American Jewish Explosion

by Joshua (Gedalyah Chaim) Reback

Seven years ago in his New York Times article, A Jewish Recount, JJ Goldberg attacked the United Jewish Communities for promoting population surveys that misrepresented the American Jewish population as declining. He cited inconsistent standards for defining a Jew in demographic surveys, only assessing religious attitudes of subcultures in the community, and inflating the number of intermarriages in the country. The motivation, in his eyes, was to shock American Jews into greater observance.

He was right then, and he is right now. Worse yet, this policy of alarm has not produced results in reversing the assimilation trends that were then exaggerated but still a profound problem.

Without delving too much into how the American Jewish community needs to adjust its approach to demographics, it is important to note these myths have hurt the policymakers of dozens of Jewish organizations. Most importantly, the underestimation of the community's size and utter failure to recognize even scant aspects of people's personal ethnic identities have hurt religious leadership's ability to accommodate the growing demand for conversions in the United States from children of mixed marriages, which are high with or without statistical inflation.

I am personally one of those Jews who has a Jewish Father, but whose Mother does not come from that background. Speaking with Rabbis at major English-speaking post-college Yeshivas and Midrashot in Jerusalem, they estimate their students may comprise as high a figure as 20% hailing from mixed marriages in which the Mother is not Jewish, whether or not they had yet completed conversions.

This figure is dramatic. And other students, with no Jewish heritage at all, are joining them. The internet age has increased interest in new religions. Information can be sought with a simple click, and it is happening en masse. It is driving greater interest in Jewish practice, without the need to call Rabbis in distant cities.

The Jewish Learning Initiative, a combined program of the Orthodox Union and Hillel to serve Orthodox college students, has seen all its Rabbis supervise at least one student learning for conversion since the program's inception several years ago. Children of mixed marriages are essential elements to Jewish activism, be it on campus or in the plethora of non-profits dotting the country.

And yet, the Rabbinical Council of America is unable to perceive just how large a constituency this represents, nor just how large the interest in resolving their identity crises is. Since the adoption of the Geirus Policy & Standards in 2008, roughly 300 people have converted to Orthodox Judaism in the US. This is happening in a country with as many as 6.7 million Jews and where well over 10 million people could be eligible for immigration to Israel under the Law of Return. There are only 12 courts authorized to perform conversion in the United States.

This lack of resources demonstrates a gross unpreparedness to meet the needs of the American Jewish community. It is a guarantee that if the Orthodox community is unwilling to meet this immense demand, the Reform and Conservative Movements will fill the void. This is certainly true in light of years of successful outreach programs throughout Orthodoxy and a general shift to traditionalism and the right throughout all of Judaism's major denominations. The low number of courts is borderline scandalous.


Jewish demographic distribution in the United States

This should bring attention to the calls by former RCA head Rabbi Marc Angel to re-delegate the conversion process to local rabbis, lest a centralized leadership become inefficient, unreliable or even corrupt as was the case with the Eternal Jewish Family.

One does not need to be an expert to sit on a conversion court, though a Rabbi is certainly preferable to a layman. But the proscription these very recent regulations has initiated does little to serve the interests of the American Jewish community and pays lip service to the voice that says Rabbis' personal validity and integrity as judges should be inherently flimsy and feeble. It stymies Jewish religious growth at the same time it undermines the authority of the community's Rabbis.

The GPS may bring more universal standards to deal in conversion, but is limited in scope. The new system can easily be preserved, if only the RCA recognized the need to establish more formal courts in more locations throughout the country. The American Orthodox community needs to be ready, because demand is only growing.

by Seth Farber: The New Conversion Law is a Joke

View this OpEd as originally posted in the Jerusalem Post

by Seth Farber

Coalition MKs have added a clause that effectively neutralized the law.

At the immigration and absorption conference in Ashdod this week, both Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called for universal support for a new conversion bill - a bill which would ostensibly "take the power away" from the Conversion Authority and allow local community rabbis to perform conversions.

