Supreme Rabbinical Court declines to recognize Rabbi Lookstein's conversions.
Israel’s Supreme Rabbinical Court on Wednesday night ruled it does not recognize conversions by US Orthodox rabbi Haskel Lookstein, forcing a woman seeking to get married to reconvert and calling into question other people converted by Lookstein, including the daughter of Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump.
The
ITIM religious services advisory group which was representing the
convert, Nicole, in court denounced this step, saying it amounted to a
rejection of Lookstein’s conversions and constituted blackmail, while
Nicole herself said she felt she had been humiliated.
US
Jewry and critics of the religious establishment in Israel have
denounced the ongoing failure of the rabbinical courts system to
recognize Lookstein’s conversions as “extremist,” saying that such a
stance drives a wedge between Diaspora Jewry and the Jewish state.
The
judges of the Supreme Rabbinical Court said they did not want to get
involved in whether or not her conversion through Lookstein was valid,
and so requested that she undergo what is known as “a conversion for
stringency.”
This
type of conversion is performed in a case when the Jewishness of an
individual is in doubt, and involves a declaration of Gods oneness and
an acceptance of the commandments of the Torah.
Due
to a wish to get married on the wedding date she and her fiancee have
set, Nicole reluctantly decided to do the conversion for stringency out
of a fear that a failure to do so would require her to postpone the
wedding.
The court then affirmed her declaration and said she could now marry her fiancee.
In a statement made to ITIM, Nicole expressed disquiet at the way she had been treated by the court.
“I
feel humiliated, what they are saying is that they don't recognize my
Judaism,” she said. “I love Rabbi Lookstein, he is my rabbi, he led me
into the Jewish world and I don't want his conversion to not be
recognized.”
ITIM
director Rabbi Seth Farber was strongly critical of the court’s
actions, saying that the judges had “blackmailed” Nicole into performing
the conversion for stringency by implying that actually clarifying
whether or not Lookstein’s conversions are valid could lead to the
postponement of her wedding.
“Today,
the Supreme Rabbinical Court has imposed a heavy cloud upon the
conversions of thousands of converts, who were converted by orthodox
rabbis in the United States,” said Farber.
“This
is a sad day for the converts and this is a sad day for the relations
between the state of Israel and the United States Jewry. In their
ruling, the Rabbinical judges have humiliated not just the convert, but
also hundreds of rabbis in the diaspora and their congregations.”
Chairman of the Executive of The Jewish Agency for Israel Natan Sharansky said in response to the incident that "today’s decision by the Supreme Rabbinical Court, which effectively delegitimized a prominent rabbi in the American Jewish community, demonstrates why Israel is in danger of being delegitimized as a center of religious authority in the eyes of world Jewry. I call on the Government of Israel, which recognizes the vital importance of the Israel-Diaspora relationship, to take immediate steps to change the attitude of Israel’s religious authorities toward the spiritual leaders of the Diaspora."
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Supreme-Rabbinical-Court-sidesteps-recognition-of-Rabbi-Looksteins-conversions-460321
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