Become a Member
Miriam Shaviv

By

Miriam Shaviv,

Miriam Shaviv

Opinion

An offensive conversion 'solution'

Rabbi Schochet's absurd idea to ban conversions is part of the problem

February 11, 2010 16:44
3 min read

Six months ago, in the wake of the JFS case, consecutive commentators blasted the British courts for appearing to brand Judaism racist because it determined Jewishness by matrilineal descent and not by religious practice. Judaism cannot possibly be racist, they said, because anyone can convert into it — no matter their skin colour or ethnicity. “To be told now that Judaism is racist, when Jews have been in the forefront of the fight against racism in this country, is distressing,” wrote Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. “To confuse religion and race is a mistake.”

If only his own rabbis had listened. Last week, Mill Hill’s Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet — chair of the Rabbinical Council of the United Synagogue — used these pages to urge an end to all conversions by Orthodox rabbis. Apparently completely deaf to the political implications (though this is the least offensive aspect of his thoroughly insensitive piece), he appeared to be promoting a Judaism closed to outsiders, in which race is all that counts.

This is not a Judaism I recognise. Indeed, the idea of banning conversions has little historical precedent. The Torah clearly stated that proselytes must be loved. The Talmud set out a clear path for people wishing to enter the Jewish faith — a path which is, incidentally, far less rigorous than our conversion system today. For 2,000 years, with few exceptions, gerim have been welcome in our midst. Judaism, we have always claimed, has a universal message. The path of worshipping one God by accepting his commandments is open to all humanity.

Under Rabbi Schochet’s vision, this universal appeal is abandoned in favour of narrow sectarianism. Apparently, God has given him the right to tell a woman who comes to his shul office, explaining that she is certain Judaism is the true religion and that she will follow all the mitzvot, that this path is closed to her. This is completely unrealistic in a modern, open society. And I do wonder whether Rabbi Schochet considered how his absurd proposal might make the United Synagogue’s existing converts feel, before he sat down to write his piece.