At first glance, their suggestion is meritorious. The Conversion Authority has been notoriously deficient in effecting conversions - to a large extent because of lack of leadership and policy. By "privatizing" conversion, the process would become much more personal and much less overwhelming. This, in turn, might alleviate a looming demographic crisis threatening the Jewish character of the State of Israel - given the more than 300,000 citizens who emigrated under the Law of Return, but do not meet the Orthodox halachic definition of Jewish.

However, the law which these ministers support is layered with populism and party interests, and ultimately, will help few potential converts.

In fact, in its original form, the bill would have allowed all community rabbis to perform conversions. Since a handful of community rabbis are considered "moderate" in their approach to conversion, the authors of the bill assumed that converts would be able to approach these rabbis and have their conversions certified nationally.

However, all that changed four months ago.

It was then that the bill came up for review in the Knesset Law Committee and almost immediately, MKs who serve in the coalition added a clause that effectively neutralized the law. The new provision mandates that community rabbis can perform conversions "if they receive an additional certification from the Chief Rabbinical Council."

IN OTHER words, the fact that a rabbi has received the authority to register marriages, supervise burials and organize kashrut in his city doesn't imply that he can effect conversions (even though he has been examined on the laws and rituals concerning this matter).

This clause is a deliberate slap in the face to the moderate city rabbis. It suggests that notwithstanding their scholarship or experience (many used to perform conversions before the Conversion Authority was established), they need further "approval." Given the constitution of the Chief Rabbinical Council, it is a given that none of the moderate city rabbis will ever be certified to convert.

Just to provide two examples, one of the members of the council is himself a city rabbi who won't register people who convert in the Conversion Authority. And another served on the rabbinical court which issued the notorious decision in 2008 by Rabbi Avraham Sherman annulling Rabbi Haim Druckman's conversions.

In short, the new conversion bill - in its present and apparently final form - is sophistry of the first order and is being promoted as an offering to the immigrant population, with no substance supporting it. In many respects, the country would be better off if the law wasn't passed and if politicians began studying the core issues and seeking genuine resolutions, rather than trying to simply pass off another bill as a solution to an essential issue threatening the Jewish fabric of Israel.

There needs to be a full review of conversion policy and strategy, and a public relations effort that will make conversion a national priority. Anything less, and we will continue spinning our wheels for another decade.

The writer is the director of ITIM: The Jewish Life Information Center (www.itim.org.il), an organization dedicated to helping Israelis and immigrants navigate Jewish life here.

View this OpEd as originally posted in the Jerusalem Post

"Every town's chief rabbi must have the authority to perform conversions himself"

As originally published in Haaretz

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called on Monday for a change to laws on conversion to Judaism, which he said had left thousands of Israelis in limbo.

Speaking at a conference on immigrant absorption in Ashdod, Lieberman, who leads the hard-line Yisrael Beiteinu party, urged the state to allow head Rabbis in all Israeli towns to perform conversions.

"It is unacceptable that over 200,000 immigrants are carrying identity cards that give their status as 'no religion'," Lieberman said.

The number of immigrants entering conversion programs has plummeted following a controversial ruling in 2008 by the Rabbinical Court of Appeals, which at a stroke invalidated all conversions performed by the state-run Conversion Administration.

Yisrael Beiteinu, which enjoys strong support from Israel's large population of immigrants from the former Soviet Union - around a quarter of a million of whom are classified as non-Jews or having no religion - now hopes to roll back the changes and ease the process.

"Every town's chief rabbi must have the authority to perform conversions himself," Lieberman told the conference.

"In a generation's time there will be no Jews left in the world outside orthodox Judaism, because of assimilation."

This is not the first time that Lieberman, himself a Russian immigrant, has raised the issue of conversion. An attempt two years ago by Yisrael Beitenu to restore powers to municipal rabbis ran into opposition from religious parties in the government coalition and the rabbinical courts.

