the new
beis din will invalidate any conversion where it was
absolutely determined that there was not a proper kabolas
mitzvos, or freeze any conversion where there remains
reasonable doubt that proper kabolas mitzvos was
lacking. The new beis din will thus provide marriage
registrars with a suitable means of handling the
questionable geirim who arrive in their offices
daily.
Ha'aretz attacked the idea of setting up the special
beis din, which it says will make marriage
registration difficult for converts, and referred to the
Vaad HaRabbonim Haolami LeInyonei Giyur as "an extreme
chareidi organization" that would exploit the beis
din and would be able to prevent marriages between
insincere, so- called "converts." Based on the articles
published in Ha'aretz, grave concerns have been
raised that top beis din officials would in fact try
to undermine the new beis din.
The head of this new appeals beis din, Rav Shlomo
Dichovsky, was quoted in Ha'aretz as saying, "If the
beis din that approved a given conversion claims that
the convert accepted ol mitzvos, these claims cannot
be challenged." This article also quoted a psak din
he wrote several months ago in which he says, "A conversion
cannot be annulled after the fact."
Rav Dichovsky told Yated Ne'eman that he had
explained to the reporter about setting up the beis
din to handle appeals of conversions in other botei
din for conversions. "This was decided following a
remark in a psak din I wrote several months ago in
which I commented that botei din legiyur have a
structural flaw, namely that they lack an appeals process,
which would sometimes provide guidelines as well. Based on
this remark Rav Lau decided that Beis Hadin Hagodol
would handle appeals, and appointed three of its
dayanim with experience in conversions to do
this."
When asked about the chances of a convert who actually did
intend to observe all of the mitzvos having his conversion
frozen--meaning he would be considered a sofeik ger--
Rav Dichovsky replied, "This is still unclear. This is a
more fundamental question. In a case where a convert
deceived the dayanim and when he entered the
mikveh he clearly had no intention of observing the
mitzvos, the conversion is definitely invalid. The question
is how can anyone know what the convert's intentions were at
the time. This is one of the most difficult problems. There
are some cases where an individual has good intentions and
later changes his mind. Should we consider him a goy in all
respects? This is not an easy determination to make.
"In most cases the beis din that handles the
conversion has to determine whether the convert was fully
prepared to accept ol mitzvos or whether it was done
as a ploy. In cases of doubt, suspension is problematic from
a legal standpoint, but from a halachic standpoint the
problem is with that individual."
The spokesman for the Vaad expressed grave concerns, even
after this clarification, that the beis din might
avoid halting questionable conversions and might act only as
a barrier preventing other botei din from being given
the authority to handle appeals of conversions.
Responding to Ha'aretz, Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, director
general of the rabbinical courts, said the new beis
din for conversion appeals would only accept
applications "by involved parties and only under special
circumstances." The Vaad spokesman criticized Rabbi Ben-
Dahan's comment and said that it could undermine the
effective functioning of the beis din by preventing
cases from being referred by marriage registrars and other
rabbonim who deal with these matters.
Chief Rabbi Lau said that it is proper that the entire
beis din system should have an appeals process,
including conversion matters. He also said that marriage
registrars should be able to question the status of
converts. The Vaad HaRabbonim Haolami LeInyonei Giyur has
been informed that Chief Rabbi Lau plans to set up a beis
din with the full authority to prevent any possibility
of goyim entering kerem Beis Yisroel through
unreliable conversions.
The Vaad called on the Chief Rabbi to appoint highly
qualified dayanim who would do whatever is necessary
to prevent goyim from entering kerem Beis Yisroel.
The Vaad is also asking Chief Rabbi Lau to issue clear
directives explaining how to refer people to the beis
din for conversions in order to prevent Rabbi Eli Ben-
Dahan from issuing directives to undermine the beis
din.
The Vaad spokesman claims that several years ago, when
suspicions were raised regarding conversion procedures of a
certain beis din, the director general of the
rabbinical botei din, who was in charge of the
supervisory apparatus, blocked all inquiries into the
matter.
The Vaad called on all marriage registrars and dayanim to
maintain vigilance, as per instructions issued by gedolei
haposkim in 5744 (1984), according to which it is a
"very severe prohibition to accept converts without first
being convinced that they truly do intend to accept Torah
and mitzvos, and that halacha requires that they investigate
every time someone shows a certificate of conversion to
verify whether the conversion met the halachic
requirements."
According to directives recently stated by Chief Rabbi Lau,
marriage registrars can have questionable converts checked
and are not required to register them before the beis
din finalizes its decision. The Vaad says that the Chief
Rabbinate should issue clear instructions, in writing, to
provide the dayanim and rabbonim with guidelines for proper
procedure in cases where doubts arise regarding the status
of a particular convert.
The rabbinate should also ensure that marriage registrars
act according to existing guidelines regarding the
registration of new immigrants, i.e. that they avoid
registering new immigrants without a certificate of Judaism
from the local rabbinical court. Despite these guidelines
thousands of immigrants are registered every year by the
Chief Rabbinate without proper certification, thus causing
goyim to enter the Jewish nation.
