In a particularly dramatic decision, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, David Lau, officially instructed the district courts to transfer the files of converts who received baptismal approval directly to the head of the conversion system, Rabbi Yehuda Amichai. In addition, cases that were delayed will also be transferred to him for a final decision on their case.
The decision made by Rabbi Lau, who serves as president of the Great Rabbinical Court, will make it possible to bypass strict conversion laws in order to give converts the recognition they deserve. The "Itim" organization, which accompanies dozens of converts at any given time, says that these are several "problematic" judges - but one of them is particularly stringent, delaying the approval of the converts and sometimes harassing them for years - even though they have undergone a court of law and baptism and have reached the final stages of the process.
Rav Lau. A significant decision, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
According to them, despite the fact that the court allowed the converts to immerse, the judge refuses to sign their baptismal certificates and demands that they return for another hearing after three months. When the troubled converts would come again, he would send them again and not sign the final approval of the conversion. According to the people of "Itim", most of the converts they accompanied gave up on the process, and in fact gave up their conversion certificate.
"I could lie"
One of the converts who passed through the same judge is S., whose conversion process has been delayed for about three years. The reason is absurd: the court did not approve her spouse - the Jew.
S.'s father is Jewish and her mother is not Jewish - so according to Jewish law she is not Jewish. "When I started the conversion process, I was in a fresh relationship," she says, "They told me that whoever is in a relationship must mention it, and the spouse must also come to Jewish studies and pass the court test. I'm an honest person and I didn't want to lie, so I declared that I was in a relationship – even though we weren't thinking about getting married at the time." S.'s integrity, it turned out, was costly.
S.: "Every time I have a nervous breakdown, humiliation and frustration. We don't deserve it. My husband has nothing to do with Zaf, he doesn't have to prove he's Jewish."
"I devoted myself to the process," she recalls. "I did everything they wanted from me, I went to Torah classes on my own initiative. As far as I'm concerned, I'm Jewish and I've always considered myself as such, even in Russia. But my partner is less connected to religion. He's not the kind of guy who goes to synagogue."
When they arrived at the conversion court, at the end of the process, S. discovered that her partner was in the crosshairs. "They asked me two questions, saw that I was in control of the material and moved on to it. They interrogated and humiliated him after realizing that he knew less, and finally failed in court. It was just atrocious. I was so sorry I brought him into the process. I could lie like many of my friends. I was punished for telling the truth."
Let the absurdity cease
S. was required to return after three months. Her partner was questioned again, and she had to tell the father of the court that it was useless. "I told him it wouldn't change," she says angrily. "That I'm the one who converts and that they increase their frustration and antagonism towards the rabbinical institution, not to mention that they destroy our relationship." The rabbi replied that he accepted the position and allowed her to immerse.
S. completed the process of Judaism, and even married according to the religion of Moses and Israel, but it did not end here. "They demanded that we come to the discussion again, to prove that we keep Judaism – but I won't come again, because every time I have a nervous breakdown, humiliation and frustration. We don't deserve it. I am being punished for my truth. I did everything they asked. I'm the one who converted, my husband has nothing to do with it. He doesn't have to prove he's Jewish."
She has been waiting for the conversion certificate and marriage certificate for three years. Since she has not completed the bureaucratic process, even though she is a kosher Jew, she is still registered in the population registry as non-Jewish.
Now the "times" hope that the absurdity will stop. Rabbi Shaul Farber, Chairman of Itim: "I congratulate the Chief Rabbi on his decision to adopt our call to allow these converts to receive conversion certificates and release them from the burden of rejection. As Shavuot approaches, the holiday of conversion, I hope that the conversion system will change its approach, and that the half a million people of no religion who live here with us, whose Jewish identity is not in doubt, will be able to regulate their halachic status as Jews and we will avoid difficult situations of aggravation."
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