Editing Giyur (Conversion to Judaism) (section)

== The "Who is a Jew" Law ==
Throughout the generations, Jews have fought against "conversion institutes" that converted people not in accordance with pure halacha, and fought against their inclusion in Judaism. In our generation, one of the Rebbe's well-known battles regarding conversion was for the amendment of the "Who is a Jew" law, which began in 1970. This was a persistent and prolonged battle. The fight was about amending the law that states that a Jew is someone born to a Jewish mother or who has converted. The Rebbe's battle was for the law to specify that a Jew is someone who converted specifically "according to halacha." The Rebbe expressed that registering non-Jews as Jews causes Jewish blood to be spilled. It should be noted that today there is also a problem with "converts" who seemingly underwent a conversion process in a rabbinical court, but present a false facade to the judges about their desire to observe mitzvos while having no intention of doing so. Since they do not observe mitzvos, it becomes retroactively clear that their entire conversion was founded on falsehood.

The Rebbe asked Rabbi Tuvia Blau to edit one of the sichos on this topic in colloquial Hebrew and in an adapted style. The sicha clarified the risk in conversion through the story of not converting Orpah. The sicha was indeed written in a particularly detailed adaptation to convey the message.