Beyond Orthodox Conversion to Judaism

By Rabbi Chaim Coffman

After learning for many years, changing one's life, moving to a new community and finally finishing the conversion process and becoming a full-fledged Jew, how could that conversion be overturned? Was the conversion valid in the first place? Why could this happen?

Once a conversion candidate interviews with a beis din (rabbinical court) and they agree to work with them, the candidate is then off and running. Most beis din's will give the candidate books to read witha syllabus and hopefully set them up with a mentor that will be able to guide them.

The conversion candidate will be expected to follow the syllabus and learn the material and start implementing what halachos they learn in the areas of Shabbos, Yom Tov, Prayer, Kshrus and Blessings, After being in the community for at least a year and depending on the candidates level of learning and implementation, if the beis din feels the conversion candidate is ready then the beis din will convert them. If the beis din does not feel the candidate is ready, then it will take longer.

The day finally comes and the candidate is informed by the beis din that they are finished and ready for the mikveh to become a full-fledged Jew. After the conversion is done, this new Jew will continue learning and growing spiritually as was done before the conversion. If everything si done according to halacha, then there should be no problems after the conversion right?

While one is in the conversion process, one of the most important things is to make sure that the beis din you will go to will be recognized around the world. How does a convert candidate find out about these batei din? They will either find out through their mentor or their sponsoring rabbi.

Unfortunately what can happen is that either the new convert even many years later starts to slack off in mitzvah observance or gives up mitzvah observance altogether. The question that will then arise at that point is what happened during their conversion? Was it really valid in the first place? Who was the beis din that converted them?

This is how in one way a conversion can be questioned retroactively. Secondly, the beis din that did the conversion could have had some halachic issues when they did the conversion in the first place. this could have happened if one of the rabbis on the bies din is suspect or years later the beis din could have pmeritted things that maybe they should not have...

Another possible thing that could happen is that all beis din's do not have the same standards. While they should have and probably should coordinate between themselves, that is often not the case. This means that there may be different standards among the beis din's and may bring up questions about a person's conversion.

In any case, the situation is not an easy one and even if there is an issue, each candidate should be judged on theri own merit and not be judged by which beis din they came from since each case is different in and of themselves.