Israel To Appoint 10 More Rabbis To Conversion Courts

Yesterday's Jerusalem Post reports that ten new rabbinic judges will shortly be appointed to fill vacant places on the country's Jewish conversion courts. In recent years, rabbis have been slow to approve potential converts, and some say that the current 25 judges have little to do. There is speculation that the new appointments are an attempt to loosen up on standards for approval of converts. However, apparently some of the new judges will specifically serve the haredi (ultra-orthodox) community that has been increasingly critical of the conversion authority as not being strict enough in its screening of converts. The new appointments do not appear likely to solve the biggest problem facing the conversion courts-- screening 280,000 non-Jewish immigrants from the Former Soviet Union who may wish to convert. None of the new judges speak Russian. Rabbinic judges must determine that a potential convert is sincere in his or her desire to convert, before the conversion can be approved. Deciding this through a translator's filtering of testimony is difficult.