Leading rabbis in the United States and Israel are contemplating whether to prohibit Jewish conversion for individuals who have participated in anti-Israel demonstrations. In recent months, multiple rabbis, primarily in the US, have grappled with the issue of converting individuals who display clear anti-Israel sentiments yet seek to join the Jewish faith, forcing them to decide whether this constitutes a deal-breaker. While no actual ban has been implemented on any specific protester to date, such a decision appears to be imminent.
Rabbi Elchanan Poupko, a prominent young rabbi in the United States, has delved deeply into this question. He recently approached both chief rabbis, Rabbi Kalman Ber and Rabbi David Yosef, with this inquiry. Simultaneously, he consulted several well-known rabbis in Israel, with Rabbi David Stav explicitly ruling that such individuals should not be converted.
"In the past year, a renewed wave of hatred toward Israel has swept the world," Rabbi Poupko wrote to the chief rabbis. He noted that these individuals are effectively Israel-haters, even though they "claim they don't hate Israel and that all their talk stems from compassion for the Palestinian people and their desire to help them." These protesters "demonstrate in front of synagogues, study halls, and Jewish schools, harass Israelis, assault them, and engage in various other forms of persecution, as well as write about Israel as if they were evil murderers, blood libels similar to what Israel-haters did in previous generations."
Rabbi Poupko mentioned that at least one rabbinical court in the US encountered a case where an individual who participated in anti-Israel protests sought conversion, raising questions about the process.
"While they accepted the commandments to live as an observant Jew, and the court found no fault in their observance of Sabbath, kosher laws, and so forth, they discovered the individual had participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and questioned whether this fact diminishes the acceptance of this person as a convert," he wrote.
The reason, according to him, is that since this person actively harms Jews, they distance themselves from Judaism, even if they are willing to accept the religious laws. "By choosing to participate with Israel's enemies against the majority of the Jewish people who live in the Land of Israel, even though they said 'your God is my God,' it is nevertheless inconceivable to convert them."
Rabbi David Stav, rabbi of Shoham and chairman of the Tzohar organization, has already determined that in his view, there is a prohibition against converting such protest participants. In response to Rabbi Poupko's inquiry, the rabbi explicitly wrote: "This is a very weighty question. The foundation of conversion is joining the Jewish people. Someone who hates the Jewish people and its national expressions cannot be part of it. Of course, one must examine them and see if they have abandoned these views, but if not – it is not right to accept them."
Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon, rabbi of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, also addressed the issue. He noted that it's necessary to examine whether the participation stems from alienation from the Jewish people or if it's highly inappropriate but localized behavior. "It's clear that participating in such demonstrations is a serious transgression," he wrote, explaining that this stems from violating commandments such as "love your neighbor as yourself" and "do not stand idly by your neighbor's blood." According to him, "It is certainly forbidden to encourage and assist those who fight and harm Jews."
"Since if a convert doesn't accept even one commandment we cannot convert them, it appears we cannot accept this convert as long as they intend to continue committing this transgression and participating in these demonstrations," he stated. He further clarified that the entire essence of conversion is connecting to Israel, and therefore "If they indeed find themselves identifying with Israel's enemies and antisemitic movements rather than with their Jewish brothers and sisters, then the very essence of conversion does not exist here."
Rabbi Rimon clarified that one must examine whether the conversion itself would create harm to the Jewish people, but if the irregular behavior is limited to demonstration participation, it's not clear that conversion would create harm. Therefore, he recommended speaking directly with the conversion candidate to clarify that these are actions with serious implications. "If they repent – good, and if they don't repent – we must examine whether this is a local logical failure or if the convert truly opposes the Jewish people, and if so, there is no place to convert them."
Rabbi Poupko, who has dealt extensively with this issue, wrote an article on the subject that is expected to be published in the Techumin journal. In the article, he noted, "There is no doubt that the rabbinical court has been given authority to accept or reject the convert based on their understanding of the worldview and commandments that the convert accepts upon themselves, and to what extent they believe they will continue on the path of Torah and commandments after conversion." Therefore, "Since this convert who demonstrates against Israel comes before a more general rabbinical court, the court can tell them that their worldview is not their worldview... they can and must tell them that they cannot accept them."
In such a case, he suggested, that convert is invited to go to a rabbinical court of ultra-Orthodox groups that oppose Israel, such as Satmar or Neturei Karta, and they will make the decision. "It's impossible to accept both positions. They cannot follow the conditions of Jewish law and customs of the Satmar Hasidic movement while also opposing the Jewish people's residence in their land."
