Conversion of a Minor
June 17, 2008 This week's class considered a question from Bologna, Italy, with respect to the status of an individual who converted to Judaism while a minor and now is less than strenuous in his observance of Torah and mitzvot. Rabbi Kermaier chose the teshuva because of the recent controversy arising from a ruling purporting to annul en masse 40,000 conversions effected by the State of Israel’s official conversion courts and the dismissal of Rabbi Haim Druckman as head of the official conversion courts. Rabbi Kermaier reiterated his view that the wholesale annulment of conversions, without regard to the facts of each case or even of the batei din that effected those conversions, is itself an illegitimate act, and he lamented that the damage done by such a ruling — throwing doubt on the Jewish status of thousands of Israelis — is immediate and irreversible.
Against this background, the question from Bologna concerned a boy who was converted to Judaism and educated in various mitzvot such as the learning of Torah, prayer, tzitzit, and tefillin, after which he had a Bar Mitzvah and was accepted by the community as Jewish. How is the community to think of the young man if it is known that his observance of Shabbat and kashrut is subpar? Does he have the law of a convert who was raised by gentiles (Shabbat 68b), which, according to the Rambam, deals with a case of a convert who is a minor (Hilchot Shigegot 7:2)? As the Rambam put it:
 In the Rambam’s formulation, someone who forgets that there is a Shabbat or that Jews were commanded to observe it, or was captured by gentiles as a minor, or converted as a minor but raised by gentiles, even if he violated many Shabbatot, would be responsible for only one sin-offering (in the time when sacrifices were brought), because all the violations add up to only one error.
The teshuva from Kollel Eretz Hemdah begins that a minor who converts on condition that he will be trained to observe the mitzvot, and will be raised by an observant family, is deemed a Jew for all purposes. He has the right to renounce the conversion upon achieving the age of majority, provided we don’t see him continuing to conduct himself as a Jew. He must be notified, before his majority, that he has this right of renunciation; if he was not told then, he must be told in his adulthood, and he will then be permitted to renounce his Jewish status at that moment. (Footnote 4 notes that there should not be a delay in informing him, lest he learn of his conversion after many years and renounces it retroactively, which would give rise to many problems.)
If the minor grew up in an observant environment but did not himself observe, that is evidence of renunciation, because he demonstrates that he does not wish to be a Jew. If his environment is not observant, however, then his failure to observe is not evidence of renunciation. Moreover, if he was raised in a somewhat observant environment — e.g., that his family lit Shabbat candles and recited Kiddush — and he maintains that level of observance, then he is demonstrating his wish to remain a Jew, and he cannot subsequently renounce the conversion. (See footnote 9 for a discussion of why partial observance, under these circumstances, is tantamount to an acceptance of Judaism.)
Thus, in the present case, where the young man observes Shabbat, albeit not properly, there is no evidence of renunciation, particularly insofar as he lives outside of Israel and presumably knows less about the mitzvot. Indeed, it is possible that his conduct would be proof that he wishes to remain Jewish, and that he would be barred from renouncing his Judaism.
On the other hand, if the converting beit din failed to condition the conversion on raising the youngster in the way of Torah and mitzvot, then there is a defect in the conversion, and there would have to be a renewed conversion after the youngster reached the age of majority.
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