During the week of parshas Chayei Soroh, Eternal Jewish Family (EJF) held a three-day conference for dayonim in New Jersey. The organization invited dozens of dayonim and rabbis of congregations to the conference who had adopted the guidelines and standards delineated by the rabbonim and heads of EJF. A variety of halachic topics on conversion and intermarriage were discussed.
In his address HaRav Leib Tropper, chairman of the EJF Rabbinical Committee, spoke of the need to buttress the conversion process during this period and compared the botei din that adhere to the EJF guidelines to the sieve that preserves the pure jug of oil in Kerem Beis Yisroel.
He said forming this "sieve" includes carefully assessing the dayan and the beis din. "The dayonim must examine the true intentions of those who seek to convert, and if his or her acceptance of the yoke of mitzvas is genuine, the dayan's task is to know when to reach out to conversion candidates and when to send them away."
The nosi of the organization's Halacha Committee, HaRav Reuven Feinstein, spoke in detail about proper conversion, presenting cases that call for either a stringent or lenient approach. He cited several conversion rulings written by his father, HaRav Moshe Feinstein zt"l, explaining how to handle conversions, especially in the case of conversion candidates whom the dayonim can see do not intend to truly accept the yoke of mitzvas.
Lectures and speeches were also given by HaRav Chanoch Ehrentrau, rov and av beis din of the Europe Beis Din in London, HaRav Shmuel Kamenetsky, the rosh yeshiva of Philadelphia Yeshiva, and HaRav Eliyohu Levine of Chicago.
