Eliyah Hawila, a Lebanese Shiite Muslim man who impersonated an ultra-Orthodox Jew and was uncovered only after he had wed a member of Brooklyn’s Jewish community, arrived in Israel over the Passover holiday in order to undergo full conversion to Judaism, Times of Israel reported.
The revelation that Hawila was secretly Muslim sparked fears, and an FBI investigation, that he was working for a terror group to infiltrate the Jewish community, and also outrage that rabbis overseeing the wedding had failed to spot that he was an imposter.
Two weeks after the wedding, the bride’s family discovered documents in his home including a Lebanese passport under a different name.
He was born Ali Hassan Hawila to a Shiite family in southern Lebanon.
Ever since the story came to light, Hawila has gone deeper into Judaism, and has said he underwent extra-stringent conversion, telling Kan news about his attempts to correct what he had done and regain his beloved.
“It felt just like coming home,” Times of Israel reported Hawila said of his first arrival in Israel. “I looked out the plane window and said I was not leaving.”
He has been hosted by Chizki Sivak, a deputy chairman of the Hefer Valley Regional Council, who was touched by his story and wanted to help him.
Hawila said he is trying to prove to his wife and others that even if he lied about his Muslim identity, he is determined to rectify the situation and become a Jew religiously and legally, Times of Israel reported.
“I said I would do it like a man and take responsibility,” he said. “So I went with a legal conversion if it gives me the chance to be with my wife.”
Hawila added that he even took a genealogical test and discovered that he does have Jewish roots.
“I did a DNA test. I opened the phone and saw that I had a connection to Ashkenazi Jews. I felt it all these years and suddenly it has genetic proof. It strengthened me. I said to myself — I am a Jew and I will continue in this direction,” he said.
Hawila said that he hopes that the conversion will allow him to marry and have kids “who are proud to be Jews and Israelis.”
“I want my children to learn in a yeshiva,” he said.
thought he was found to be jewish
He was. By a credible beis din. People need to read the Halacha before jumping to conclusions.
The Beis Din was fooled and the Rabbi that vouched for him lied about what he knows about him as well. That makes the beis din, the Rabbi and Hawila all part of the sham. Welcome to Aliwood.
I am not sure why collive and other media outlets are giving him an outlet. Reality is that this looks like an Agunah story in the making. Because he is now supposingly Jewish, the women he was married to might require a get which he is refusing to give. If he truly is an honest person he should give her a get and only afterwards work on getting her back if that is what he wants. As long as he is keeping her chained he is showing himself as an multifaced lying and sadistic person. ישראל… רחמנים… and he is… Read more »
He hadn’t converted when they got married, so the marriage is halachically invalid from the beginning, they were never married. Even if he converted afterwards, the marriage is still invalid and she is not an agunah
He was converted out of doubt since he came from more than 4 generations of non observance, and she would need a get because he may have been born jewish
If he’s not Jewish , why does she need a get? The marriage wasn’t valid.
Such a warm man, feel so bad he had to go through this.
Disclaimer he almost missed his flight to Israel before pesach but bh he made it safe before yom tov.
Isn’t converting for the sake of marrying someone not valid? 🤔
Yes and No. wanting to marry was the impetus to spark his interest in Judaism. From what I can understand he found his “Bashert” but realized the problems entailed. So he delved into Judaism deeper (than he ever would have) and found information he never knew. Of course the question is, if this all happened (as it has happened to many-a-GER) only for Judaism sake, would he be converted to Judaism, or merely admire it as a “makes sense religion”. We can never know, after studying Judaism, whether his conversion was “leshmoh” or strengthened even more so by his love… Read more »
Not a straightforward answer. Since no one has agreed to marry him if he converts that is likely not an issue. Bigger issue is, if he claims to have been Jewish to begin with like some have suggested… his marriage is arguably valid. I think it is totally irresponsible for any beth din to allow him to convert even “lechumra” without requiring a gett to the woman he “married” if she so wishes.
But the Beit Din did not “allow him to convert.” It was a giur l’chumra. If there is a strong suspicion that someone is Jewish, a Beit Din cannot refuse them a giur l’chumra. If the Beit Din refused to do a giur l’chumra, then it would virtually guarantee that his wife remains an aguna, because a Beit Din cannot properly adjudicate a get if it’s unsure whether the parties involved are Jews.
