IDF Personnel Department Commander Gen. Elazar Stern has
decided to expand the army conversion process by opening more
conversion courses for any of the IDF's 7,500 non-Jewish
soldiers who express an interest.
Ranking army officials confirmed that there has been an
increase in the number of soldiers enrolling in the
conversion preparatory course, but noted that the issue is
highly sensitive and is being handled far from the public
eye. "The goal is to have all those who wish to do so,
complete the process," said one high-level officer.
The Vaad HaRabboni Haolami LeInyonei Giyur founded by HaRav
Chaim Kreiswirth zt"l once again wishes to stress the
position of the gedolei haposkim that there is
absolutely no possibility of establishing a valid halachic
conversion program in the IDF which is a totally secular
environment and not a place to prepare people for a religious
lifestyle which is a prerequisite for a proper conversion.
Conversions should only be performed by botei din kevu'im
vechashuvim and not by an IDF-appointed beis
din.
An IDF source said the fact that the course takes place
shortly after induction makes it possible for more soldiers
to take part. He explained that the process is divided into
two parts. First the head of personnel is responsible for
locating candidates, and second the Rabbinate botei
din are responsible for approving the conversion.
"The matter must be understood in context," says the IDF
source. "The course began after we found that over 60 percent
of immigrants in basic training ask to swear [loyalty to the
State] on the Christian Bible and not on the
Tanach."
The IDF is trying to keep a low profile on the matter. "This
is a sensitive issue," explained the IDF source. "There are
figures outside of the army who could easily interfere. It's
important to stress that the conversion process is according
to all of the parameters and the soldier receives the
approval of the Rabbinate beis din after he has proven
beyond any doubt that he meets them."
At first IDF Chief Rabbi Lt.-Gen. Yisrael Weiss, who is
keeping close track of the program, resisted the idea of
offering the course within the army framework, due to
concerns it would turn into "a conversion factory" and
soldiers who passed through a Rabbinate beis din would
encounter problems in the future when they wanted to marry or
turn to the Rabbinate regarding another matter after
discharge. But when the course began, the IDF Chief Rabbi
examined the curriculum and effectively approved sending the
soldiers to the Rabbinate beis din, which then decides
whether they are indeed eligible to receive approval.
The Vaad notes that in its experience and perspective on the
proper conversion process, the curriculum and even the
ultimate knowledge of the candidate of Jewish tradition is
not the main criteria for accepting a possible convert.
Rather the responsibility of the converting beis din
is to make sure that the candidate is sincere and will fully
observe Torah and mitzvos after the conversion. The IDF
atmosphere is usually not conducive to the practice of Torah
and mitzvos.
"The success rate in the conversion process is more than 90
percent [of those who try]," says a ranking army official. He
says 60 percent of the 2,200 course graduates are still not
Jewish. "So far 335 soldiers have converted and this
September another 100 are expected to convert. The figures
are in an upswing and this trend will continue."
Last month Prime Minister Ariel Sharon attacked the now-
dismantled Religious Affairs Ministry and the rabbinical
establishment for supposedly heaping obstacles in front of
immigrants interested in converting. "There is no need to
come to them with demands that none of us would be able to
meet," he claimed.
In response to the grave reports of "wholesale conversion" in
the IDF, MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni told Yated Ne'eman,
"Today everyone knows that most of the immigrants from the
former Soviet Union are not Jews. Nonetheless Interior
Minister Avraham Poraz and his cohorts in the Shinui Party
are hard at work to continue bringing more non-Jews into
Eretz Yisroel en masse through brand new methods and
inventions, making use of the Interior Minister's authority
in a scandalous and forceful way. And all this is taking
place with the consent and silence of the entire government,
with the NRP giving them backing in spirit by signing
understandings to permit mixed marriage in Israel and to
apply stringencies to deferments for yeshiva students.
"It comes as no surprise that as a result, tens of thousands
of non-Jews serve in the IDF, taking an oath of loyalty to
the IDF and the State of Israel on the Christian Bible.
Instead of acknowledging this disturbing fact, IDF figures
are trying to whitewash the situation by carrying out formal
procedures of `wholesale and virtual conversion' that have
nothing to do with halachic conversion. These so-called
converts do not accept the yoke of mitzvas and the yoke of
Heaven and they themselves make a mockery of this whole
ceremony and do not attribute any value or importance to it,
explaining they agreed to take part in this charade because,
`otherwise their children will have difficulties in the
future.' Now they have decided to step up the pace and to
increase the scope of this phenomenon to alarming
dimensions."
Rabbi Gafni says the head of the IDF personnel department
does not have the authority to organize the conversion of non-
Jews in the IDF and he must leave the handling of this matter
in the hands of authorized rabbinical figures who will act
according to the halochoh handed down to us through the
generations. "I am certain the IDF Chief Rabbi will not lend
a hand to these virtual games and I intend to contact him
soon to make him aware of the gravity of the matter," said
Rabbi Gafni.
