Thursday, May 08, 2008
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Nizkor et Kulam
Yom ha-Zikkaron is fading. The day is for what we call in Hebrew 'התייחדות,' identifying and feeling the price that we have paid for the right to live and pray, work and study in this, the Land that God Almight promised to Abraham, who tended his flocks on the hills among which I live.
Words fail on days such as this. Everyone here is related to, or knows intimately, someone who either fell or was wounded in defending our country. Every parent with children over 18, knows what it is not to sleep for three years and, after that, during their reserve duty. Many of us who were unable to serve in the army, know what it is to stand guard over the home front from terrorists, and had friends who fell in the line of duty.
We all know, intuitively, that Jews are called upon to live a sacrificial existence.
Please God, let our sacrifices from now on be spiritual.
תהי נשמותיהם צרורות בצרור החיים ויעמדו לגורלם לקץ הימים
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
The RCA Decries the Sherman Psak
[The following statement was just issued by the Rabbinical Council of America. I take special pride and satisfaction in the fact that it was I who first brought the scandal of R. Sherman's psaq to the RCA's attention, provided the members with the relevant information and documents, and kept the issue on the front burner. ברוך ה'.]
Rabbinical Council of America Reacts to Ruling of Israeli Rabbinical Appeals Court regarding Past Conversions by the Israeli Conversion Authority
Leviticus 19:33 : "You (plural) shall not oppress the convert in your land."
Commentary of the Netziv: "The plural form of the verse teaches us that a third party who sees the oppression of a convert and does not protest is also guilty of oppression."
The Rabbinical Council of America, having taken note of the recent ruling of the Bet Din Elyon (Rabbinic Court of Appeals) of Israel, nullifying certain conversions performed by the State Conversion Authority led by Rabbi Chaim Druckman, has today issued the following statement:
Having reviewed the ruling of the Bet Din Elyon in detail, and being fully mindful of the respect due the rulings of duly constituted rabbinical courts in their respective jurisdictions, the RCA finds it necessary to state for the record that in our view the ruling itself, as well as the language and tone thereof, are entirely beyond the pale of acceptable halachic practice, violate numerous Torah laws regarding converts and their families, create a massive desecration of God's name, insult outstanding rabbinic leaders and halachic scholars in Israel, and are a reprehensible cause of widespread conflict and animosity within the Jewish people in Israel and beyond. The RCA is appalled that such a ruling has been issued by that court.
We have been assured by Israel's Chief Rabbi Rav Shlomo Moshe Amar, who is also the President of the Rabbinical Courts System of Israel, that in releasing this ruling the court in question directly countermanded his instructions and policies. He has confirmed that the ruling has no legal standing at this time. We commend Rav Amar for his positive role in this matter since its very inception in the Ashdod regional court.
We add our rabbinic voice to those of others who have called for a thorough review and repudiation of the actions of a select few of the Bet Din Elyon, who in this ruling as in other previous instances, have sought to undermine the Conversion Authority.
For this reason, and others, it is more important than ever that the Conversion Authority be strengthened in its important work in bringing about halachicly proper conversions to our faith and to the Jewish people.
Given the very public nature of the challenge posed by the ruling in question, we call on the Chief Rabbis of Israel to reaffirm their support of the Conversion Authority and its leadership in clear and unambiguous terms at the earliest possible time. Until that will happen, each passing day will cause reprehensible anguish to halachic converts, irreparable harm to the fabric of the Jewish people, and a considerable debasement of the good name of Torah, halachah, and tradition.
Conversion Crisis Redux
A.
Yesterday, I was interviewed on the subject by the Jerusalem Post. Part of that interview is here. I would add that R. Sherman's so-called psak is nothing of the sort. It is an evil, cruel, manipulative piece of propaganda. Halakhically, it holds little (if any) water. It ignores the well known rulings of major Poskim who differ (and with whom he was obliged to deal), such as R. Chaim Ozer Grodzenski, R. Moshe Feinstein and others זצ"ל. It is a Hillul HaShem and Hillul Kavod Ha-Torah. Period.
B.
Last night I attended the emergency meeting of the Rabbis of Tzohar, called in order to protest the indignities heaped upon R. Haim Druckman, the viciousness of the Bet Din ha-Rabbani ha-Elyon and the baldfaced violation of the sensitivities and halakhic status of 25,000 converts!
