I have been requested by Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn to post a message from Edah HaCharedis leader HaRav Moshe Sternbuch. It is an authorized English translation from the Hebrew by Rabbi Eidensohn himself. I have agreed and it is presented verbatim in full below.
The message is about an agreement by the Israeli government to establish a committee to make conversions easier. Conversion is very controversial matter that is in the forefront of heated debate in the Torah world. And nowhere is this debate more evident than in Rav Sternbuch’s words.
As mentioned here in the past there is a tremendous problem with the conversions today. This is largely due to the influx into Israel of many Russian Jews who are products of an intermarriage. They immigrated thinking they are Jews, but of course they are not (if the mother was not). … and need to be converted. The problem is that they are not religious in any significant way (e.g. Sabbath observance) nor do most of them intend to be. Without a sincere commitment to be observant as part of the conversion process, their conversions are deemed false.
There has been a movement by many sincere religious individuals to try and get as many of these people converted as possible. They have Jewish fathers and believe they are Jewish. And it’s up to us to see to it that somehow that Judaism is actualized through a Halachic conversion.
One might think that there would be some sort of universal Orthodox approach to this problem. But that is far from the reality. The differences are so strong in fact that Rav Sternbuch believes that if his opponents get their way it will endanger the very existence of the Jewish people!
His opponents in this case are prominent Orthodox religious Zionist rabbis, one of whom, HaRav Chaim Druckman, has been involved in many such conversions. Another of his opponents is the Sephardic Chief Rabbi, HaRav Shlomo Amar. If I understand correctly this means that the Sephardi rabbinic leader, HaRav Ovadia Yosef is on board with this too. I doubt that Rabbi Amar would take a position on such a serious matter without the approval of Rav Yosef. This makes Rav Sternbuch’s accusations and fears quite serious and very alarming!
There is quite an anomaly that should be noted here as well. Rav Sternbuch actually leans toward an Israeli government proposal as a far better approach to this problem than the approach taken by his Orthodox rabbinic opponents.
It should also be noted that Rav Sternbuch has also accused HaRav Druckman of ‘converting hundred’s and thousand’s not in accordance with the requirements of Halacha’.
I don’t know how Rabbi Druckman answers this charge but I don’t think he does anything that isn’t 100 percent L’Shma.
I also don’t how HaRav Sternbuch’s opponents will respond. Nor do I know where all this is going. But based on his strong words, I don’t think it is going in the direction of Achdus.
Here now - HaRav Sternbuch’s words as translated by Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn.
Proposed Conversion Process Threatens Our Existence
We strongly protest against the Israeli governments decision (unfortunately supported by the religious Sefardim) to establish a committee to make conversions easier.
This government effort is being made despite the fact that up until now thousands have been converted in disregard of the halacha. Now the government wants tens of thousands converted and at greater speed.
To accomplish this greater quantity and speed of conversion they have established a committee together with the Sefardic Chief Rabbi and HaRav Druckman (who is well known for converting hundred’s and thousand’s not in accordance with the requirements of halacha). Anybody with basic intelligence knows that the Russian Christians who are converted are not interested in fully observing the mitzvos.
In fact their motivation for conversion is simply to acquire the status of Jew because of social pressures or to obtain additional benefits. Not even one in a thousand of these gerim meet the requirements of the halacha. Therefore if until know there were thousands who converted against the halachic requirements, now we can anticipate tens of thousands of problematic gerim.
In addition they will all now have the stamp of approval of the rabbonim mentioned above – certifying that all was done according to the “spirit” of halacha. This is truly a great disaster. In fact from the destruction of the Second Temple until now there has been nothing comparable to this.
The Israeli government has offered a “solution” for this problem. They have offered to create a registry of those goyim who want to be “Jews” without conversion and the acceptance of mitzvos. They want to record on their Israeli identity cards and marriage certificates that these people are “Jews according to the standards of the government.” In this way these “gerim” will be distinct and separate from us.
In other words they propose that the major limbs of the body will be amputated but they assure us that the body will remain alive and very strong! Their proposal needs additional thought and clarification.
However even though it is problematic it is still better than what the rabbis are trying to do. In fact these Zionist rabbis and the religious parties - that still believe that the Israeli government is an integral part of the beginning of the Messianic Era and adheres to the spirit of the halacha – don’t agree to deal with this reality.
However little by little, day by day these “Jews” will assimilate into our midst. The holy Shechina will depart from us. That is because it doesn’t rest amongst us except when we preserve our pedigree as our Sages (Kiddushin 70b) have told us. Consequently we are in great and horrible danger because of these developments.
“I call out but there is no one who responds” (Yeshaya 66:4). “O that they would be wise so that they understand” (Devarim 32:29) that in the near future the land of Israel and its inhabitants will be in great danger. Anyone who is intelligent needs to simply open his eyes and he will understand the danger these proposal entail – and will distance himself from these compromisers.
G-d should give understanding to these mistaken people and they should merit to do His will and save us from these perilous times that are coming soon. We should merit the complete redemption – it should come speedily in the near future.
