A Conversion Puzzle

Nasreen Kadari (R) with Rabbi Dudu Dery and his wife at the Western Wall (VIN)

Ahavas Hager. The Torah is very clear on the subject. There is to be no difference between converts to Judaism - and those born into it. We are commanded to love the convert. And yet there is so much prejudice against them - some of it overt -  it is a wonder why anyone would want to convert to Judaism under these circumstances.

That said there are reasons that some may want to convert for other than sincere purposes. Such as getting involved with a Jewish fiancé who insists that they convert as an ultimatum. That kind of conversion is insincere and is not legitimate. 

Sincerity is key. Once that is determined then a conversion can take place under the auspices of a Kosher Beis Din.  The basic Halachic requirements for conversion are laid out in the Gemarah.  They include acceptance of all the Mitzvos; circumcision (for a man); and then immersion in a Kosher Mikva.   

The first of those three parameters has led to some controversy. Conversions have been standardized by the Israeli rabbinate and agreed to by the Rabbinical Council of America. The RCA set up conversion protocols in consonance with those standards. As I understand it, the rabbinate now rejects conversions by any court outside of their orbit. No matter how legitimate they might otherwise be. Even if it is a Charedi court in Bnei Brak

One of the reasons this has been done is to avoid sham conversions that have been the hallmark of so many supposedly Kosher conversion courts. Another reason is because of what happened a few years ago.

Special courts were set up for the purpose of converting masses of Russian immigrants who - believing they were Jews, were nonetheless not Halachicly Jewish; not observant; and for many - never intended to be.  The reason for doing so was demographic fears that with so may  Russians there that were not Haclachicly Jewish there would come a time in the not too distant future where there were more non Jews than Jews.  That many of those Russians had no intent to become fully observant was an impediment. So those courts decided to use a no longer accepted leniency. One that did not to require a convert to be fully observant – or perhaps not even needing to accept keeping them. 

There is somewhat of a basis for that. The Gemarah states that as long as the convert is sincere in his acceptance of the Mitzvos at the moment of his conversion – they do not have to observe all the Mitzvos at that time. Nor do they even need to know what they all are. The Gemarah proceeds to tell us that all we need do is teach them the basics and that’s it. After the conversion they should continue to learn what those Mitzvos are and keep them as they learn them. Once they accept the Mitzvos sincerely, are circumcised, and immerse in a Mikva – they become fully Jewish.  Even if they immediately violate every Mitzvah in the Torah they are still a Jew – albeit a sinning Jew.

Although there is a bit more to it than that - that is the long and short of it.

The problem is - knowing how sincere a person really is at the time of conversion.  One of the ways to know if it is insincere is if they want to convert for purposes of marriage. Although some people are sincere in such conversions, there have been too many in the past that were clearly not. So that when someone approaches conversion court engaged to a Jew, it raises a very large red flag.

But sometimes the sincerity is so clear that it leaves no doubt. This was the case recently with Nasreen (now Bracha) Qadri,. As reported at VIN, Bracha is an Arab woman who was Muslim and converted by a Beis Din convened by Rabbi Dudu Deri. It is presumably an Orthodox Beis Din. She had begun the process when she was engaged to a Jew. But continued it even after she broke up with him. Making it obvious that she was not doing it for marriage purposes.

The Israeli rabbinate as not accepted her conversion. And since  the rabbinate has authority granted it by the state in all matters religious, she is still registered as a Muslim. According to VIN, the Rabbinate explained that since she was converted by a non rabbinate court, her conversion is not valid. Rafi Goldmeier notes on his blog Life in Israel that there was another reason for their rejection: 

The Rabbanut would not allow her to convert, supposedly because they insisted she give up her singing career and she refused to do so. So she went to a private beis din and went through the process. 

There are two issues here. One was whether actually refused to observe a Halacha by refusing to give up her singing career. But as Rafi astutely notes, there is nothing Halachicly wrong with women singing – or even making a career out of it. The prohibition of Kol Isha (a woman singing) is on men. Women can sing all they want. It is men that can’t listen to them. 

Unless Bracha is forcing men to listen to her, she has done nothing wrong by retaining her singing career. I agree with Rafi. On the surface that demand is unreasonable. If that is the only reason then they have exceeded their Halachic authority and may have even violated the Torah's requirement to love the convert. And instead are actually tormenting her!

But there is another issue. Should they should accept converts from courts outside of their jurisdiction - even if they are Orthodox and the coverts are sincere?

That one is a bit more dicey. If the court was an Orthodox one and the parameters of conversion were observed, I see no reason not to accept her as a full fledged Jew. On the other hand, if they start accepting conversions outside of their orbit, it opens up a Pandora's box of who is and isn’t a legitimate convert. Some may be. Some may not. 

It will be difficult if not impossible to know which courts are corrupt and which are not. That has been the case all too frequently in the past - involving even some that were supposedly Orthodox. To head off such a crisis, I can understand why they standardized conversions and do not accept any converts not done under their auspices. Even if done by a Charedi court in Bnei Brak.

I have no clue whether it is true that Ms. Qadri is sincere or not. Or if it’s true that the conversion court was an Orthodox one that is not corrupt and complied with accepted parameters. But even assuming that both are true I nevertheless understand the problem. And I am unsure which way to go with this. I do not want to be guilty of tormenting a legitimate convert. But neither do I want to see the entire conversion process compromised.

Just some of my quick thoughts on the matter.