A highlight was the impassioned address by R. Aharon Lichtenstein who inveighed heavily, and passionately, against this act of sacrilege, this desecration of the Torah's honor. He stated clearly that it is the Dayyanim who dared to disqualify R. Druckman who are, themselves, disqualified. Hatred and prejudice disqualify one from sitting in judgement. At the same time, he cautioned that those who support R. Druckman must conduct themselves as befits God-fearing, Orthodox rabbis and not to stoop to the muck-filled level occupied by Rabbis Attiah, Sherman, Izrer and Scheinfeld. (Though, in typically ethical fashion, he did not name them.)
I don't know how this will play itself out. However, I am willing to be optimistic that the nihilist forces that delegitimize Jews (by birth or halakhic conversion) aren't part of their specific community will not prevail. I saw the determination in the eyes of the Tzohar rabbis. As Ben Gurion said after the bombing of Tel Aviv, 60 years ago Shabbat: אלה יעמדו.
Yesterday, I was interviewed on the subject by the Jerusalem Post. Part of that interview is here. I would add that R. Sherman's so-called psak is nothing of the sort. It is an evil, cruel, manipulative piece of propaganda. Halakhically, it holds little (if any) water. It ignores the well known rulings of major Poskim who differ (and with whom he was obliged to deal), such as R. Chaim Ozer Grodzenski, R. Moshe Feinstein and others זצ"ל. It is a Hillul HaShem and Hillul Kavod Ha-Torah. Period.
B.
Last night I attended the emergency meeting of the Rabbis of Tzohar, called in order to protest the indignities heaped upon R. Haim Druckman, the viciousness of the Bet Din ha-Rabbani ha-Elyon and the baldfaced violation of the sensitivities and halakhic status of 25,000 converts!
A highlight was the impassioned address by R. Aharon Lichtenstein who inveighed heavily, and passionately, against this act of sacrilege, this desecration of the Torah's honor. He stated clearly that it is the Dayyanim who dared to disqualify R. Druckman who are, themselves, disqualified. Hatred and prejudice disqualify one from sitting in judgement. At the same time, he cautioned that those who support R. Druckman must conduct themselves as befits God-fearing, Orthodox rabbis and not to stoop to the muck-filled level occupied by Rabbis Attiah, Sherman, Izrer and Scheinfeld. (Though, in typically ethical fashion, he did not name them.)
I don't know how this will play itself out. However, I am willing to be optimistic that the nihilist forces that delegitimize Jews (by birth or halakhic conversion) aren't part of their specific community will not prevail. I saw the determination in the eyes of the Tzohar rabbis. As Ben Gurion said after the bombing of Tel Aviv, 60 years ago Shabbat: אלה יעמדו.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Nachas!
'He who teaches his neighbour's son Torah, Scripture considers it to as if he had sired him' (Sanhedrin 19b).
Not only children give one nachas, so do students.
Thus, it is with great pride that I announce that my student, Rabbi Dr. Matania Ben-Gedaliah, has been awarded the Jacob Katz Prize by the Leo Baeck Institute, for his ground-breaking doctoral dissertation 'The Sages of Speyer in the Generations After the First Crusade' (which I had the pleasure of directing). Dr. Ben-Gedaliah, in a scholarly tour de force, recreated the intellectual world, from which emerged both the German Pietists and the early German Tosafists. He also remapped the intellectual affiliations and traditions of the major scholars both before and after 1096. The implications of this research will recast many of the regnant assumptions about the origins and develoment of Franco-German Jewry in the Central and High Middle Ages.
Keep an eye out for forthcomong studies based upon his doctorate.
Not only children give one nachas, so do students.
Thus, it is with great pride that I announce that my student, Rabbi Dr. Matania Ben-Gedaliah, has been awarded the Jacob Katz Prize by the Leo Baeck Institute, for his ground-breaking doctoral dissertation 'The Sages of Speyer in the Generations After the First Crusade' (which I had the pleasure of directing). Dr. Ben-Gedaliah, in a scholarly tour de force, recreated the intellectual world, from which emerged both the German Pietists and the early German Tosafists. He also remapped the intellectual affiliations and traditions of the major scholars both before and after 1096. The implications of this research will recast many of the regnant assumptions about the origins and develoment of Franco-German Jewry in the Central and High Middle Ages.