He was converted because he may have been a jew anyway. There was an investigation going back to his grandmother.
Ye he told hes grandmother to say shes jewish what great evidence!
That’s corect but it doesn’t look like he cares to much obout halacha
Leaving his wife a sofek agunah
And why do you think his wife will ever wanna get back to him?
No. The Rambam delved into this question. His answer in brief is that one may convert to have a Jewish marriage/family. That is not an ulterior motive. One may not convert to marry a specific person, but they may convert because they want to marry/raise their children Jewishly.
Why should a Jew trying to convert have to go through a video of him in the airport going around? What do think he thinks about Yiddishkeit? I would not be surprised if when he saw this video, he turned around and went back home and forgot about Judaism, and now hates Jews, (which is not good for people in those countries) People have to hold Their photography skill for a different time, and to have a normal decency towards people Not long ago there was a video of a older man on a chol hamoed trip, by a trampoline… Read more »
He loves any and all attention. All he cares about is about himself. He is not religious. He is a pathological liar. He doesn’t keep kosher or Shabbos only does so in public. Pretends to be religious on the outside but lives a house of lies. His lies caught up with him once and will catch up to him again. And all of this people that give him a platform to continue his destructive ways to torture a Jewish woman will have egg on their face.
I have a feeling you’re right
He did it to himself by being a liar to everyone who trusted him. He lost anyone’s trust a long time ago and he deserves whatever comes along with it. He will always be suspected of lying.
We’re Lubavitch. We don’t enact Gezerahs on stupid stuff like this. If you don’t like it, don’t look at it. Or go and scream about it in the comments like you are doing, but don’t incite a rabbinical enactment my lord xd
Agree. None of us know what’s really going on here. People know little but are worked up in a frenzy about someone else’s personal life. It’s madness.
It would be wonderful if all the shaila paskeners on this forum actually studied the relevant halachos in Shulchan Aruch Even HaEzer with the applicable Gemara, geonim, rishonim & acharonim before paskening from their boich svaros.
What percentage Jewish is he, like 2%? What a joke. DNA testing means nothing in Judaism. I’m like 1% Eskimo apparently. Maybe I should go explore my roots too. Maybe the beis din should require him to get a pych eval before allowing conversion.
Can u share how it was? Also for what reason someone would do this in jewsih community?
But this is a giur l’chumra, not a conversion. It doesn’t matter whether he is 1% or 90% Jewish- if there is a strong suspicion that his mother is Jewish, but he cannot prove it, then he needs a giur l’chumra, and a Beit Din cannot refuse him that. Giur l’chumra does not mean you’re a non-Jew, promising to be a good Jew from now on and you’ve convinced a Beit Din of this. Rather, it means you are suspected of being born Jewish, and this last step is needed to prove it 100%, for the unlikely case that you… Read more »
I don’t think coll and the frum sites should give this fellow any attention or recognition at all!
The whole story is about the wife, so what do people care about the guy at this point?
At least post something about how is her life now etc, if she is going or not to get a get (non intended xd )
This fellow is a fake. He is an attention seeker.
Please COL (and other media) stop giving him a forum.
What’s next – a book? a movie?
Puh leaz Enuf already
I DON’T GET WHY YOU GUYS ARE BELIEVING HIM. HES A MUSLIM WHO’S MAKING EVERYONE THINK HE’S INNOCENT AND IS A JEW. WHY DO YOU EVEN BELIEVE ONE WORD THAT THIS MONSTER SAID?
HE OBLIVIOUSLY TOLD HIS GRANDMOTHER WHAT TO SAY AND LIED ABOUT EVERYTHING?
HOW DOES HE EVEN HAVE THE GUTS TO LIE AND THEN COVER IT UP. AND THEN A FEW WEEKS LATER SAY THAT HE ADMITS THAT HE LIED. YOU GUYS ARE FALLING INTO HIS TRAP AND BELIEVING HIM.
there is NO ” jewish DNA” ..
So absurd that goy think this.
hey, I have Jewish DNA!!!!
If he was already jewish and afterwards a reliable orthodox beis din converted him, then why does he get to convert again?? How many times is he going to convert?
Additionally most people do this very privately, it’s not a show…
It wasn’t a conversion, but a giur l’chumra.