In light of the tragic story which hit the news today, where it was discovered that a Choson might have not been Jewish, after the officiating Rabbi didn’t check properly, and as a result some have condemned the Shliach who relied on the officiating Rabbi and participated in the wedding, a conference call took place today between directors of Batei Din in America, who deal with these issues on a daily basis, and they issued the following letter to the Shluchim mentioning the plan to create an office which will assist Shluchim with Birur Yahadus, Sidur Kidushin and more.
Below is the entire letter:
To the Rebbe’s Shluchim Sheyichyu,
Greetings and Blessings,
In light of today’s news, whereby a certain Rabbi officiated a wedding without properly researching the genealogy (“Birur Yahadus”), and afterwards a suspicion arose that the Groom might not be Jewish, and pictures of the wedding have been published which caused some to condemn a Chabad Shliach who relied on the officiating Rabbi thinking he did proper research – A conference call took place today to discuss the situation and decide how to prevent such occurrences from happening, and thus strengthen the holiness of the Jewish nation, in line with the Rebbe’s Sichos about the importance of correcting the terrible damage done with allowing Non-Jews to enter the fold of Am Yisroel.
Participating in this conference call were the undersigned Rabbis, who serve as directors of veteran and renowned Batei Din across the American continent (which are also recognized by the Israeli Rabbinate), who deal on a daily basis with matters of Birur Yahadus, Birur Yuchsin, Geirus and Gittin, and who are in constant contact with Rabonim across the world.
After discussing the matter at length we have decided as follows:
1. In the upcoming weeks, after consulting with Rabonei Anash, we will (with G-d’s help) publish a clear set of guidelines regarding Birur Yahadus, Birur Yuchsin, Sidur Kidushin, Gittin, accepting Geirim, and other topics related to preserving the purity of Am Yisroel.
2. Any person who officiates a wedding must be well-versed in the Halachos of Birur Yahadus, Birur Yuchsin, Sidur Kidushin, etc., and should receive approval from a renowned Rabbi to officiate at weddings. Without this prerequisite, one shall not officiate at a wedding nor certify someone’s Jewish status, so he should not be causing the masses to stumble, ו”ח .
3. One may not rely blindly on Geirus certificates, even from Orthodox Rabbis, without first researching properly the integrity of the Rabbis who performed the conversion, about the integrity and sincerity of the converts, and about their acceptance of Mitzvos.
To assist the Shluchim, we will (with G-d’s help) set up an office to help and assist the Shluchim in the above matters, to connect the Shluchim with Batei Din, etc. And to facilitate a registry of Birur Yahadus, Birur Yuchsin, Kidushin, Gittin, etc. which are performed by Shluchim.
May it be G-d’s will, that in the merit of preserving the sanctity of Am Yisroel, and specifically in an area which is crucial to the existence of Am Yisroel, we will merit the true and complete Redemption speedily in our days.
Rabbi Chaim Sperlin
Los Angeles, California
Menahel Beis Din
Agudas Yisroel of the West Coast
Rabbi Sholom Shuchat
Brooklyn, New York
Menahel Beis Din
Union of Orthodox Rabbis-Agudas Harabonim
Rabbi Moshe M. Liberow
Boston, Massachusetts Menahel Beis Din
Rabbinical Council of New England
Click here for full letter in Hebrew and English
We have non Jewish girls living in crown heights who pose As a Jewish girl . Even seen working with jewish children . Is that a problem ? Is it a problem they even go to Shul dresses tznius and Daven ? Just wondering on a spiritual level ?
Are you referring to ?
Can you please explain
Are they doing so to be deceptive?
Are they mentally unstable and looking for the security of a community?
Or are they in the middle of conversion?
Those are all very different circumstances
You have true facts or you heard ?
How do you know?
Excellent decision and even in ISRAEL needs to be done! My cousin married a girl that was raised by her Sefardi Israeli father but her mom was Polish non Jew- the daughter spoke fluent Hebrew and yet she is not Jewish! I wonder what rabbi married her in Calif. !