Keep an eye out for forthcomong studies based upon his doctorate.
Hope Springs Eternal
This morning the newspapers are carrying a story that Rav Amar (in his capacity as Chief Dayyan of the Rabbinic courts) rejects the total invalidation of the conversions effected under the aegis of R. Haim Druckman, and will revisit the specific case under consideration. [The report in today's Makor Rishon/HaZofe confirms everything I've written in my previous postings. As soon as it's on line, I'll link to it.]
Meanwhile, the Tzohar Rabbis are holding an emergency meeting this evening to discuss the implications of this latest controversy.
Judging from the number of visits that this site received, and the large number of requests for R. Sherman's Psaq Din, I hope that this blog made some contribution to ameliorating this miscarriage of Halakhah.
Meanwhile, the Tzohar Rabbis are holding an emergency meeting this evening to discuss the implications of this latest controversy.
Judging from the number of visits that this site received, and the large number of requests for R. Sherman's Psaq Din, I hope that this blog made some contribution to ameliorating this miscarriage of Halakhah.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Emes me-eretz Titzmach
Maariv just published an across the boards denial that Rav Druckman's conversions had been invalidated. The Rabbanut spokemen claim that that was never the upshot of the decision by R. Attiyah of Ashdod, or of R. Sherman of the Bet Din Ha-Rabbani ha-Gadol.
However, now it appears that Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar is trying to overturn the verdict of R. Sherman.
Failed Messiah has linked to another of R. Sherman's projects: Cancelling a Conference for the Amelioration of the Plight of Agunot, a year and a half agoi. According to Haaretz (taken grano cum salis):
Rabbis cancel conference on 'chained women'
By Amiram Barkat
Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar last week canceled the conference on women whose husbands refuse to grant them a divorce (agunot), which was due to take place in Jerusalem on Tuesday, at the order of ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv. Amar had obtained Elyashiv's approval for the holding the Chief Rabbinate's first conference on this issue. However, ultra-Orthodox figures in the Rabbinic Courts persuaded Elyashiv to withdraw his approval.
Advertisement
Dozens of chief rabbis, rabbinic court heads and rabbinic judges from the Diaspora had been invited to the conference, and some have already arrived in Israel. Rabbi Amar had initiated the project to find ways of helping women whose husbands refuse to divorce them, and women who cannot divorce because their husbands are missing and not proven dead. Conference participants were to debate whether to impose economic and social sanctions on divorce objectors without infringing on halakhic principles.
Three months ago, Amar persuaded the Haredi sage Elyashiv to approve the conference. Elyashiv conditioned his consent on banning women from the conference. Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, head of the Rackman Center for the Advancement of Women's Status in the Faculty of Law at Bar-Ilan University, was shocked by the decision to cancel the conference, she told Haaretz, although she doubted it would be a turning point in the rabbinical courts' treatment of women. "The conference's importance was in its existence - and canceling it indicates more than anything else the sorry state of Orthodox Judaism, which cannot deal with such a basic and humane issue," she said. Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, the director general of Israel's rabbinical courts, who coordinated the preparations for the conference, was also displeased by the conference's cancelation. "
It was a blessed initiative. It's sad that months of efforts will be lost," Ben-Dahan said. He said he did not know who caused the conference's cancelation and why. However, Haaretz has learned that it was dictated by rabbinic court figures, who object to the efforts to improve the circumstances of women who cannot get a divorce. Supreme Rabbinical Court judges Rabbi Hagai Izirer and Rabbi Avraham Sherman both advocate strengthening the husband's and rabbinical court's status in divorce cases. Izirer even supports authorizing the rabbinical court to cancel a divorce. Thus children born to a woman after she has divorced could turn, retroactively, into bastards. Izirer and Sherman spearheaded a campaign to pressure Diaspora rabbis to refuse the invitation to the conference.
However, now it appears that Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar is trying to overturn the verdict of R. Sherman.
Failed Messiah has linked to another of R. Sherman's projects: Cancelling a Conference for the Amelioration of the Plight of Agunot, a year and a half agoi. According to Haaretz (taken grano cum salis):
Rabbis cancel conference on 'chained women'
By Amiram Barkat
Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar last week canceled the conference on women whose husbands refuse to grant them a divorce (agunot), which was due to take place in Jerusalem on Tuesday, at the order of ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv. Amar had obtained Elyashiv's approval for the holding the Chief Rabbinate's first conference on this issue. However, ultra-Orthodox figures in the Rabbinic Courts persuaded Elyashiv to withdraw his approval.
