What happens when a non Jewish Lubavitch Messianist wants to convert to Judaism? Yes such an entity exists. A non Jew from the former Soviet Union living in Israel who was taught about Judaism by Chabad Messianists had applied for conversion in a Jerusalem Beis Din.
The court was ready to convert him but when he was asked whether he believed the Rebbe was the messiah, he replied, ‘Yes’. That is what he was taught at a Jerusalem Lubavitch Yeshiva where he studied.
That stopped everything in its tracks. At least one of the Dayanim refused to convert him. The question was left in the hands of the Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar.
It is not surprising that he was taught this as Israel is known to be a hotbed of Lubavitch Messianism. Where ever one travels in Israel, one will inevitably see a picture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe posted somewhere along the road. It is almost always accompanied with references to his being the Messiah.
Will the buck finally stop there? Will Chabad Messianism finally meet its match? I cannot conceive Lubavitch claiming legitimacy for any form of Messianist belief if someone with those beliefs is rejected for conversion …especially if that ruling comes from the body that controls all conversions in Israel.
If one combines this with a recent ruling in the US courts, perhaps the handwriting is finally beginning to be written on the wall. In that ruling the Lubavitch anti Messianists have been granted clear title to their building at 770 Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. That means the overt Messianists who have commandeered the main Shul and have been in control since the Rebbe’s death will be evicted… along with all photos and references to the Rebbe’s Messiahship.
It will be interesting to see what Rabbi Amar does.
