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Thu., January 10, 2008 Shvat 3, 5768

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Source: Conversion judges making extreme demands

By Anshel Pfeffer

Tags: Conversion

About a month ago, during a training session for activists in the religious conversion system, Rabbi Mordechai Bar-Eli, a judge in a conversion court, was asked why the courts aren't making an effort to be lenient on potential converts. "Religious Judaism has always fought against bringing [to Israel] people who are not halakhically Jewish," Bar-Eli responded. "The secular [Israelis] brought them and now they want the rabbis to convert them."

With this unusually honest statement, Rabbi Bar-Eli explained the conceptual foundation of the religious courts, which do everything possible to hinder attempts at making the conversion process easier. Despite repeated declarations by successive prime ministers, these courts have over the years only toughened their stance on converts.

Contrary to popular belief, most of the rabbis taking the hard-line stance on conversions are from the national-religious camp, not the ultra-Orthodox community. "These judges want to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the Haredim, in part because they know it's the only way they have of advancing as judges in the system," a senior official in the Chief Rabbinate said, "and they also belong to the Haredi-nationalist wing of the national-religious camp, which feels increasing alienation toward the state."

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Bar-Eli lives in the West Bank settlement of Psagot and is married to the daughter of Rabbi Moshe Tzvi Neria, one of the founders of the national-religious movement. "[David] Ben-Gurion and [Ariel] Sharon and the secular establishment brought [the olim] and now that establishment wants the rabbinate to repair the injustice that it created. There are many problems in the country that have no solution − education, security, and this is another that cannot be completely solved," Bar-Eli said.

The conversion court judges often go beyond demanding that converts maintain a religious lifestyle, and put up additional obstacles. One conversion candidate appeared before the Jerusalem rabbinical court about a month ago. In her file was the following note: "We agreed to convert her, she accepted the mitzvot [Jewish law] and was sent to the mikveh." Without her knowledge, an additional note was added to the ruling: "In four months a new recommendation will be sent from the foster family."

The note, known as "delay of immersion," violates clear religious laws and precepts against "partial" conversion.

"In recent months, we have seen more and more cases in which the judges impose certain periods of time between accepting the mitzvot and the mikveh immersion," a senior official in the conversion system said. In addition, there have been reports of unofficial spying on conversion applicants by the courts.

"In one case, a prospective convert was rejected by the court because it received a phone call from someone who had seen her wearing pants."

Nearly five months ago a committee headed by Immigration Ministry Director General Erez submitted to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recommendations for expediting the conversion process. Until two weeks ago, the report languished on the desk of Prime Minister's Office Director General Ra'anan Dinur, before being passed to Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel. "It appears Olmert was simply afraid to confront the Haredi parties, which object to mass conversions," the source said.

This week deliberations on the issue were postponed. A senior PMO official said, "This time there is a genuine intention to deal with the issue and implement the Halfon Committee recommendations." An associate of the administrative head of the Conversion Authority, Rabbi Eliahu Maimon, rejected claims that the rabbinical courts change their rulings, ascribing the claims to "the emotionality of converts who don't understand what is said to them in court.

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