Advertisement
Dozens of chief rabbis, rabbinic court heads and rabbinic judges from the Diaspora had been invited to the conference, and some have already arrived in Israel. Rabbi Amar had initiated the project to find ways of helping women whose husbands refuse to divorce them, and women who cannot divorce because their husbands are missing and not proven dead. Conference participants were to debate whether to impose economic and social sanctions on divorce objectors without infringing on halakhic principles.
Three months ago, Amar persuaded the Haredi sage Elyashiv to approve the conference. Elyashiv conditioned his consent on banning women from the conference. Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, head of the Rackman Center for the Advancement of Women's Status in the Faculty of Law at Bar-Ilan University, was shocked by the decision to cancel the conference, she told Haaretz, although she doubted it would be a turning point in the rabbinical courts' treatment of women. "The conference's importance was in its existence - and canceling it indicates more than anything else the sorry state of Orthodox Judaism, which cannot deal with such a basic and humane issue," she said. Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, the director general of Israel's rabbinical courts, who coordinated the preparations for the conference, was also displeased by the conference's cancelation. "
It was a blessed initiative. It's sad that months of efforts will be lost," Ben-Dahan said. He said he did not know who caused the conference's cancelation and why. However, Haaretz has learned that it was dictated by rabbinic court figures, who object to the efforts to improve the circumstances of women who cannot get a divorce. Supreme Rabbinical Court judges Rabbi Hagai Izirer and Rabbi Avraham Sherman both advocate strengthening the husband's and rabbinical court's status in divorce cases. Izirer even supports authorizing the rabbinical court to cancel a divorce. Thus children born to a woman after she has divorced could turn, retroactively, into bastards. Izirer and Sherman spearheaded a campaign to pressure Diaspora rabbis to refuse the invitation to the conference.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Conversion Crisis Boils Over
As reported on YNet and last night on Mabat:
All conversions performed since 1999 by Rabbi Chaim Avior and Rabbi Chaim Drukman, who heads the Israeli Conversion Court, must be disqualified,” the Supreme Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem concluded earlier this week, while discussing an appeal made a by a woman whose 15-year-old conversion conversion was annulled by the Ashdod Rabbinical Court, thus naming her children non-Jewish.
In the 50-page verdict, Judges Sherman, Izirer and Scheinfeld it said: "First, all conversions performed since 1999 by Rabbi Chaim Avior and Rabbi Chaim Drukman must be disqualified; second, conversions can be retroactively annulled for those who are not observant."
Literally thousands of people are now in jeopardy of losing everything: their Jewishness, citizenship, families and children. In order to give an idea of the issues here, I'd like to post here some major points made to me by two Dayyanim of impeccable credentials, who are involved in the Conversion Authority:
1) The Conversion Authority (Minhal le-Giyyur) is an independent system of Rabbinical Courts, directly responsible to the Chief Rabbis and the Prime Minister's office. Headed by R. Haim Druckman, the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Ohr Etzion, always requires a period of extended study and a clear, verifiable Kabbalat ha-Mitzvot from every convert. It categorically rejects the opinion that conversion may be effected without Kabbalat ha-Mitzvot. Since 1992, of the thousands of converts that have been certified by the Minhal, only seven have been invalidated. Five were done by the Minhal itself and two by the Bet Din HaRabbani ha-Gadol. All other converts were registered as Jews without question, for purposes of marriage.
2) The special Battei Din for Giyyur have always been an anathema to the Haredi dominated Bet Din system. As Hareidi control has increased, led by R. Avraham Sherman, these forces have mounted a systematic effort to disqualify conversions. This has been done on the direct orders of a certain Hareidi Poseq, whose openly stated objective is the neutralization of the 'Zionist' rabbinate. Toward that end, he mobilized these same forces to abolish the Heter Mekhira for Shemitta. R. Sherman is a loyal follower and soldier of that Hareidi Poseq.
This agenda has been consistently stopped by Dayyan Shlomo Daichovsky, who categorically rejected any attempts to retroactively annul properly performed conversions. Rav Daichovsky, however, was recently subjected to unbearable pressure, and forced to take early retirement. As a parting shot against those who effectively silenced him, Rav Daichovsky wrote a legal testament that will appear in the next issue of Tehumin. (I will forward it on request.)
