An “Unconverted” Woman Cries Out Against Rabbi Eisenstein

Shmarya Rosenberg has an article on Jewcy about five haredi rabbis most responsible for the un-conversion crises, and for making it harder to convert in an Orthodox non-haredi fashion. One of these five is Rabbi Nochum Eisenstein. This pillar of Maalot Dafna, the fundamentalist neighborhood that houses the Dark Light, came up with a few minor suggestions that he wanted Modern Orthodox rabbis to enforce, like say, a belief that the world is less than 6,000 years old.

As Shmarya writes,

Speaking at an EJF convention late last year, Rabbi Eisenstein said anyone believing the universe to be older than 5768 years is a heretic who is unfit to serve on a beit din (religious court). This would make any conversions done by that rabbi or beit din invalid. Eisenstein’s source for this ruling? Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv.

Now, Rabbi Eisenstein may seem like a hardline person on paper because of little theological matters like demanding a rejection of scientific method in order to be frum enough for the macher of Maalot Dafna, but apparently, in person, he’s sweet as can be, and straight as an arrow.

Nancy Cuevas Guzman wrote in to Jewcy noting,

Many women are still coming before Rabbi Eisenstein’s Beit Din, in his home in Maalo Dafna, as did I with my 3 other Orthodox witnesses. We were all shocked at the abuse that was hurled at us by Rabbi Eisenstein and his “secretary”, Rabbi Adelman. The both of them were caught in lie after lie, to our amazement they had no shame when we brought to their attention all the discrepancies in in their statements. It was so unexpected to watch this rabbi shout ruthlessly at 4 women for virtually nothing. He apparently had made his decision, that I would not be allowed to go to the mikveh and that he would not allow the giyur l’chumrah, as I was offered at my previous Beit Din appearance before him. He had insisted that I remain a student of Ohel Sarah Imenu, a conversion program which I had long out-grown and which was demanding $50 US dollars an hour to train me and is not State-approved! I was already in an Orthodox seminary and I am already a Jew. I am a “marrano”, a Levy. I only wanted the paperwork in case of marriage. The four of us left the Beit Din in utter shock at what transpired and we all called it a “disgrace in Israel”. Instead they called She’arim had me kicked out of seminary for being a marrano!….a Jew! Many other women have told me similar stories. I was humiliated, lied to and drained financially for I had gone to tremendous expense to bring back all documents from my family’s country at Rabbi Eisenstein’s request….”get the documents and bring them back”