On the conversion issue, there’s a letter in this week’s New York Jewish Week:

The lead article in last week’s Jewish Week (“Chief Rabbinate Barring Conversions From Top U.S. Orthodox Rabbis�) has caused needless anguish to thousands of devoted converts to Judaism (not to mention their families), sown confusion and misplaced anger among many in the Jewish community, muddied sensitive issues and relations within and among religious groups and misrepresented the facts.
Sadly, The Jewish Week has missed the real story. It is true that the rabbinical authorities in Israel are reviewing their standards for recognizing conversions from all over the world, including Israel. This is an attempt to deal with the challenge posed by hundreds of thousands of Russian immigrants, as well as thousands of others coming from all over the world including North America, South America, Ethiopia and elsewhere, whose status is a matter requiring clarification and resolution. This is undoubtedly a real challenge for the State of Israel and the Jewish people, not to mention the individuals and families involved. But to portray this as an RCA or Modern Orthodox issue is simply wrong, and a disservice to everyone involved.
The actual story presents a far different picture, not only of the convert in question but of the outstanding conversion program at Lincoln Square Synagogue that she attended. We know of no case, including this one, where the Israeli Chief Rabbinate has rejected a conversion authorized by the Beth Din of America.
The RCA reaffirms its utmost confidence in the Beth Din of America, and in the conversions performed by RCA rabbis under its auspices.

Rabbi Dale Polakoff, President/ Rabbi Basil Herring, Executive Vice President/ Rabbi Solomon F. Rybak, Chairman, Geirus Commission / Rabbinical Council of America

A few things:
1) It’s pretty clear the RCA was pissed at the NYJW for its original story.
2) While the second paragraph seeks to explain the situation away as part of the activities of the Chief Rabbinate that we all knew were coming, the fact is that we didn’t know they were coming, and neither did the RCA membership. Is it possible that Herring & co. knew they were coming, and that it was their failure to communicate that caused the confusion, and not the Chief Rabbinate’s failure to communicate it to the RCA leadership, as R’ Seth Farber has suggested [1,2]?
3) While the Chief Rabbinate may not have specifically “rejected a conversion authorized by the Beth Din of America,” it seems by all accounts certainly to be rejecting those authorizations. So that seems like a bit of doublespeak.
4) Notice that R’ Gedalia Dov Schwartz’s signature isn’t on the letter. Given that he’s the focal point of a lot of this, that should be noteworthy.

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