SELECTED REFORM RESPONSA
13a, b, b-1: In actual practice only a rabbi officiates, but according to Jewish law, if necessary a non-rabbi can conduct a conversion.
13c. The authority of Semicha of a Reform rabbi: Orthodox rabbis have no legal authority either. The true Semicha ended in the third century. What is called Semicha today in Orthodox life is really Hatarat Hora’ah, the right to teach. In other words, it is exactly equal in status to a graduation diploma. The Reform rabbi has the same rights as an Orthodox rabbi, the right conferred upon him by his education and his acceptance by a congregation. No rabbi in the world has any greater authority.
This should answer 13d, since there is no actual legal authority anywhere in the rabbinate—Orthodox , Conservative, or Reform. I would answer“yes” to d, but an Orthodox rabbi does not recognize the status of any other type of rabbi. 13e is already answered.
14. The relation of a proselyte to his former neighborhood and family: technically speaking, they do not exist for him, but as the Talmud says, he would then justly complain that has left a nobler sanctity for a lower one(Yevamoth 22a). Hence, in many ways traditional law recognizes the relationship that remains between the proselyte and his family. The problem arises practically in questions of whether proselytes should say Kaddish for their Gentile fathers. This has been answered affirmatively in Jewish law.
15a. I do not know of this occurring often, but it did occur at least once. A proselyte attains an indelible allegiance to Judaism
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