CONVERSION IN REFORM HALAKHAH

quite clear that a rabbi should not conduct mixed marriages, yet a child of such a mixed marriage may be raised as a Jew and converted through Jewish education. He urged that the rabbi attempt to convince the mother to become Jewish for the sake of a Jewish home."

The paucity of responsa on this subject in the first four decades of this century indicate that conversion played a minor role in Jewish life until the 1950's. The nature of the discussion gradually shifted from the narrow traditional focus upon ritual to an acceptance of converts with as few obstacles as possible. Conversion for the sake of marriage was accepted in contrast to the tradition.'”® There was a clear acknowledgement that instruction was primary; and that became the policy through the"Report on Mixed Marriage and Intermarriage".

Interestingly, Solomon B. Freehof did not include conversion in the first volume of Reform Jewish Practice published in 1944, but only in the second published in 1952 in a chapter entitled "Marriage and Conversion." Actually only one section dealt with the conversion of children and restated the conclusion of the 1947 report.’

The requirements of conversion and the theological issues involved were avoided, though Solomon B. Freehof dealt with conversion in a more general way(1963) when asked about converting a theological student. He discussed the old question whether conversion is a mitzvah. It is not listed among the six hundred and thirteen commandments, nor do we consider it necessary for any person’s salvation, so we may properly hesitate about accepting a prospective convert."

In recent years a desire for a clearer statement of standards has become evident.’® The need for a formal course of gerut with

122