Is there still a need for EJF? - An insider's perspective

Originally posted on Daas Torah Blog.
Reprinted in the 5 Towns Jewish Times

Former EJF Insider Reveals Doubts
Did Gedolim Approve All This?

By 5TJT Staff

Published on Friday, January 15, 2010 - COMMENTS (0)
Is there still a need for EJF? - An insider's perspective

After being a mentor for some time with The Eternal Jewish Family and witnessing first hand its many serious flaws, the question is what do we need such an organization that dilutes the very framework of halachah that has guided the Jewish people for the last two thousand years?

My first assignment was to work with an intermarried couple, where the non-Jewish husband was enthusiastic about committing to Judaism and learning what it means to become a Jew. His Jewish spouse was less than enthusiastic and cold about the whole idea.

As I was approached by Rabbi Jacobs to speak to this family, I asked him point blank, how can you even think about working with this man if his wife is not supportive and want nothing really to do with Judaism?

Not only that, from a halachic perspective, what was I allowed to teach this man if his wife was not yet on board? Jewish history? A little bit of Hebrew? Gematrias?

As I posed this question to Rabbi Jacobs, he did acknowledge that this certainly was not lechatchila to work with such a family, but he wanted to see where it would go.

After all the conferences all over the world and world-class Rabbanim and Rosh Yeshivos who took part, who paskened such a question that this was permissible?

Another glaring question that I asked as I started my work for them was: is there a Shulchan Aruch or a standard that you use when deciding which families to take, who not to take?

What about the curriculum? Was there even a syllabus? Who are the tutors that are used, how are tutors qualified? What education is given, if any at all, to the Jewish partner?

After all, doesn't the Jewish partner have to have the same commitment and knowledge as the non-Jewish partner who wants to convert? Is there a rav in any of these communities who gives these people guidance and if so, how much contact does EJF have with them?

To illustrate the chaos in this organization, I want to tell the following story. My wife and I worked with a certain couple. We were giving them classes for more than a year and then they were ready to go in front of the beis din. The shabbos before the conversion, they came to our house and we met them for the first time.

The family was very nice. Definitely committed to the ideals of a Torah way of life. Their kids were in a local day school in their community and quite frankly, we were very proud of the work we had done with them.

When they were in the middle of their conversion with the beis din, we received a call to verify their seriousness and commitment to Judaism. We had only met them that shabbos but were in close contact with them over the year and were able to see and hear about their progress and what spiritual direction they were headed.

The beis din was happy with our recommendation and based on our final say, finished the conversion. What about the community in which they lived? Wasn't there any rabbinical figure there that they had worked with that could have verified the information that the beis din required? What verification was there of their Shabbos, Yom Tov experience?

After this episode, I again mentioned to Rabbi Jacobs, how could it be, that after more than a year of working with EJF that they were not in contact with any rabbinical figure in their area that could tell how they were progressing and what they were doing?

Even if the families that EJF works with are serious minded and committed to an Orthodox lifestyle, who is guiding these people in their own communities? Is it enough just for the mentors to speak to them on the phone?

This leads to another question. Who are these mentors? I asked Rabbi Jacobs many times who they used as mentors and how he qualified them as good mentors. I never got an answer on that even though I heard that they use fine people. After all, even though EJF is an organization under the umbrella of Rabbi Tropper's Baal Teshuvah Yeshivah, Kol Yaakov, is conversion really the same thing as kiruv?

Do we want kiruv people or even baalei batim working with these people without any special training? There were no qualifying criteria for being a mentor for this organization. Period. Not only that, they gave the Jewish spouse only an hour a week to learn with someone from Partners in Torah.

There are two mentors that I knew of that mentored for EJF. Both have had vast experience in working with converts and baalei teshuvah. After speaking to these two individuals at great length over the years, I came to the obvious conclusion that although they may be well-versed in kiruv and geirus, there was one thing that stood out from their resumes.

