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<\/a><\/p>\nThe Argentinian flag flies in Buenos Aires, Feb. 10, 2006. (Ken Walker\/Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Representatives of non-Orthodox movements reacted angrily, asking why the ruling was issued now and saying it would essentially subject Argentinian converts to the tight hold that Israel\u2019s Orthodox rabbis have on conversion.<\/p>\n
\u201cOrthodoxy is attempting to present itself as the sole legitimate source of Judaism and halachic [Jewish legal] authority,\u201d Rabbi Ariel Stofenmacher, the rector of the Seminario Rab\u00ednico Latinoamericano, the Masorti\/Conservative movement\u2019s seminary in Buenos Aires, told JTA. \u201cWe are concerned that members of the Jewish community in Latin America, where about 80 percent or more are not Orthodox, may read that statement by an important rabbi and feel confused.\u201d<\/p>\n
The document, issued on Jan. 13 and signed by Chief Rabbi Yosef Chehebar, reaffirms a takanah, or rabbinical ban, first established in Argentina in 1927. The authors of that ban, Rabbi Shaul Sitehon Dabah of the Syrian-Aleppo tradition and the Ashkenazi Rabbi Aharon Goldman, emerged in response to a proliferation of lax or irregular conversions, particularly in rural areas among Jewish immigrants.<\/p>\n
The statement signed by Cheheber describes the ban as \u201cgeneral and binding.\u201d It emphasizes that the decree was enacted permanently, \u201cwith no temporal limitation or expiration whatsoever,\u201d and frames it as a safeguard for \u201cthe purity of lineage and the sanctity of our families.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the years since the original ban, however, non-Orthodox rabbis say the conversion process has been standardized, and that the level of preparation in Argentina is considered very high. The Masorti seminary, which has conducted conversions since its founding in 1962, argues that the reasons for the restriction \u201care no longer applicable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Critics of Cheheber\u2019s document say there have been no recent incidents or developments that would have prompted such a reminder.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe reject recent statements that invoke a cherem from the 1920s to invalidate conversions carried out outside the State of Israel and by non-Orthodox rabbis, as well as the use of language that appeals to notions of \u2018lineage,\u2019 \u2018purity\u2019 or \u2018contamination,\u201d the Seminario Rab\u00ednico Latinoamericano and its affiliated Rabbinical Assembly said in a statement Jan. 15. \u201cSuch claims are halachically unsustainable and ethically unacceptable, particularly when they introduce categories alien to Judaism and morally offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rabbi Isaac Sacca, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Buenos Aires, posted Chehebar\u2019s ruling on social media and defended it in an interview with JTA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe regulation represents a self-imposed limitation by Argentina\u2019s Orthodox rabbis on their own authority, undertaken in order to ensure security and peace of mind that a practice as delicate and sacred as conversion is carried out with due seriousness, and that neither the convert, nor families, nor the community are misled,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Conversion has been a flashpoint between the diaspora and Israel, where the Orthodox rabbinate for decades held a near monopoly on Jewish lifecycle events, including conversion. Non-Orthodox conversions were recognized in Israel under a landmark ruling handed down by the Israeli Supreme Court in 2021, but non-Orthodox groups continue to object to government regulations that complicate the recognition of these conversions.<\/p>\n
Conversion has been particularly fraught in Latin America, including the controversies that led to the 1927 takanah and, more recently, the mass conversion in Brazil, Colombia and other countries of people who identify as Bnei Anusim \u2014 descendants of Jews forcibly converted during the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions.<\/p>\n
Within Orthodox circles in Argentina, preparatory stages for conversion may take place in the country, but the beit din, or rabbinical court, that validates them operates in Israel. According to sources who asked to remain anonymous, the target of the latest ruling was not the non-Orthodox movements but Orthodox rabbis who had been offering more flexible alternatives to prospective converts, such as completing an Orthodox conversion in neighboring Uruguay and then returning to Argentina to seek its recognition in Buenos Aires.<\/p>\n
Chehebar\u2019s recent statement specifies that the takanah \u201capplies both to any person residing in Argentina, as well as to anyone coming from another country with the intention of establishing residence in national territory, even in cases in which the giyur [convert] has already been carried out in their country of origin or another country, outside of Eretz Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether any specific incident had triggered the statement, Sacca replied: \u201cWe are not aware of any particular event. It is simply a reminder that the Sephardic Chief Rabbinate of Syrian-Aleppo tradition has conveyed to our rabbinate for public dissemination.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ruling \u201cdoes not constitute a rejection of the convert, nor does it devalue those who sincerely seek to join Judaism,\u201d he added. \u201cOn the contrary, it functions as a halachic safeguard designed to preserve a core commandment linked to Jewish identity, in a context marked by social pressures and institutional weaknesses. It also seeks to prevent hasty decisions that could affect the spiritual and personal lives of those seeking conversion, as well as those of their descendants.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Masorti movement insisted that its own rabbis conduct the conversion process in a manner that is \u201cserious, demanding, and deeply Jewish,\u201d based on rigorous study, commitment to Jewish life and responsible rabbinical guidance. \u201cThose who join the Jewish people through this path,\u201d the statement affirms, \u201care received as full Jews, with dignity and complete belonging, in accordance with rabbinic tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Stofenmacher: \u201cWe reaffirm that we conduct legitimate conversions in accordance with the halacha, as we have done for decades, with thousands of individuals who have joined the Jewish people in our region, and we will continue to do so in all the communities where our rabbis serve.\u201d<\/p>\n