3) As to the case at hand, the individual did accept the mitzvot in a convincing manner, and the giyyur was duly registered. The issue only arose when the couple came to get divorced. Dayyanim who, as noted hate the Minhal le-Giyyur and obey the dictates of certain Lithuanian quarters, often use such venues to take a stab at the conversions of one of the divorcing spouses. (Not infrequently, moreover, the husband in such cases tries to impugn the wife's conversion as a tactic to obviate a get.) Dayyan Attiah of Ashdod, (who no one I spoke to seems to know personally but whose legal decisions are considered underwhelming), used the opportunity not only to annul the conversion, but devoted his psak to excoriating and vilifying R. Druckman. He was censured for his behavior, but there were no real sanctions taken against him.
The case was appealed to the Supreme Rabbinic Court. The head of the panel, R. Sherman, not only upheld R. Attiah's ruling but disqualified all conversions supervised by R. Druckman retroactively since 1999. Rav Amar, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi, apparently asked him to delay publication of the ruling until a special Bet Din could review it. He ignored the request and issued it anyway.
4) The disqualification of Rav Druckman is based upon an admitted administrative irregularity.
Administratively, not halakhically, conversion courts must be comprised of two Rabbis and a certified Dayyan. Two exceptions to this rule were made: Rav Zaphaniah Drori, the Chief Rabbi of Qiryat Shemonah and the Rosh Yeshiva of the Hesder Yeshiva and Rav Haim Druckman. The exception was made in light of their thirty years of experience in conversion. Rav Druckman, while he was a member of Knesset, was unable to be physically present at a large number of conversions, which did have a presence of three recognized musmakhim. In order to formally validate the conversions, he signed the certificates based upon the valid actions of the actual panel of rabbis. This behavior was called to Rav Druckman's attention. Rav Druckman was called in by both R. Avraham Schapira zatzal and yibadel le-hayyim arukim ule-refu'ah shleima Rav Mordekhai Eliyahu shlita. They told him to stop signing such certificates. Both emphatically added that no big deal should be made of this, because it was merely an administrative matter and DID NOT AFFECT THE VALIDITY OF THE GERUS. Furthermore, they ruled that the acts of one Bet Din should not be questioned by another.
So, Rav Sherman's personal invective is of no halakhic validity. Rav Druckman's response is here.
The Dayyanim with whom I spoke surmised that the result will likely be a tremendous Hillul HaShem, compounded by having the anti-religious Supreme Court adjudicate this case. However, the court will likely emancipate the Minhal le-Giyyur from the supervision of the regular Shas/Degel Ha-Torah/Agudat Yisrael dominated Battei Din.
Maybe, just maybe, מעז ייצא מתוק.
[UPDATE: On Shabbat I had the opportunity to read R. Sherman's decision. Interestingly, he devotes over 75% of his attention to demolishing R. Druckman, 15% to deconstructing R. Daichovsky, and only 10% to the case under consideration.]
R. Sherman's ruling is now available on-line at: http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/Sherman%20Psak-2.pdf
If you have trouble with the download, e-mail me at: woolfj@gmail.com.
All conversions performed since 1999 by Rabbi Chaim Avior and Rabbi Chaim Drukman, who heads the Israeli Conversion Court, must be disqualified,” the Supreme Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem concluded earlier this week, while discussing an appeal made a by a woman whose 15-year-old conversion conversion was annulled by the Ashdod Rabbinical Court, thus naming her children non-Jewish.
In the 50-page verdict, Judges Sherman, Izirer and Scheinfeld it said: "First, all conversions performed since 1999 by Rabbi Chaim Avior and Rabbi Chaim Drukman must be disqualified; second, conversions can be retroactively annulled for those who are not observant."
Literally thousands of people are now in jeopardy of losing everything: their Jewishness, citizenship, families and children. In order to give an idea of the issues here, I'd like to post here some major points made to me by two Dayyanim of impeccable credentials, who are involved in the Conversion Authority:
1) The Conversion Authority (Minhal le-Giyyur) is an independent system of Rabbinical Courts, directly responsible to the Chief Rabbis and the Prime Minister's office. Headed by R. Haim Druckman, the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Ohr Etzion, always requires a period of extended study and a clear, verifiable Kabbalat ha-Mitzvot from every convert. It categorically rejects the opinion that conversion may be effected without Kabbalat ha-Mitzvot. Since 1992, of the thousands of converts that have been certified by the Minhal, only seven have been invalidated. Five were done by the Minhal itself and two by the Bet Din HaRabbani ha-Gadol. All other converts were registered as Jews without question, for purposes of marriage.
