Hillel and Shammai - 2004

I met A. by chance, while preparing an article on the beit din (rabbinical court) for conversion in Jerusalem. It was a routine day of deliberations, when suddenly the secretary of the court burst into the hall and asked the dayanim (rabbinical court judges) to listen to an unscheduled case of a man who was threatening to convert to Christianity if his girlfriend (an immigrant from the CIS) was not converted to Judaism immediately.

Left with no choice, the dayanim invited A. in. He told them that he and his girlfriend had been prevented from getting married for five years, because her conversion was being delayed. He told the dayanim: "I won't lie to you like all the others. I don't intend to observe mitzvot (religious commandments) and neither does she, but just as I am a good Jew without the mitzvot I demand that you convert her too, and if you don't I will convert to Christianity and get married in the church."

The dayanim dismissed his words. We don't believe that a good Jew like you would really convert to Christianity, said one of them in a fatherly tone, which only made A. angrier. They sent him away. I happened to believe that he did intend to become a Christian. I followed him outside and suggested he also try the rabbinical court of Rabbi Yosef Avior in Mercaz Shapira, an Orthodox beit din that constitutes part of the recognized network of rabbinical conversion courts.

Two weeks later he phoned me complaining that Avior had also made demands of him. I recommended he not give up and keep in touch with the rabbi. Several months later he called again with good news: his girlfriend had been converted, and Avior would preside at their wedding as well. He saved the real surprise for last: A. told me he was so pleased with Avior's positive approach that he had decided - without being required to do so - to put on tefillin (phylacteries used during the morning prayers) every morning.

I recalled the famous story from the Talmud about the gentile who asked to convert, on condition that they could teach him the entire Torah while he stood on one foot. Shammai, who was very strict, drove the man away with a builder's measuring stick he was holding, whereas Hillel, who was relaxed and forthcoming, agreed to the deal and said to the gentile: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor; that is the basis of the Torah. The rest is commentary. Go and study it." (Hillel and Shammai were leading rabbis in the first century B.C.E, during the period of the Second Temple.)

And in fact, the main difference between Rabbi Avior and the other rabbinical courts is more a matter of approach than of content: He also demands the observance of Shabbat and kashrut (the dietary laws) and taharat hamishpaha (the laws of family purity), and the other courts don't really ascertain whether the convert is observing and will observe all the 613 commandments, but only that he is willing to commit himself to doing so. (There are actually far fewer mitzvot that must be observed today, but the number is still used to indicate a commitment to observe all the obligatory commandments).

Avior, on the other hand, is willing to relinquish the pose of commitment to observing all the mitzvot, openly declaring that at least when it comes to olim (new immigrants), one can be more lenient, and most importantly - he is actively engaged in bringing the converts closer to Judaism, rather than just making a formal check as to whether the convert "meets the criteria."

Jewish tradition, including contemporary rabbinical rhetoric, advocates the approach of Hillel, but in fact not only does it take Shammai's approach toward the converts themselves, but even "drives away with a builder's measuring stick," those rabbis who want to behave like Hillel. And so the administration of the rabbinical courts recently codified the more stringent rules for conversion and even ruled that the president of the Great Rabbinical Court, Rabbi Shlomo Amar, will be the one to appoint the senior members of the conversion network, and they will be authorized to determine the course of study in the ulpanei giyur (conversion courses).

Moreover, some of the conversion certificates of those who converted with Rabbi Avior have recently been held back and are awaiting the approval of Rabbi Amar, with the explanation that there have been irregularities on the part of people who began the process in a certain beit din, and "transferred" to Rabbi Avior when they discovered the existence of a more liberal track.

The administration of the rabbinical courts even wants to close Rabbi Avior's beit din: The contract with the Or Etzion Yeshiva, in whose context the beit din operates, has not been renewed since the beginning of 2004, and the system is signaling that it intends to transfer conversion activity in the south of the country to Be'er Sheva. The head of the rabbinical courts, Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan, claims this is being done because Or Etzion has stopped providing services to the beit din, a claim that is firmly denied by people in the yeshiva. Ben Dahan for his part is willing to guarantee that Avior's dayanim will be able to continue in the new location.

In terms of administration, there really is something problematic about the fact that there are two norms in one system. In addition, this situation justifiably causes bitterness among those who begin the process in one place and then hear of an easier process somewhere else. But before placing administrative rules at the heart of the issue, it should be recalled that strictly speaking, Shammai was also correct in his stance against Hillel, and nevertheless it is Hillel whom we recall favorably. And mainly we should remember that the reason for Avior's popularity is the fact that the prevailing approach in the system is incapable of providing an answer for the 300,000 non-Jewish olim who will under no circumstances agree - nor will society demand of them - to commit themselves to observing 613 mitzvot as a condition to being recognized as Jews.

The gap between Avior's approach and the need for uniformity can be closed in another way: let the entire system adopt his approach.