The Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, Shlomo Amar, has stepped in to try and defuse a row on conversions. The Jewishness of thousands of converts was cast in doubt by a High Rabbinic Court decision that accused the Israeli State Conversion Authority rabbi, Haim Druckman, of intentionally transgressing Jewish law, forging official rabbinic documents and lying. The court ruled that, as a result of Druckman's alleged criminality, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of conversions performed by him were invalid,. According to Jewish law, the honesty and uprightness of the three rabbinical judges who conduct the conversion process are essential to the validity of the convert's transition from gentile to Jew.
However, chief rabbi Amar assured that the conversions would continue to be recognized by the rabbinic establishment. A spokesman said the chief rabbi stood behind Druckman and recognized his conversions as legitimate. The rabbinical court’s decision had been published against Amar's express order. The spokesman hinted that disciplinary measures might be taken against Sherman and the two other judges who signed off on the decision.
