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Ask the Rabbi: answers from Project Genesis rabbis
How is a minor child converted?
When there’s a good reason to convert a child (adoption, or conversion of a parent), the conversion is done by a Rabbinical court, but when the child’s parents didn’t also convert, the child’s conversion is only conditional, and must be re-affirmed when the child grows up.
“But if the child’s parents didn’t also convert, the conversion is only conditional, and must be re-affirmed when the child grows up.”
Regarding Adoption, Does “parents” in that statement refer to the birth parents of the child, or to the parents who raised him/her? That is… if a child is born to a non-Jewish mother, but is adopted by Jewish parents, and converted properly, then does the child need to re-affirm his conversion when he grows up? And is that Bar/Bat-Mitzvah age…Eighteen? Twenty?
Great question!If a non-Jewish child is adopted by Jewish parents who bring him/her to a beis din (religious court comprised of three rabbinic experts in Jewish Law) for conversion, that child must still affirm his/her desire to remain a Jew on the day of bar/bat mitzvah (thirteenth Hebrew birthday for a boy or twelfth for a girl). If the child openly rejects Judaism at bar/bat mitzvah, then retroactively it is considered as if he/she never was Jewish. Otherwise, he/she is considered Jewish from the time of their early conversion.
The basic reason this affirmation is required is because conversion requires an informed decision on the part of the one converting. Since a child is incapable of making a truly informed decision before he/she reaches a minimum level of maturity (bar/bat mitzvah), he/she must personally demonstrate a desire to be Jewish at the time of reaching
maturity.
Actually, no formal declaration is required. As long as the child continues to act as a Jew on the day of bar/bat mitzvah, this is considered a full affirmation. But, if the child was never informed that he or she was born as a non-Jew (which is a very bad idea, by the way), then whatever day he/she finds out that he/she was born a non-Jew becomes the day requiring affirmation, even at the age of twenty or fifty or one hundred.
But please rest reassured, experience has shown that if a child is raised in a positive Jewish environment and attends a proper Jewish Day School, the odds of not affirming commitment to Judaism at bar/bat mitzvah are practically nil.
Some sources for these laws are Talmud, Tractate Kesubos 11a and Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah, 268:7.
Take care,
Shlomo Shulman
JAAM CT
Maimonides at Yale