Written on the conversion certificate: “We hereby confirm that Mr. Jack Lafentra … was circumcised and immersed himself for the purpose of conversion before three witnesses, and accepted the yoke of Torah and mitzvahs upon himself. He is a Jew in every respect, and his name shall be Ya’akov son of Avraham Avinu.” The certificate bears the covert’s photograph, and is signed by Rabbi Waldenberg as Av Beit Din, and by Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef and Rabbi Kapach.
In our generation, when many have breached the wall of purity around the Jewish people, and “instant conversions” and Reform conversions impinge on sanctity and purity, the soul of the people and purity of lineage, it is very exciting to hold the conversion certificate before us, testifying to a conversion done as required by three of the generation’s leaders (from three sectors: Ashkenaz, Sephard, and Yemen), in the manner passed on to us from the time of Moshe Rabbeinu who converted his father-in-law, Yitro.
[1] official State of Israel paper, printed and signed. 16×20 cm. Signed by the rabbis.
Fine condition. Fold marks. Filing perforation. Tiny tears in the folds.