Jewish-born man returns to Judaism after years as a Muslim

‘A.’ wept after the Beersheba rabbinical court accepted his petition returning to the fold.

By David Hellerman, World Israel News

After converting to Islam years ago, a Jewish man returned to Judaism as the Beersheba district rabbinical court accepted his petition, court documents cited by Israeli media showed.

The Jewish-born man, identified only as “A.”, had converted to Islam and his Interior Ministry documents identified him as Muslim.

The man approached the Lehava organization about returning to Judaism several months ago. The Jerusalem based Lehava fights Jewish assimilation.

Lehava’s heads, Bentzi and Anat Gopstein gave A. support and guidance, helping him learn about Judaism and its customs.

“The case of ‘A’ teaches us that it is forbidden to despair, whatever the situation may be,” Bentzi Gopstein said. “After long years during which ‘A’ lived as a Muslim, the Jewish spark in his soul ignited and brought him back to his source, back to Judaism.”

Anat Gopstein explained that “‘A’ told us that he wanted to return to Judaism so that he would be able to be buried as a Jew. When the rabbinical court gave him a positive response, it was a very emotional moment for him, and he literally wept.”

“In most of the cases we deal with,” she added, “it is women who are appealing to us to return to Judaism after converting to Islam. But there are men, too, and we do everything we can to help them.”

Bentzi GopsteinLehavarabbinic court