Information - Non-Members

If I join this Bet Din, will I be required to use it exclusively?

No. Sponsor your candidate under our auspices whenever it seems best for that particular candidate, and for your own situation at the time. You may legitimately decline to use this bet din, preferring instead to use your movement’s Bet Din, or one that you yourself convene.

Our Bet Din does not in and of itself discourage the operation of any other bet din in the region, or question its legitimacy or authority.

What does the training involve?

Our orientation/training lasts 90 minutes. It covers our approach and our policies and procedures. You will also learn a bit about our administrative and governance structure.

What does it cost me to join?

There is no charge to join, nor for our initial training.

We do ask that our members be willing to sit on a panel once a year, as volunteers. (Even so, we understand that a few of our members have work or other commitments that temporarily preclude their serving with us, or that they may live far away and serving on a virtual Bet Din is the appropriate way to serve.)

We send out an annual appeal for donations. Your participation in that campaign is optional. However, many of our members do choose to support our organization financially.

What commitments do your members make?

Here is what we ask each member to sign upon joining us: Letter of Agreement

Do you ever discipline or reject rabbis as members?

Yes. We do so in order to ensure that the rites of passage are meaningful and uplifting.

Example of discipline: we asked a colleague not to denigrate Orthodox Judaism in her remarks to a candidate.

Another example of discipline: we asked a colleague to dress less informally, so as to honor the candidate’s journey to Judaism.

Example of rejection: we asked a colleague not to participate any longer in our panels, after he repeatedly insisted on asking trick questions — and using them as a pretext to deliver a mini-sermon.

We require that our dayanim remain members in good standing of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, to ensure that they are able to receive ethical oversight via their professional rabbinic associations.

What are your standards, and how are they set?

Our standards reflect the “highest common denominator” of the concerns of the CCAR, RA, RRA, and AJRCAA. Our policies are set by our board of governors, which includes representatives of all four rabbinical organizations. Questions of application are addressed to our Rosh Bet Din (and, when further input seems warranted, to our S’gan Rosh Bet Din).

How many conversions do you handle each year?

About fifty.

Where does your funding come from?

In 2021:

• We received about $62,611 in donations.
• Of that, 16% came from our Board of Trustees and a second support level called Guardians; 6% from our own Dayanim (members);  5% from grateful Jews-by-Choice or their family members or friends of the Bet Din.
• We honored Rabbi Stephen Einstein, for his 50 years welcoming new Jews, and we raised $30, 615 for a Scholarship fund named in his honor.
• We received $10,866 in administration fees.
• We received $34,000 in a grant from the Gallant Family Fund/Herbert H. Schiff Foundation.

How is this better than my convening a bet din on my own?

What we do includes:

• Support sponsoring rabbis.
• Promote rigorous standards.
• Consult on unusual situations.
• Offer in-service training.
• Create the conditions for a meaningful experience, for all participants.
• Provide support for new Jews for the first year and beyond.

We provide you with trained rabbinic colleagues who are eager to serve on a panel that meets with your candidates. They will come to the venue of your choosing (among the various options that we make available).

We provide you with relevant resources and help to keep you on track. The net effect is to increase your capacity to work with conversion candidates — or to invest your valuable time in other ways.

Each one of our dayanim is empowered to represent the other 100 or so member rabbis. Our auspices make a symbolic statement that the convert is becoming part of a Jewish people that is much wider than your synagogue or their spouse’s family.

We bring you into contact with colleagues from outside your circle — rabbis whom you might not otherwise see very often, or even meet.

Where do you meet?

Generally, our panel meets with the candidate in one of three types of venue (listed in decreasing order of frequency):

• At the AJU, in a room (provided to us by the university) near the Mikveh.
• At one of our branch offices in Newport Beach, Ventura, or Atascadero.
• At the sponsoring rabbi’s synagogue.
• Virtually in an SCCBD Zoom room.

What resources do you offer to your members?

Our website includes a resource page that features the following categories:

For Sponsoring Rabbis

• Checklist
• Scheduling tools (timeline and calendar)
• Venue options and policies
• Preparing the candidate (adult and child)
  • Suggested topics for personal reflection (“essay questions”)
  • Choosing a Hebrew name
  • Explaining hattafat dam b’rit to your male candidate
• Endorsement and other forms

For Other Dayanim

• Procedures for the bet din session
• Model questions
• Required questions

Consultation via phone or email with our coordinator and/or our Rosh Bet Din has proven valuable to many of our members.

In-service training in recent years has consisted of a highly regarded, 4-hour-long, annual Yom Iyun.

• Issues in the Conversion of Children (2013)
• Transgender Folk in the Conversion Process (2015)
• Why Convert (2019)
• True Jews/All Colors (2021)

During the Bet Din session, what is asked of the candidate?

Our meeting with candidates typically begin by offering them an opportunity to recount their decision to become a Jew. We also ensure that they are converting freely, and that they understand what it means to live as a Jew. We don’t expect them to be an expert on Judaism; however, we do expect them to be committed to continuing to learn. We avoid trick questions.

Typically a member of the panel will explore the candidate’s relationship to touchstones such as Shabbat and kashrut. We expect the candidate to say that “Shabbat is a special day for me (and my family) in the following ways” or “My Jewish way of eating is as follows.” We expect them have some exposure to, and respect for, traditional practices, even if they are not following them at this time.

When a candidate is accepted, the session closes with his/her reading aloud of our “Declaration of Jewish Commitment.”

Does this Bet Din ever reject candidates?

Yes, but it rarely happens. It’s rare because our executive director has worked with the sponsoring rabbi in advance, in order to ensure that the candidate is truly ready.

What is your relationship to the AJU Mikveh?

We have been working closely together, to ensure that the sessions run smoothly. Our usual arrangement is for the candidate’s meeting with the bet din and the mikveh immersion to be completed during the same appointment.

Why should I join if I am not sponsoring any candidates?

Our Bet Din provides a handy opportunity for you to take part in the rites of conversion. These moments can be among the most gratifying of a rabbi’s career!

How do you handle people who were raised Jewish but not born to a Jewish (biological) mother?

Regarding someone whose (biological) father was Jewish, or who was adopted as a child by Jewish parents, our “highest common denominator” answer is:

We ask them to go through the same outward ritual process (of Bet Din and mikveh)  as someone who was not raised as a Jew.

We respect that their present sense of identity may already be fully Jewish. Yet in such situations we tend to use the term affirmation in addition to conversion — while not taking it so literally. That’s because the outward process is virtually the same, in order for the person to achieve Jewish status in the eyes of all of our member rabbis. We do have a modified version of the Declaration; we call it an Affirmation of Jewish Identity for such candidates to read and sign after Bet Din.

What do converts say about their experience with the Sandra Caplan Community Bet Din?

• “I was glad to have rabbis from three movements on the Bet Din at my conversion. I feel that I have embraced and been welcomed into the entire Jewish community.”
• “Everyone was so kind. I was surprised at my emotions.”
• “I feel like a whole new person.”
• “I have always lived a Jewish life and I didn’t think the process was for me. Now I am so grateful to have done this. It was good.”
• “The entire experience was amazing, beyond words, like nothing I have ever felt before. I’m happy my rabbi could be with me.”
• “At long last, I am home where I belong among my people.”