“where it was discovered that a Choson might have not been Jewish”
If he is Jewish, his relationship is effectively over. If he is not Jewish, surely this should be confirmed before the story goes live. The fact that checks were not performed is absolutely concerning, but all of this hinges on that word “might”.
Rabbi Yoram Ulman and his team is very good at identifying origins. He will leave no stone unturned. If need be, he would get info on tomb stones etc…He is an expert at digging info and getting to the bottom of things…….
But MAYBE there is an upside – the beginning of Moshiach doing the crucial Geulah job of sorting out the authentic Yidden from the non-Jews !
Which terrorist group trained and funded him !
you obviously never learnt rambam
משיח לא בא, לא לטמא את הטהור ולא לרחק קת הקרוב וכו’
and see the Rebbes Hadran 5747 on this subject
apparently they (father & son mesadrei kidushin) didnt do any AT ALL
Thank you for uniting together in this important task. I wish the same vigor and urgency you use for this worthy cause could also be used in creating, publicizing and enforcing a halachic pre nup that will be accepted in the Chabad community.
Especially Rabbi Sperlin!!
Maybe there will be law and order once and for all!
From the story I saw concerning this earlier today, this had nothing what to do with Geirus certificates. Funny that’s who is brought up the most. Seems that the issue had to do with not looking into the status of someone professing to be Jewish born not someone showing a conversion certificate. And cases lately of people being shown as not Jewish were not professing conversion at all. Someone who goes through all the proper steps for conversion and then now because of these incidents are being scrutinized does not seem so nice to me.
The issue is that someone may not go through all the proper steps for conversion, but may be posing as though they have (Riskin, cough cough)
If there was giyur in the family even a few generations back (in the mother line, of course) that would make the descendant Jewish IF the giyur was proper. Unfortunately, there are many people who go thru “giyur” that isn’t done properly (even r”l in orthodox communities). That’s why researching the giyur and getting to the bottom of it is integral to confirming someone’s yahadus. These cases must always be scrutinized, and may have nothing to do with this particular story (this story was with someone attesting to being Jewish from birth – not a ger), but it is a… Read more »
Can we have the same unity to end the agunah crisis?!?!?!
We should all convert so it would be taken care of. Just like by hakel when they took upon themselves the Torah we should also convert.
Mamzerus is still a problem when it comes to birur yuchsin, esp in a case of גיור לחומרא
There is a reason the Rebbe said that our girls shouldnt run to marry the ethiopians…
We need a rabbinical team to give guidance on tznius and technology. We are clueless in these areas
I am a shliach and i have used Rabbi Barber for all my birur yahadus shailos and I know many shluchim who use him as well. If a frum Rov is being mesader kiddushin I don’t think it is the acharayus of the shliach to be mevarer if choson and kallah are both Jewish. I think setting up a system is a great idea however I don’t see how it would have helped in this case. A shliach does not check everyone who comes to a program that they are 100% Jewish. Especially on campus. In this case the shliach… Read more »
The issue was that the Shliach was just an Untefirer. The onus was completely on the officiating Rabbi.
When someone invites you to a wedding it’s not your job to find out the status of the chosson.
The call for strict standards applies when the Shliach is the officiating Rabbi and the above statement only addresses that point. Which I’m sure the Shliach does a through research before making a wedding.
The statement doesn’t address when the Shliach is invited to a wedding as a guest.
This letter is premature. The only source for the story that this man is, in fact, an Arab, is the the wife’s claims. For all we know, we’ll find out over the next few days that proper birrur yahadus was done and this man is Jewish.
Also, today’s allegedly tragic events is a once-in-a-century thing. New rules aren’t necessary for things as uncommon as this
This is a breath of fresh air , Lubavitch needs Rabonim to step up where there is a void. Major yashar koach for this much needed initiative!
Here in the UK any marriage that take ls place in a shul, must be officiated by a Rov accredited by the Office of the Chief Rabbi. This office looks into Yuchsin of all prospective marriages. It also has an added benefit that the Chief Rabbis office has records going back over a hundred years.
