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The London Beth Din must count itself lucky that the epic scandal shaking the Orthodox community in America has yet to be noticed by Anglo-Jewry. While the American Orthodox establishment is being forced to radically rethink its attitudes to women, conversions and rabbinic authority, here it's business as usual - for now.
The scandal concerns Barry Freundel, rabbi of Kesher Israel synagogue in Washington DC, former head of the conversion committee of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), and a leading Orthodox scholar. Last month, he was charged with "voyeurism" - installing a secret camera in the showers of his synagogue's mikveh, and filming female congregants as they bathed.
The violation is unimaginable, and has left American Jewry shell-shocked. But Rabbi Freundel's alleged sins went even further. He had, it emerged, invented "practice dunks" for female converts and encouraged non-Jewish university students he taught to "experience the mikveh," too. Meanwhile, he had forced his conversion candidates to do his clerical work, and made frequent remarks about their appearance.
American Jewry has drawn three lessons, which the UK would do well to heed as well. The first concerns accountability. The RCA was aware of issues with his personal conduct, yet took only perfunctory steps against him. The widely held perception is that the authority he had amassed in his synagogue had made him too difficult to challenge. No one demanded accountability from the RCA either.
It is harder to imagine this happening in the United Synagogue, where there are many checks and balances for congregational rabbis. In the much looser American system, most rabbis are more or less independent.
Power and influence is still in the hands of just a few men
And yet, nothing is impossible. I can think immediately of several rabbis whose unacceptable behaviour has been quietly absolved.
At the top of the United Synagogue, power and influence are concentrated in the hands of a tiny number of men who operate behind closed doors. Just how accountable are the members of the London Beth Din for their decisions, and the influence they wield? Where's their transparency?
Second, this episode has highlighted the issues faced by conversion candidates, who are at the mercy of the irrational and sometimes unstable whims of the converting authority or rabbi. They are afraid to challenge them because their conversions can be endlessly strung out, and denied.
The UK is not free from this. The London Beth Din is infamous for making extraordinary demands on its converts, including asking candidates to move to Golders Green, even if they already live in an established Jewish community and even if it will affect their livelihoods. Stories abound of converts being housed with families who expect them to do domestic work, and who are pushed to attend Charedi synagogues, rather than United Synagogue ones.
In America, the RCA has now formed a committee, including women, converts and a psychotherapist, to review its conversion process. It is time that the United Synagogue open its process to similar appraisal, to ensure that it is transparent, pragmatic and fair.
Lastly, the Freundel scandal brought home the absence of women's voices within the Orthodox establishment. The mikveh may be run by women, but it is male rabbis who wield the authority there.
The leading Beth Din of America has acted swiftly, inviting "several" women to join its board . When is the LBD going to show similar inclusivity?