Neither possessed any daas Torah whatsoever. How do I know this? First of all, they don't mention anybody on their resumes about it, for one. I also know these two individuals in another capacity whereby both are moderators of an online group that helps people in the process of conversion.

These prospective converts have a place to go, so to speak where they can ask their questions, get reading material and listen to the stories of others in the same process. These moderators see the questions come, and either allow them to go in or reject them.

The all important question you may ask is where is the rabbinic advisory board that oversees the questions that are asked and what is allowed or disallowed. As I sat in disbelief a number of times from these two individuals were that they did not have a rabbinical board or had any desire sending questions to Rabbanim because they were afraid it would turn off perspective people interested in the group.

I heard this from both people on numerous occasions and the only reason I mention this is to show what a few of the mentors look like. These are some of the better ones that at least have worked with converts before. With such an important job to service these people, do we want just anyone teaching these perspective converts?

With all the hoopla of the many conventions that EJF has had all over the world, what about all the choshever Rabbanim and Roshei Yeshiva that have addressed these conferences. Do they really have any inkling as to what is happening within the organization?

Are they ever given any serious halachic questions to deal with? The bottom line of all these conventions was that it seemed there was a difference of opinion among the vast rabbinic personalities about conversion in general.

Even at one of the dayanim conferences, one prominent dayan told me that over the course of two days, there may have been about 10 minutes of real information that he benefited from. I am afraid to ask what these people did the rest of the time?

What about the batei din on EJF's list that states that they are all on the same page about the idea of a universal conversion. It in theory is a great idea, but in reality there are many batei din on this list that first of all, don't even know they are on the list but also have no idea what the organization does.

Some of these stories are just the tip of the iceberg of the disaster and krumkeit that this organization purports, all in the name of helping these families. Yes, such an organization should exist and continue this important work.

It must be done with competent people that know what they are doing! There needs someone to oversee the mentors and to train them. There should be close contact with batei din and Rabbanim in the communities so that everyone will be on the same page.

The Jewish spouse needs real education from people who have the knowledge to give it to them. It should not be once a week for an hour! They have to be involved in their own communities and show the commitment needed for the non-Jewish spouse to convert.

Unfortunately, there are probably thousands of people out there that could be helped by such an organization. If it would be done in the proper way, without compromising halachah, it could be an unbelievable Kiddush Hashem.

As of right now, it is a disaster and in total disarray. It's not about the scandal and how it happened. It is about who is running the organization and why it is hefker. Putting the right people in charge, could make all the difference in the world but it instead it looks like a one-man show.

As the old adage goes, it is either my way or no way. From Rabbi Dunner's letter (5Towns Jewish Times January 11, 2010), it definitely looks that way and that is just a recipe for disaster!

Encourage descendants of Jews to come back into the fold, rabbi urges

Written by Atara Beck
Wednesday, 13 January 2010

TORONTO – “In our generation, the topic of conversion is a unique one,” said Rabbi Haim Druckman, head of the religious Zionist Bnei Akiva youth movement and Center for Bnei Akiva yeshivot, who, at the invitation of local Zionist activist Larry Zeifman, led a roundtable discussion on the importance of encouraging Israeli immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) to become Jews according to halacha (Jewish law).

Visiting here from Israel, Rabbi Druckman, rosh yeshiva of Ohr Etzion hesder yeshiva, a former deputy minister of religious affairs and, until recently, head of the State Conversion Authority, has long been advocating for a more ‘conversion-friendly’ system for olim [immigrants] from the former Soviet Union. He spoke in support of the newly launched AMI – Personal Ulpan for Conversion, through which small groups of potential converts could undergo the process with the continual guidance of a religious mentor family. Program organizers would be willing to accommodate a single potential convert as well, if necessary.

AMI “represents a revolution,” Rabbi Druckman stated. It “transforms the process of conversion into an intimate, familial experience.” The program, which includes formal classroom education as well as informal learning through the mentor family, should significantly increase the number of converts through this personal approach, he explained.

