Asked by reporters yesterday about the Ashkenazi haredi claim that most IDF converts do not go on to live an Orthodox lifestyle – which the Ashkenazi haredim say proves their intent on conversion was not pure and therefore their conversions are invalid – Rabbi Chaim Druckman angrily responded this way:
“There are people who won’t let the facts confuse them. There is no such data, and even if there were, it wouldn’t change the validity of the conversions. Conversions are a one-way operation. A convert who does not keep mitzvot will be punished like a Jew who does not keep mitzvot. All our conversions are according to pure Halacha, as passed down from generation to generation. Whoever comes to undergo a conversion does it because he or she really wants to be Jewish. They are not lacking anything. Society isn’t pushing them to convert. They already received the benefits of olim. [Haredim are] caring only about their own. Their sons and daughters won’t ever marry a convert anyway."
The Post also reported a 27% rise in state conversions done for FSU Jews in 2010, and a 6% rise in similar conversions done in 2010 for IDF soldiers originally from the FSU.