Israel's High Court Approves Rabbinical Court's Retroactive Invalidation of Conversion

On Wednesday, a 3-judge panel of Israel's High Court of Justice ruled that a rabbinical court had authority to retroactively cancel a conversion of a woman to Judaism where the woman misled the rabbinical court about her intention to lead an Orthodox Jewish life style.  Times of Israel and Jerusalem Post report that the rabbinical court acted two years after approving the conversion because convert Yonit Erez completely changed her Orthodox lifestyle shortly after her conversion. Critics of the decision say there is no basis in Jewish law, short of bribery, for reversing a conversion. Reform Rabbi Uri Regev says that false promises to maintain an Orthodox lifestyle are common among converts from the former Soviet Union in Israel.