“We are 18 years too late,” he declared. “It would have been much easier had this been dealt with in a better way from the start. They [Russian olim] are already part of Medinat Yisrael [the state of Israel]. They are Israeli citizens…study in Israeli schools, serve in the army. Eighty thousand are considered non-Jews. What will happen to the next generation?”

Indeed, “among the many who made aliyah are some 350,000 immigrants who are not Jewish according to halacha but came to Israel because of their deep connection to the land and people about which, sadly, they know so little today,” according to Natan Sharansky, chair of the Jewish Agency for Israel, adding that he was “very pleased” to learn about AMI and sees the program as a “blessing” and “timely.”

The majority of these olim claim Jewish ancestry; in fact, Rabbi Druckman read a list of names of individuals eager to convert to Judaism, including, for example, Rosenbaum, Landau and Kaplan.

“It is clear that we are commanded and it is our responsibility to bring these people closer to the Jewish people and to assist them in fully connecting to and becoming part of our nation through conversion,” Rabbi Druckman stated. “The truth is that all the immigrants are our family…and we must embrace them and help them.”

It was because of persecution and the forbidding of Jewish practice, including circumcision, that Jews from the FSU have been assimilated, “and the restrictions were enforced with brutal force like nothing we’ve ever seen. And the non-Jewish side suffered because of his connection to a Jew.”

The descendants are from zerah Yisrael – literally, Jewish seed – and therefore should be encouraged to become full-fledged Jews, he stressed. In fact, this viewpoint has been expressed in rabbinic literature and supported by some of the greatest spiritual leaders in the last generations.

Nevertheless, Rabbi Druckman affirmed that Jewish law must not be compromised in the process and the convert would have to demonstrate acceptance of the “yoke of heaven” and commitment to observing the mitzvot (commandments).

Regarding the permanence of conversion, “all those who were converted to Judaism are Jews,” he stated. “No one can take that away from them.”

For more information about AMI, contact Naftali Kandler, executive director, at 972-52-423-9740 or naftali@project-ami.org, or email info@project-ami.org.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 14 January 2010 )

Rabbi Drukman dismissed from conversions court

Civil Service Commission orders Prime Minister's Office to terminate conversions court head's employment effective immediately, citing it opted not to renew his contract. Religious Zionism sources warn move may have coalitional ramifications

Kobi Nahshoni
Published:
01.14.10, 07:52



As the Prime Minister's Office has administrative jurisdiction over the conversions court, Director-General Eyal Gabai was asked to inform Drukman of the decision.

The letter, sent 10 days after the contract expired, reads: "Rabbi Haim Drukman began working for the Prime Minister's Office as head to the conversions court on February 9, 2004. His employment contract was renewed periodically and ended on December 31, 2009.

The Civil Service Commission decided to terminate Rabbi Haim Drukman's tenure as head of the conversions court effective immediately, Ynet has learned.

Is a letter sent to the Prime Minister's Office, Deputy Civil Service Commissioner Moti Aharoni confirmed that Drukman's contract, which ended on December 31, will not be renewed.

"As the rabbi will soon turn 77, the civil service commissioner has asked me to inform you that his tenure can no longer be renewed." Gabai was asked to summon Drukman to a meeting and inform of the decision.

"The Civil Service Commission," ended the letter, "Would like to express its heartfelt gratitude to Rabbi Drukman for his contribution to promoting conversions in Israel and his willingness to find halachic solutions to this complex social matter."

The Civil Service Commission also noted that according to a 2008 government directive, the position is to be filled via the decision of a locator committee, and asked the Prime Minister's Office "make the necessary arrangements to set such a committee up in order to fill the position of head of the conversions court."

"This is the first time I've heard of this. I have no idea what you're talking about," Drukman told Ynet.

The rabbi's associates were puzzled by the decision's timing, saying it was made now in retaliation to a recent, controversial statement he made on settlement eviction.

