Conversion For Sale

Two Israeli Orthodox rabbis caught on tape
selling "quickie conversions" are being
ostracized by their colleagues.

A P/EYAL WARS HAVSKY

LARRY DERFNER ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT

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WERE FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE

abbi Michael Dushinsky, binical courts, which are under
supervisor of kashrut for the auspices of the chief rab-
the Ministry of Labor and binate. Another 650 or so became
Welfare, was sitting be- Jews through the Conversion Au-
hind his desk earlier this month, thority courts, which the chief
counting out $15,000 in $100 rabbinate set up a couple of years
bills.
ago, and which appar-
Opposite him were a A rabbi pours wine ently have not been com-
in a cup at a
Jewish man and a Chris- traditional
Jewish promised.
tian woman, who had
Conversion involves in-
wedding in
just handed the money
tensive study of Jewish
Jerusalem.
to the rabbi in payment
laws and mitzvot for one
for promising to speed up the year, two years or more. Prospec-
woman's conversion to Judaism tive converts are typically di-
so the couple could marry. The rected to live with an Orthodox
prospective "groom," however,
family, often on a religious kib-
was a reporter for the Channel 2 butz, to learn and adopt the ob-
television news magazine "Fact." servant way of life.
And he was carrying a hidden
In the end, it is up to the reli-
video camera.
gious court rabbis to decide if the
The videotaped transaction would-be convert is sufficiently
was later broadcast and Rabbi knowledgeable and observant to
Dushinsky and his "partner," be granted recognition as a Jew.
Rabbi Binyamin Bar-Zohar of the The rabbis can tell the convert
Yehuda local council, were ar- that he or she needs more study
rested on suspicion of fraud. The and the process can go on indefi-
real story, however, is that police nitely.
investigators say that since the
This is where the macherim
show was aired, dozens of other and advocates come in.
converts and aspiring converts
Police say Mr. Dushinsky was
have told them of being subject- a macher who charged conversion
ed to similar extortion in their ef- candidates $7,000 to $15,000 for
forts to become Jews.
rushing their conversion through
The scandal has brought ac- the rabbinical courts within two
cusations of routine corruption weeks. He would take one-third
in the system of Jewish conver- as his agent's cut, and pass the
sions in Israel. It has revealed rest on to Rabbi Bar-Zohar, who
signs of a cottage industry of then acted as an "advocate" for the
"agents" — known colloquially as candidate, testifying before the
macherim — and "advocates" rabbinical court that the hopeful
who exploit the long, arduous, convert was worthy of acceptance
uncertain process of conversion as a Jew.
in Israel's rabbinical courts. In
Rabbis Dushinsky and Bar-Zo-
doing so, they allegedly seek to liar insist that they didn't defraud
obtain thousands of dollars from anyone, but merely charged a fee
gentiles in return for helping for legitimate services rendered.
them become `"instant" Jews.
(Conversion is supposed to cost
Last year, some 350 gentiles
about $100 in official fees.)
were converted through the rab-
The Conservative movement