Rare is the situation in which it is the Rabbanut not accepting Haredi services as valid. Even stranger, and deserving of protest and uproar, is that when the haredim refused to accept the conversion of a woman via the rabbanut as valid, due to her lifestyle and seemingly having lied about accepting Torah uMitzvos to facilitate her conversion there was an uproar about the insensitivity of the haredim to invalidate her conversion retroactively, to not be sensitive to her issues, etc. yet now the government has rejected the conversion a woman went through and is requiring her to reconvert, yet nary a peep can be heard.
What's the story?
Ynet reports that a woman and her 2 year old son had undergone a conversion via the beis din of Rav Nissim Karelitz, in Bnei Braq, a very well-respected beis din, yet the Misrad Hapnim is refusing to accept that conversion due to her going through a private system. The Misrad Hapnim wants her and her son to undergo a new conversion via the Rabbanut. Even more absurd is that the Rabbanut accepts her conversion as valid and considers her Jewish.
The woman, a native of Peru, became connected to Judaism and went to Israel to study for conversion. After suffering through too much degrading bureaucracy in the State system, according to her claim, she decided to go the private route, finding the beis din of Rav Nissim Karelitz. In 2011 she completed her conversion, the Rabbanut in Netanya recognized her, and a couple of months later she even got married.
Even stranger, the Misrad Hapnim does not recognize her as Jewish, but does recognize the couple as married. She had a child eventually, and he too is not recognized as Jewish - because his mother isn't!
The woman is petitioning the Supreme Court to force the State to recognize her conversion, claiming she is being mistreated relative to other converts.As well, she says the Misrad Hapnim is overstepping their authority - when a beis din and rav, who are authorized by the State, recognize somebody as Jewish, the Ministry of Interior does not have the authority to override that.
The State's response is that the woman is not so clean herself and did not follow procedure. They say she was summoned to appear before the State beis din a number of times, but she did not appear before them nor did she send a representative.
Her lawyers say that she worked hard to do her conversion through the State system, but they lost her files a number of times, they delayed their approval time and again, and after a very degrading process that was taking far longer than it normally does, she decided to go via the private system.
So, with the beis din of Rav Karelitz and the Rabbanut recognizing her as Jewish, shouldn't we be outraged at the emotional trauma the State is putting her through by treating her and her son like non-Jews and forcing them to go through the conversion a second time?
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she decided to go via the private system
ReplyDeleteDoes one have a choice to do it through the State or go privately? And if done privately by a State-sanctioned rav, is the State obligated to honor the conversion? And if that's so, was the problem that she started via the State and switched to private? That's the impression I'm getting.
It sounds to me not like a case of the State "refusing to recognize a Haredi conversion", but of all-too-common governmental red-tape issues which needlessly plague people's lives and in this case happens to be about a conversion. So yes, I empathize with her for getting fed up - but stopping a State process in the middle and doing your own thing is obviously something you do at your own risk!
If a competent Beis Din performs a conversion, it's Halachicly valid no matter what the, or any, State says. The State should just admit they screwed up and accept her conversion. It's ridiculous that if she had converted in Peru, the Misrad Hapnim would accept it (with documentation), but a conversion done in Israel is rejected.
ReplyDeleteSo, with the beis din of Rav Karelitz and the Rabbanut recognizing her as Jewish, shouldn't we be outraged at the emotional trauma the State is putting her through by treating her and her son like non-Jews and forcing them to go through the conversion a second time?
ReplyDeleteYes, we should be.