Opinion

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Deal Hurts Rabbis And Converts

New York/JTA

T

he Chief Rabbinate of Israel
and the Rabbinical Council of
America have concluded an
agreement related to conversion that will
allow the two groups to work together.
This solves a problem that reached its
peak when Israel's Sephardic chief rabbi,
Shlomo Amar, announced in April 2006
that he would no longer automatically
recognize conversions performed by rab-
bis belonging to the RCA, the main union
of Orthodox rabbis in America.
But, according to the terms of the
agreement, the Chief Rabbinate approved
a list of about 15 RCA rabbinic courts and
approximately 40 rabbinic judges whose
conversions will be accepted. From this
point on, only conversions done by these
rabbis or tribunals will be recognized.
Any rabbi who wishes to be added to
that list needs the approval of two leading
Yeshiva University rabbis representing the
RCA and one from the Chief Rabbinate.
The RCA and the Chief Rabbinate also
agreed that all conversions previously
performed by rabbis, other than the 40,
are subject to re-evaluation by the head of
the RCN.s Beth Din of America.
This agreement is deeply disturbing
on many levels. What is most troubling
is that conversions, done years ago with

the informal backing of the RCA, are now The Wrong Message
being scrutinized. This, we believe, strikes Not only is the convert's status questioned
at the very ethical fabric of Halachah
here, but the respected position of the
(Jewish law).
local rabbi is also at stake. The policy
Over the years, thousands of people
sends a clear message that rabbis who
have been halachically converted and now have Orthodox ordination and are not
they and their children, and for that mat-
among the chosen 40 do not have suf-
ter, their marriages, will all be questioned. ficient knowledge, judgment and wisdom
The pain that this
to perform conver-
will cause the
sions — and they
convert, a person
never have.
whom the Torah
There is an irony
commands to love,
here in that, from a
will be unbearable.
certain perspective,
Indeed, the RCiks
congregational rab-
capitulation to the
bis have a greater
demand of the
understanding
Chief Rabbinate to
of the issues sur-
scrutinize past con-
rounding conver-
versions done by
sion than those
its members raises
who are primarily
the strong possibil-
situated in the belt
Special Commentary
ity that down the
midrash (house of
line, the bar may
study).
be raised even higher. Already, the Israeli
The synagogue rabbis who are "in the
institution no longer represents the cen-
trenches" with the potential converts have
trist, religious Zionist ideology, but is, in
a unique understanding of the situations
effect, made up of religious appointees of and conditions that affect their respec-
the charedi (fervently Orthodox) world.
tive constituents. As is displayed on their
Years from now a new, more extreme
ordination documents (smicha klaf), these
Chief Rabbinate may very well pressure
rabbis are sent to spread Torah to their
the RCA to question "sanctioned" conver-
communities and have been invested with
sions being done now
the trust, power and weight of our Torah

to help shape the Jewish world. This deci-
sion undermines their mission.
If this agreement was meant to develop
a mechanism of oversight, there are
other ways in which this could have been
accomplished.
One proposal could have been that
junior rabbis in their first three years do
conversions under the guidance of senior
rabbis. Additionally, the RCA could have
questioned individual rabbis whom they
suspected were doing conversions improp-
erly.
We are not the first to raise concerns
about the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. Over
the last few years, there have been legiti-
mate and important Orthodox voices in
Israel that have expressed opposition to its
rightward trend and its hard-line position
concerning conversions in Israel.
Now, through its deal with the RCA, the
Chief Rabbinate is dictating its specific
conversion standards to those living thou-
sands of miles away in the United States.

Stand Firm
Rather than extend the Chief Rabbinate's
reach to the diaspora, the RCA should
display confidence in its loyal members by
declaring that their conversions are valid
and acceptable in the eyes of God and

Deal Hurts on page A29

Stop Trying To Keep Out Non-Jews

San FranciscKTA

A

study by the Pew Forum on
Religion & Public Life shows
that Americans are switching
religions more than ever. As many as one
of every two adults does not practice
the religion in which they were born or
raised.
Evangelical and nondenominational
Protestantism are the big winners.
Catholicism and mainline Protestants
are the big losers. As an aging religious
group, it is time for Jews to take heed of
the changes affecting religion in America
because they are Americans, too, and no
major trend passes them by.
Pew refers to the "marketplace" of
religions in the United States, and that is
exactly right. People shop around for the
religious theologies, practices and com-
munities that suit them. Some may try on
a number of faiths until they find the one
that fits.
This is one of the great benefits of the

A28

March 13 • 2008

non-establishment clause of the First
Amendment, freedom from the govern-
ment sanctioning any particular religion
and allowing many faiths to thrive. The
result has been a healthy competition, a
country relatively free from the
religious strife that plagues so
many societies.
Competition means that indi-
viduals are unshackled by theol-
ogies they may not believe in or ,
communities of faith that they
may find spiritually or otherwise
unfulfilling. How wonderful that
there are so many choices avail-
able and people can find the
religious home they seek — or
choose nothing at all if that is
where they land.

The Wrong Path
At a time when other religious groups are
seeking adherents and promoting their
religious faiths, Jewish organizations and
institutions generally are so afraid of

decline and loss that they turn inwards.
The result, however, is that these very
insular approaches end up ensuring that
decline and loss occur.
The reason is that Jews, like other
Americans, crave free
choice. We are more likely to
retain more people because
they feel they want to be
Jews, not because they have
to be.
The Jewish communal
response to this expression
of religious freedom is locked
somewhere in another time
or place — Europe and
North Africa in the 1700s, for
example. We keep having the
same tired discussions about
"preventing intermarriage" or
"strengthening Jewish iden-
tity" or saving the Jews from assimilation
with the right kind of, or enough, Jewish
education.
Again and again, we respond with rhet-

oric, ideas and programs that circle round
and round in the same orbit — how do
we keep Jews in? Hundreds of years of dis-
crimination, violence and murder take a
huge toll. They create a psychology of fear
that results in Jewish isolation, a construct
of us and them, insiders and outsiders,
Jews and enemies.
And with unabashed and straight-faced
boldness, as if no one else is listening, we
ask how do we keep strangers — meaning
all non-Jews — out of our families, out of
our synagogues. Out.
We don't want to be part of the mar-
ketplace of religious ideas and practices,
thank you, we just want to be left alone
to marry each other and keep everybody
inside, safe and secure.
This of course is an illusion.

Be Wary
Still, we fantasize that if we inoculate our
young people with enough Jewish educa-

Stop Trying on page A29