Dayan Rav Avraham Sherman Shlita, a member of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel Supreme Beis Din spoke out harshly on Sunday, 2 Rosh Chodesh Elul regarding the establishment of the independent beis din for giyur headed by Rabbi Nachum Eliezer Rabinovitch Shlita, known as Giyur K’halacha.
Speaking during a Kol Chai Radio interview, Rav Sherman explained the argument surrounding the beis din is not one of halacha. Rav Sherman explains there is a general principle relating to issues relevant to Klall Yisrael, including marriage, divorce and conversion. These matters must be decided by gedolei yisrael.
Speaking about the rabbonim affiliated with the new beis din, Rabbi Sherman feels “Regarding all of the rabbonim involved in the alternative beis din, none of them are of this stature of a gadol hador whose ruling is accepted by all the kehillos of Yisrael. When I say gedolei dor, of our generation, there was Rav Kook ZT”L who himself ruled against converting children. Rabbi Herzog also and one who probes his words e says such a conversion is invalid”.
Rabbi Sherman was asked what if these rabbis view themselves as gedolei yisrael. The rav stated “This would be chutzpah and insolence. To come and say ‘we will rule for all of Klall Yisrael’. I will prove by their all of their limud and the character of their halachic rulings that they have not achieved this status of hora’ah. They erred in in the basic fundamentals of halacha and the sources of halacha”.
Kol Chai:
They do not know enough Torah?
Rav Sherman:
I accuse them of willfully distorting the mekoros of halacha to justify their national and social actions that they have initiated.
Rabbi Sherman concludes that anyone converted by this beis din will not be accepted for marriage and if they present a certificate from this beis din, they will not be able to register to get married. “Rabbi Kook wrote regarding giyur
‘תפיסתם של גדולי דור’. איש לא העמיד אותם! זו עזות מצח לבוא ולומר לאותם אנשים שהם הגיעו לדרגה שהם יכולים לפסוק פסיקה שמקובלת על כל עם ישראל”.
Simply stated, this matter must be decided by gedolei hador, and it is insolent regarding those who claim to be of this stature
When asked if he accuses these rabbis of distorting the Torah, Rabbi Sherman concludes “this is exactly the issue”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
I would imagine that being that he has a job at the bais din, he’s got major ngios on the subject. doesn’t like competition.
“I accuse them of willfully distorting the mekoros of halacha to justify their national and social actions that they have initiated.”
Rav Sherman did just that when he ruled that all conversions done by Rav Druckman were pasul without doing the proper investigation. There is no mesorah for anything like that.
There is also no mesorah for centralized conversion beyond the level of the individual community.
It must be noted that Dayan Rav Avraham Sherman Shlita is a Modern Orthodox/Daati Leumi YU musmach who was a scholar-in-residence at YU. And despite this he heroically speaks the truth when these people are trying to corrupt Klal Yisroel.
It must be noted that Dayan Rav Avraham Sherman Shlita does not speak for Clal Yisroel.
#4 – It must be noted the Dayan Rav Avraham Sherman shlita DOES speak in the name of gedolei yisroel…..