UNPROVABLE CLAIMS TO CONVERSION

Solomon B. Freehof

QUESTION: A man aged forty-five has been married for several months. His wife is seeking an annulment of their marriage on the grounds that he misrepresented himself as a Jew at the time of the marriage. The man claims to be a Jew and has considered himself a Jew all his life. His mother was born a non-Jewess. His father, now eighty, states that his wife(the man’s mother) was converted by a Reform rabbi before their marriage. He can find no record of it. To add to the difficulty, the mother, now deceased, was buried in a non-Jewish cemetery. The son(who is now being sued for annulment) was circumcised at a Berit Milah, was Bar Mitzvah, and married by a Conservative rabbi. He was reared as a Jew and considers himself a Jew. He is contesting the annulment on the grounds that if he does not, he will be indicating that he does not believe himself to be a Jew. Is the man to be considered a Jew or not, as far as Jewish law is concerned?(Rabbi Selig Salkowitz, Reform Temple of Fair Lawn, Fair Lawn, New Jersey )*

ANSWER: The problem is complicated. There are a number of

crucial elements involved. The woman, who declares herself to be

Orthodox , has evidently been instructed to contest the validity of

by a Reform rabbi. If that f a Gentile and has he first important

the conversion of her husband's mother conversion is invalid, her husband is the son 0 misrepresented himself as a Jew. Therefore, t question is the validity of a Reform conversion.

pect a strictly Orthodox rabbi to Reform ceremony which varies e Shulhan Arukh. A Reform m to that norm. The fact that

It might be too much to ex acknowledge the validity of any from the norm laid down in th

conversion certainly does not confor: to we may instruct the candidate for conversion muc

thoroughly in Jewish beliefs and history than any Otiiotos Ss would instruct her would be immaterial in the face of the fac

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