"They've been discussing ending his tenure for a long time and all of a sudden the make a decision 10 days after his contract ends? I guess the Prime Minister's Office wants to punish him for what he said," ventured one of Drukman's associates.

Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar said he will ask Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for clarifications on the matter. according to Ynet's sources, Amar will demand Drukman's tenure will be extended at least until a replacement is found.

Ynet sources at the PM's Office said former Great Rabbinical Court Judge Rabbi Shlomo Deichowsky is the lead candidate to take Drukman's place.

Deichowsky is considered a moderate rabbi, which may go a long way towards solving several controversial conversion issues. So far, however, Deichowsky has not agreed to the appointment.

Better the devil you know?
Meanwhile, and as the news of Drukman's termination broke, agitation was noted in Religious Zionism and Habayit Hayehudi faction chairman Knesset Member Zevulun Orlev warned against possible coalitional ramifications.

"The government's conduct in this matter bares coalitional consequences. I, for one, can't see myself voting for the government in any nonconfidence vote on the matter," he told Ynet. "It's inconceivable that the government will work to oust him while we are part of the coalition."

Orlev said he hopes "the government will rectify this disgrace with the same speed the rabbi was ousted so to prevent an unnecessary crisis."

Drukman, added the MK, "Is Religious Zionism's senior spiritual leader and he should be treated with the respect he deserves."

MK Uri Ariel (National Union) also protested the decision, slamming it as "scandalous" and "offensive to all rabbis and especially to Rabbi Drukman."

Somewhat surprisingly, even those opposing Drukman within the ultra-Orthodox community among were displeased. "This makes no difference at all – it's just a technical decision," a senior source in ultra-Orthodox conversion circles told Ynet.

"There is no chance a person who truly observes conversion ruled would be appointed in his place. His successor will be just like him or worse.

There shouldn’t be a governmental conversions system to begin with," he continued. "It's a false system and the results speak for themselves – the majority (of converts) don't observe mitzvahs. The entire systems should be shut down There's better use for the money spent on it."

"Return Conversion to the Rabbis"

Return Conversion to the Rabbis
Opinion

By Marc D. Angel

As published in the Daily Forward on 6 January 2010 C.E.

For centuries, rabbis steeped in Torah and Halacha have served as the gatekeepers of the Jewish people. They have determined which non-Jews may join the Jewish people as converts.

Halachic literature provides a wide array of opinions and attitudes relating to conversion. In recent years, however, the more extreme views espoused by the Haredi rabbinic establishment have gained predominance — and those Orthodox rabbis who do not share these views have been increasingly marginalized.

In 2006, Israel’s chief rabbinate announced that it would no longer accept conversions performed by Orthodox rabbis in the Diaspora, unless these rabbis were on a pre-approved list (i.e., they were deemed sufficiently Haredi in their approach). The mainstream Orthodox rabbinic group in the United States, the Rabbinical Council of America, essentially went along with the dictates of the chief rabbinate. The RCA set up regional rabbinic courts to oversee conversions. The individual Orthodox rabbi — even if a member in good standing of the RCA — generally will not have his conversions accepted by the rabbinate in Israel, unless the convert has gone through the RCA’s conversion bureaucracy.

The result of this shift in authority has been profound. Good, talented and well-intentioned Orthodox rabbis in the Diaspora have been eliminated as recognized gatekeepers to the Jewish people. Power has been concentrated in fewer hands. The more restrictive views on conversion have become universalized, leaving rabbis with little leeway in dealing with candidates for conversion who are not ready to become fully Orthodox Jews. Rabbi Ben-Zion Uziel, who was the first chief Sephardic rabbi of the State of Israel, sought halachically valid ways to bring such individuals into Judaism and the Jewish people. The current rabbinic hierarchy shuts the door on them.

