Thread by @JYuter

1. Time for another Twitter shiur.

Against my better judgment, today's topic is nullifying conversions to Judaism.

2. Usual disclaimers apply: This is in no way comprehensive, and should not be taken as a halakhic decision or commentary on any policy. I am not even referring to any specific cases. My only purpose is to give some halakhic background for why it comes up in the first place.

3. The status of being "Jewish" is binary: one either is or is not Jewish. Assuming someone *is* Jewish, there is a spectrum of citizenship which I describe below. Conversion is the process by which an individual changes their status from gentile to Jew.
joshyuter.com/2018/09/16/spe…

4. There are three components to converting to Judaism: 1. Circumcision (for males) 2. Immersion in a mikvah 3. offering a sacrifice (Keritot 9a).
sefaria.org.il/Keritot.9a.4?l…

5. Even though we have no sacrifices anymore, we can still accept converts, with the presumption they would offer the requisite sacrifices when possible (Keritot 9a).
sefaria.org.il/Keritot.9a.10?…

6. In fact, the initial rule was that converts had to set aside money to offer a sacrifice in the future, but this rule was rescinded (Keritot 9a)
sefaria.org.il/Keritot.9a.11?…

7. When we get to the requirements of circumcision and mikvah, there's technically an additional requirement that the potential convert accepts the obligations of keeping the commandments, and all that entails in front of a Jewish court (Yevamot 47a).
sefaria.org.il/Yevamot.47a.13…

8. When I refer to the "nullification of conversions," I'm not referring to deviations from the conversion process itself. If a new denomination decides the conversion process only entails performing the hokey pokey, that's not a "nullification" but nonsense.

9. Rather, discussions over nullifying conversions are centered around a critical flaw in the conversion process itself which would invalidate the binary status change from gentile to Jew, regardless of how people see themselves.

10. These critical flaws usually come in one of two forms. The first is if there was some deficiency in the convert accepting the obligations of observing Torah (Bekhorot 30b).
sefaria.org.il/Bekhorot.30b.4…

11. The second is if the officiating court was a "valid" court. I cannot get into all the details here, but some actions described in this post would be disqualifying.
joshyuter.com/2018/09/16/spe…

12. In terms of practicality, it's a bit harder to disqualify someone on the grounds of inappropriate intent bec it's hard to identify. Some point to subsequent observance as a metric, but this is rejected (Bekhorot 30b)
sefaria.org.il/Bekhorot.30b.3…

13. Which leads some to reexamine observance levels *at the time* of conversion as the basis for challenging the honesty of someone's initial intent. There's more discussion in commentary/respona re what exactly must be accepted, but that's beyond our current scope.

14. Compared to questioning the integrity of the convert, it's "easier" in to challenge the integrity of the officiating beit din/Jewish court due to member's public statements or actions. (Though these too may be subject to dispute as to what counts as a "disqualification")

15. In any event, if there was a critical flaw in the conversion process, the conversion effectively "failed" and it was never valid. Thus, the binary shift from gentile to Jew never occurred in the first place.

16. One can see how fights over status are inextricably tied to disagreements and demands over religious legitimacy, which is a large reason why they're so contentious.

17. In my opinion, status issues also an area of conflicting orthodoxies and coercive expectations bec they transcend communities. Demanding one group accept one standard as legitimate means imposing one's view on others and denying them the right to disagree.

18. In conclusion, this is just a brief summary of the major issues. If anyone is interested in learning more, the best single book I know of on the subject is Conversion: Halalkhah and Practice by Menachem Finkelstein
amazon.com/Conversion-Hal…

19. Thank you for reading and have a lovely day. \fin