For many months, there's been an uproar surrounding the proposal by MK Elazar Stern (The Movement Party) aimed at supposedly easing conversion in Israel by taking full authority from the Chief Rabbinate and allowing city rabbis to establish conversion courts. The Chief Rabbis have warned and asked the Minister of Justice not to approve such a law in a Jewish state, as it might cause severe problems for Jewish identity.

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The World Will Not Recognize Conversions from a Jewish State

Out of Necessity: The Rabbinate Threatens Not to Recognize Conversions Under the New Law

The highlight was when rabbis worldwide clarified that they would not accept conversions done in Israel, as they could not be trusted. Many people undergoing conversion or those who have already joined the Jewish people think the new law will not ease conversion at all, and instead, will bring a more severe disaster to the Jewish people.

"It's truly a disaster," decisively states Daniela Shefi, a specialist in complementary medicine who underwent a strict conversion process. "The people of Israel survive thanks to upholding the truth of the Torah," she says painfully. "The new law will bring with it hidden assimilation. People will wander around here as if they're Jews, but they won't know they're not Jews at all. If they're people who are meticulous about mitzvot, they'll turn every stone to be sure beyond a doubt that everything is okay."

"I know personally people who had very unpleasant stories following unreliable conversions. One woman who already had adult grandchildren, during the investigation of their family history, discovered that she, the grandmother, had undergone a Reform conversion. Her daughter was sure she was a Jewess through and through. She married, had children, raised them as Jews in every way, and it turns out they're not Jews at all."

Shefi calls the conversion law a double-edged sword. "The whole point of conversion is to receive a divine soul," she explains. "Who grants the soul? Not a Reform rabbi who decides you're Jewish, not one who gets paid to tell you to immerse and everything's fine. Does anyone have the power to plant a Jewish soul in me? The Lubavitcher Rebbe cried out decades ago that the conversion law must be fixed because one day the very existence of the people of Israel will depend on it. They laughed at him, who even wants to convert? Why would there be a problem? And here today, it comes true before our eyes."

It's good to put difficulties in front of those who want to convert. (Photo: Flash 90)

Shefi is sure that Stern is harming the Jewish people with the law that supposedly aims to ease things. "Someone who genuinely wants to convert, it's good that they face difficulties. Judaism is not something cheap. When I received the signature after a year and a half, I felt elated. I acquired it through hardship, it's precious to me, and I can't give it up. The process began with someone else who managed to get a conversion in six months – she didn't change much..."

Benjamin Chong Alvares, a righteous convert since 2002, also believes that anyone wanting to convert needs to go through a serious process. "In Israel, it's too easy to enter the faith, and that's not right," he says. "If you have a partner or a Jewish father, you benefit from the Law of Return. But people who genuinely want to convert face difficulties. It's absurd that this is how things are managed in Israel."

Alvares thinks the conversion law is terrible. In his opinion, there are things to improve in the conversion system in Israel, but not to take it from the Chief Rabbinate, as many people will face problems because of it. He underwent his first conversion in America in 1998, and the second in Israel. "I completely understood I needed another conversion in Israel," he says. These days, his mother wishes to convert herself, "but she will already go directly to the Rabbinate and Rabbi Karelitz's court in Bnei Brak," he quickly clarifies. "She genuinely wants to be a Jewess, not just".

"What Israel is doing is taking an image of an ISIS fighter and trying to imitate it," says Benjamin Gomel, a righteous convert of Brazilian origin. He stands by his harsh expression because he feels that way when such a sensitive and important issue is taken lightly. "They saw how ISIS expands its army so quickly via the internet and decided to shorten processes and make them easier too. What do they think, they'll gain more soldiers for Israel's army that way?"
Maybe soldiers they'll gain, adds Gomel, but not necessarily Jews. "It's a huge mistake," he says. "People with various interests, with bad traits, corrupted, come and want to join our people. The courts at least investigate, check the desires, the intentions, and make the person precisely understand what awaits them. This topic cannot be made any easier."

"It's truly putting a healthy head in a sick bed. This law won't add anything to Judaism. Being Jewish is the hardest and most complicated thing I've seen, and it requires worthy people. Only if a person is willing to suffer can they be Jewish because that's what happens to the people of Israel all the time. Anyone converting needs to understand that being Jewish isn't a picnic; it's a battle. To convert and continue living like a non-Jew - what have we accomplished? It's a waste of the conversion, especially since often people have converted not in the true way..."

Watch an interview with a righteous convert who underwent the conversion process properly