Due to the nature of these most intricate and delicate matters which are standing on רומו של עולם it is supprising that such young Rabbis are looking to be in charge of such severe matters.
The Rabbanut has a list of who they “approve” of. In any case, there can always be a possible “bad” get or a “bad” geirus even from a recognized “beis din”.
https://www.gov.il/he/Departments/publications/reports/beit_din_in_world
https://www.gov.il/he/Departments/publications/reports/beit_din_gitin
There are also missionaries posing as Orthodox Jews. Along the way, they are gaining legitimacy though shluchim who unknowingly welcomed them. It is imperative that shluchim are prudent about the people they are being makarev. This hit close to home when it was discovered that a child from a missionary family was in my child’s class (in a religious school). The family posed as entirely frum. Both parents had affiliations with Chabad that they used to gain legitimacy in the wider community.
incorrect everyone is welcome in chabad houses so you cant by them door ask them if they’re Jewish
The second rule is unattainable. It is much better if there was a Bais din that created a centralized system for Beiur Yahadus. Similar to what they have in United Kingdom, South Africa and Israel.
Saddly the system in the US where the Rabbi does the checking and not a centralized system. Has caused many Rabbi’s both Chabad and not Chabad to make mistakes.
Checking for every wedding should be done like they do in the UK where the office of the Chief Rabbi-London Beis Din Marriage department do thorough checking over and over again before confirming a marriage may go ahead. Why are shluchim etc not doing the same.?
This same applies to gayrus too. Each shliach must ask themselves would they want this person to marry one of their own children?
Once cannot rely of passports and birth certificates
It appears that the young couple did not apply for a civil marriage and had they done so the “kallah” would have been aware of the “chosson’s” background. The officiating rav also did not require civil documentation.
GOOD MORNING, HELLO? SHOULD THAT NOT HAVE BEEN STANDARD PROCEDURE EVER? HOW MANY RED FLAGS IS REQUIRED FOR A BOY FROM LEBANON WHOSE PARENTS DONT SHOW UP FOR A WEDDING AND HAS GIVEN MULTIPLE FALSE NAMES ON SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
HONESTLY DID NOT A SINGLE ROV ASK TO SEE HIS PASSPORT!??
ITS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE
who are these Rabanim to decide what Shluchim do? There are Rabanim bais dins etc..all lubavitch? why do we need outside groups to decide what shluchim should do? who decided it was needed? This story had nothing to do with Shluchim? Ask Vaad Rabanaei lubavitch!!! im shocked that this was even considered!
The following statement was released by Rabbi Yossi Lazaroff, the Chabad rabbi in Texas: Since 2007, the Rohr Chabad Jewish Student Center at Texas A & M has been serving all Jewish faculty and students to explore their Judaism. A student, presenting himself as Eliyah Hawila, who frequented campus Jewish institutions (including serving as president at one), began visiting Chabad in 2018 (he never studied at a Chabad affiliated yeshiva, nor was he proficient in Hebrew). Last year he met a woman from N.Y. on a Jewish dating website. He falsely presented himself to her as observant. When I was… Read more »
How sad and unfortunate for this young Kallah. From what I heard of this situation, the parents and daughter were not on good speaking terms. When parents are involved they usually do references check and find out background etc. This girl met this boy on a website with no Shadchan or anyone really involved to do any checking. She had to put the wedding together by herself- with the help of some gemachim etc. My heart goes out for this young lady and her family. May we all seek out Shalom and merit to have the Shechina dwell in our… Read more »
Maybe Rabbanim/Mashpiim can reunite children who are not speaking to parents. This is unfortunately becoming an epidemic. Children who have “issues” with their parents should heed the Torah directives of
כבד את אבך ואת אמך
There is almost always a way for שלום
Three helpful resources:
Rabbanut list online of approved batei din for גיור and גיטין in chutz Learetz.
(Not perfect, but very helpful.)
GPS – geirus standards for participating Beit dins in America led by the RCA (Beth din of America).
There are dozens of experts in בירור יהדות , one should consult with their local area.