TORAH PORTION

Religious Court

Detroit-area Vaad adopts standards
for universally accepted conversions.

Commanded
To Remember

Shabbat Ha'azinu: Deuteronomy
32:1-52; 11 Samuel 22:1-51.

W

Rabbis Doniel Neustadt, Vaad chairman, Chaim Bergstein, Elimelech

Silberberg, Ari Kostelitz and Leib Tropper, chairman of the rabbinic commit-
tee of the Eternal Jewish Family. Also participating, but not pictured, was
Rabbi Shaul Zachariash, former chairman of the conversion department.

T

he Council of Orthodox
Rabbis of Greater Detroit
(Vaad) has taken a major
step to serve Jews in the Metro Detroit
by expanding its beit din into a fully
staffed rabbinical court that will deal
with all monetary and other disputes
as well as conversions within the local
community.
The Vaad also reached an agree-
ment on Sept. 22 with the Eternal
Jewish Family International (EJF),
based in Monsey, N.Y., that the beit
din will subscribe to the standards for
universally accepted conversions in
intermarriage that have been adopted
by the leading Torah sages in Israel
and this country.
EJF was founded in 2005 by
Rabbi Leib Tropper, chairman of the
organization's rabbinical board. The
dean of Yeshiva Kol Yaakov/Horizons
in Monsey, Tropper was encouraged
by well-known Torah leaders to cre-
ate an organization that would help
intermarried couples overcome the
muddled world of problematic con-
versions, creating anguish for many
families that subsequently learn that
their conversions are not universally
accepted.
In a series of conferences in
Newark, Miami, Boston, Washington
and Jerusalem, EJF gathered some of
the world's foremost halachic experts
in formulating the standards for uni-
versally accepted conversions. A key
element in the EJF conversions is that
potential converts adopt a lifestyle

that is consistent with observing the
613 commandments of the Torah,
including observing the Shabbat, fam-
ily purity and the laws of kashrut.
Often the first point of contact for
potential converts and their Jewish
spouses is a local Orthodox rabbi who
guides the potential convert through a
process of education that is much like
that of any Orthodox child in a Jewish
day school. During that process, EJF
has made it possible for the couples to
participate in special seminars where
they not only meet other couples also
in the process of acquiring universally
accepted conversion, but hear from
leading educators about important
aspects of becoming integral parts of
the Jewish community.
The Detroit beit din, established 26
years ago, is the 18th in the worldwide
network of religious courts that sub-
scribe to the EJF standards.
Like other courts, the Detroit beit
din will be involved in multiple issues
that require the intervention of a reli-
gious court, including monetary dis-
putes and divorces. The EJF affiliation
was announced by representatives of
the Vaad after a meeting with Tropper.
The local rabbis thanked EJF
Chairman Tom Kaplan for his finan-
cial support of this new affiliation
between EJF and the Detroit beit din.
More than 1,000 intermarried couples
referred by rabbis affiliated with EJF
have been involved in the organiza-
tion's programs and services. 111

hat a terrifying Torah por- do not live in a vacuum of time; but we
tion all around! Parshat
are the next link in a chain of genera-
Ha'azinu starts out mildly tions who have come before us.
enough but midway, we are
Our Yom Kippur obser-
in for a shock. The language
vance reaffirms this with
is strong, vivid and down-
the yizkor service at the
right frightening.
center of our worship.
As the people have
Today, in particular, we
abandoned their end of the
remember those who have
covenant by following false
come before us; we remem-
gods, God is "beside God's-
ber their stories and how
self" in anger. Pledging
they impacted our lives.
misfortune upon them, God
They paved the way: They
speaks of the arrows, fam-
taught us; they suffered,
ine, plague, pestilence and
Rabbi Marla
celebrated and, because
fanged beasts that God will
Hornsten
of who they were, we have
let loose upon the people
Special to the
become the people that we
(Deuteronomy 32: 24).
Jewish News
are.
When God recognizes
So, whether it is for a sense
that this only fuels the fire and gives
of family and connection or about the
more power to the enemy, God pledges ethics and core values that we live by or
once again to redeem Israel and defeat even the shared memory of our people,
the enemy according to the original
memory provides us a with sense of
promise.
community, of relationship and of his-
While I find this Torah portion
tory that is fundamental to who we are.
extremely frightening in its language
Although this lesson is surrounded
and its imagery, a verse from the
by the language of fear, do not be
opening is so different in tone and in
afraid to heed it. If you have older
texture that I am drawn directly to it.
relatives, take the opportunity this
It speaks to us as individuals and as
holiday season to sit down and ask
Jews, especially at this High Holiday
them questions about their experi-
season.
ences (you might want to video the
Verse 7, chapter 32 reads: "Remember conversation as a memento or as doc-
the days of old, Consider the years
umentation); if you are the one with
of ages past; Ask your father, he will
the stories, don't be afraid to sit your
inform you; Your elders they will tell
family down and tell them the stories.
you ..:' While the text actually refers to
I promise you will never regret it, and
the patriarchal (and matriarchal) days
in so doing, you will have obeyed one
of Abraham and Sarah, I like the verse
of the most valuable commands of our
because it is personal, drawing me back
Torah: Zakor! Remember. E
to my own ancestors, my grandparents
and even the generations I never knew. I
Marla R. Hornsten is a rabbi at Temple
want to hear the family lore again. I want Israel in West Bloomfield.
to know how my branch of the family
tree fits together with those who came
before me.
Conversations
As Jews, we are commanded to
Do you know for whom you are
remember over and over again. Our
named? Do you know any sto-
communal history is a vital part of our
ries about that person? Why is
identity. This verse suggests to us that
the theme of remembrance so
remembering is an active duty, not a
important at the High Holiday
passive one. We need to ask about our
season? How do you think you
past from those who know it; we need
can best relay your stories, les-
to study it; we need to make it part our-
sons, values to the next genera-
selves — just as we have as a people. We
tion?

October 9 2008

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