2) The special Battei Din for Giyyur have always been an anathema to the Haredi dominated Bet Din system. As Hareidi control has increased, led by R. Avraham Sherman, these forces have mounted a systematic effort to disqualify conversions. This has been done on the direct orders of a certain Hareidi Poseq, whose openly stated objective is the neutralization of the 'Zionist' rabbinate. Toward that end, he mobilized these same forces to abolish the Heter Mekhira for Shemitta. R. Sherman is a loyal follower and soldier of that Hareidi Poseq.
This agenda has been consistently stopped by Dayyan Shlomo Daichovsky, who categorically rejected any attempts to retroactively annul properly performed conversions. Rav Daichovsky, however, was recently subjected to unbearable pressure, and forced to take early retirement. As a parting shot against those who effectively silenced him, Rav Daichovsky wrote a legal testament that will appear in the next issue of Tehumin. (I will forward it on request.)
3) As to the case at hand, the individual did accept the mitzvot in a convincing manner, and the giyyur was duly registered. The issue only arose when the couple came to get divorced. Dayyanim who, as noted hate the Minhal le-Giyyur and obey the dictates of certain Lithuanian quarters, often use such venues to take a stab at the conversions of one of the divorcing spouses. (Not infrequently, moreover, the husband in such cases tries to impugn the wife's conversion as a tactic to obviate a get.) Dayyan Attiah of Ashdod, (who no one I spoke to seems to know personally but whose legal decisions are considered underwhelming), used the opportunity not only to annul the conversion, but devoted his psak to excoriating and vilifying R. Druckman. He was censured for his behavior, but there were no real sanctions taken against him.
The case was appealed to the Supreme Rabbinic Court. The head of the panel, R. Sherman, not only upheld R. Attiah's ruling but disqualified all conversions supervised by R. Druckman retroactively since 1999. Rav Amar, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi, apparently asked him to delay publication of the ruling until a special Bet Din could review it. He ignored the request and issued it anyway.
4) The disqualification of Rav Druckman is based upon an admitted administrative irregularity.
Administratively, not halakhically, conversion courts must be comprised of two Rabbis and a certified Dayyan. Two exceptions to this rule were made: Rav Zaphaniah Drori, the Chief Rabbi of Qiryat Shemonah and the Rosh Yeshiva of the Hesder Yeshiva and Rav Haim Druckman. The exception was made in light of their thirty years of experience in conversion. Rav Druckman, while he was a member of Knesset, was unable to be physically present at a large number of conversions, which did have a presence of three recognized musmakhim. In order to formally validate the conversions, he signed the certificates based upon the valid actions of the actual panel of rabbis. This behavior was called to Rav Druckman's attention. Rav Druckman was called in by both R. Avraham Schapira zatzal and yibadel le-hayyim arukim ule-refu'ah shleima Rav Mordekhai Eliyahu shlita. They told him to stop signing such certificates. Both emphatically added that no big deal should be made of this, because it was merely an administrative matter and DID NOT AFFECT THE VALIDITY OF THE GERUS. Furthermore, they ruled that the acts of one Bet Din should not be questioned by another.
So, Rav Sherman's personal invective is of no halakhic validity. Rav Druckman's response is here.
The Dayyanim with whom I spoke surmised that the result will likely be a tremendous Hillul HaShem, compounded by having the anti-religious Supreme Court adjudicate this case. However, the court will likely emancipate the Minhal le-Giyyur from the supervision of the regular Shas/Degel Ha-Torah/Agudat Yisrael dominated Battei Din.
Maybe, just maybe, מעז ייצא מתוק.
[UPDATE: On Shabbat I had the opportunity to read R. Sherman's decision. Interestingly, he devotes over 75% of his attention to demolishing R. Druckman, 15% to deconstructing R. Daichovsky, and only 10% to the case under consideration.]
R. Sherman's ruling is now available on-line at: http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/Sherman%20Psak-2.pdf
If you have trouble with the download, e-mail me at: woolfj@gmail.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)