At a time when many thousands of people in Israel and the Diaspora want to become Jewish, the Orthodox rabbinic gatekeepers are becoming ever more restrictive. They adopt new stringencies not required by the Talmud, the Rambam or the Shulchan Aruch. There are women whose conversions have been denied because they wear pants — loose-fitting, modest pants. I know a woman whose conversion was rejected because the rabbinic court did not think her boyfriend was sufficiently Orthodox. A number of would-be converts have been told that they will not be accepted for conversion unless they first move to more religious neighborhoods — even though they currently attend an Orthodox synagogue in the neighborhood where they presently reside. Meanwhile, rabbinic courts in Israel have annulled conversions when converts lapse from a stringent observance of mitzvot.

These restrictive policies are not mandated by Halacha. They reflect a deep xenophobia and a narrow view of Jewish peoplehood. These policies prevent and deter many people from converting to Judaism according to Halacha. They cause unspeakable pain and frustration to numerous individuals who want to cast their destiny with the Jewish people — but who are rejected, humiliated or threatened by the rabbinic bureaucracy.

In recent months, we have witnessed scandal after scandal involving Haredi rabbis. In a particularly notorious case, Rabbi Leib Tropper — who set himself up as the head of an influential Haredi conversion authority, the Eternal Jewish Family — has resigned his position due to allegations of particularly heinous and repulsive behavior, reportedly involving sexual coercion of a prospective convert.

These high-profile scandals should be cause for alarm. But we should also be concerned about the scandal of what is being foisted upon the public as “true Judaism.” At an Eternal Jewish Family conference, Rabbi Nachum Eisenstein stated that Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv, one of the Haredi world’s leading authorities, holds that any rabbi who believes the world is more than approximately 6,000 years old should not serve on the rabbinic courts that perform conversions. (Elyashiv is not known to have disputed this characterization of his views.) Indeed, the Eternal Jewish Family includes a question on “the Torah view of the age of the universe” in its testing of would-be converts. Knowing that we have perfectly legitimate traditions in Torah Judaism that allow for belief in a universe billions of years old, should we allow the obscurantists to disqualify all rabbis who dare to accept the clear findings of science? Do we want such people as the gatekeepers of Jewish identity?

The Orthodox rabbinate has become narrower and more extreme, exactly at a time when world Jewry is very much in need of responsible, creative, sensitive and inclusive religious leadership. Can the State of Israel afford to have a bureaucracy of rabbinic gatekeepers who seem more interested in keeping people out than in letting them in? Can world Jewry afford to leave halachic conversion in the hands of a rabbinic hierarchy that refuses to draw on the inclusive opinions within Halacha, that insists on creating higher and higher barriers, that values restrictiveness as a sign of religiosity? Can we really trust a Haredi-dominated rabbinic establishment that does not inspire our respect as a model of morality, idealism and intellectual vitality?

The Jewish people needs and deserves an effective and inclusive halachic framework for accepting converts. The current gatekeepers have not served us well, and there is no sign that they will change their ways if left to their own devices. We would do much better by dismantling the current rabbinic bureaucracy and leaving conversion in the hands of local Orthodox rabbis — as had been the practice for centuries. Let each rabbi draw on the halachic sources that best apply to each situation and not have his hands tied by an inflexible and restrictive hierarchy. Let each halachic convert be fully accepted as a Jew in the State of Israel and throughout the Diaspora.

If some in the Haredi world will not accept the Jewishness of such converts, then that is a problem for the Haredim. The Jewish people as a whole should not be held hostage to the extreme views of the rejectionists.

Halachic conversions performed by local Orthodox rabbis will draw many more converts into the Jewish people more efficiently, more compassionately and with more halachic integrity. Every bona fide member of a reputable national or international Orthodox rabbinic body should be empowered to perform conversions. Each rabbinic organization must ensure that its members conduct conversions according to Halacha, with the highest ethical standards, and without financial remuneration.

The Torah describes the people of Israel as a wise people; let us, then, act wisely.

Rabbi Marc D. Angel is founder and director of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals and rabbi emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel in New York. He is a past president of the Rabbinical Council of America and the author of “Choosing to Be Jewish: The Orthodox Road to Conversion” (Ktav, 2005).