A student at a haredi yeshiva was found to have been born to a non-Jewish mother. The story was revealed when the young man began to look for a wife and his mother revealed to him that although his father is a Jew, she herself is a gentile from Ukraine who has not undergone any conversion, Kikar Hashabbat reported.
Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef addressed the affair during his lesson at the Yazdim Synagogue. "The man broke down and ran away from the yeshiva to home and sat and cried. This is a great guy who the head of the yeshiva praised very much," the rabbi said.
At the beginning of his speech, the chief rabbi said: "I came across a story, wonder of wonders. A yeshiva student came and sent his rabbi to speak. The guy went to matchmakers and his mother called him and said, 'Listen, I'm not Jewish, I came from Ukraine.'"
"Oy vey. The guy's rabbi immediately ran and told him he was actually a gentile and he needed a conversion. The guy broke down and ran away from the yeshiva to home and sat and cried. His rabbi came and asked him do you want to be a gentile or convert, and the guy answered, to be a gentile? To violate Shabbat? G-d forbid.
The rabbi said: "The same rabbi came to me and I told him that this is exactly where Beit Hillel should be, to speed up his conversion and that's what we really did. We turned to the one who needed it and he went through the process with great joy."
"This is a guy whose father is getting stronger, and he himself is so great that the head of the yeshiva praised him very much," the Chief Rabbi emphasized.