In the end, she decided not to do so. She married a gentile and they had two children, a boy and a girl. Now she regrets her decision not to convert, but she is committed to staying with her husband, so she will not convert at this point. On the other hand, she wants her children to be Jewish. She is very serious about the matter, and is prepared to keep a kosher home and have a "Shabbat atmosphere" in the house. Her son, who is almost five, wants to attend a Jewish school. By way of background, Rabbi Kermaier explained that it is possible to convert a minor to Judaism, on the principle of "zachin l'adam shelo befanav" -- one may accept a benefit for another person without his knowledge. (It is worth nothing that a child who is converted has the opportunity to opt out upon attaining the age of majority.) Whereas an adult must have conscious knowledge of what he is doing, and is thus questioned closely before being permitted to convert, a minor lacks knowledge, and the beit din accepts the benefit of conversion on his behalf. The question then becomes whether conversion will truly be a benefit for the child, which itself may turn on whether he will be raised in a home that encourages him to keep the mitzvot. If not, then the beit din would be more likely to do him harm than good by converting him.

Rabbi Kermaier noted that there are similar cases where a secular Jewish couple adopts a child and wishes to convert him. He also mentioned a case in Hong Kong where a Jewish father and an Asian mother wanted their child converted to Judaism after the father experienced a reawakening of his Jewish heritage, but the mother was not interested in converting. The teshuva said (relying on a Rashi in Ketubot and the Tur and Shulchan Aruch) that beit din will convert the child under these circumstances, provided that it is clear that he will receive a Jewish education and it is reasonable to assume that he will become an observant adult. In the absence of these conditions, it is preferable to wait until the child reaches adulthood, and then he can decide what he wants to do.

In our case, the parents should ideally agree to send the child to a school with a dormitory. Failing that, they should agree to send him to a religious day school (not merely a "traditional" one) and to educate him at home at least in kashrut and Shabbat (and not merely a "Shabbat atmosphere"). The teshuva considered it important that the mother was serious about and deeply loved Judaism.

Footnote 6, which is not printed on the attached PDF file, cites Rav Moshe Feinstein, who held that conversion would be a benefit for the child so long as he attends a Jewish day school, even if he is not raised in an observant home environment.

The teshuva added that if the parents observe Christianity -- e.g., by attending church on Sunday or celebrating Christian holidays -- then the beit din should not perform the conversion. Under those circumstances, the child will be receiving a mixed message and the benefits of conversion would be doubtful.