Okay: so I guess the articles I read (Hidabroot comes to mind) about Reb. Yemima Mizrachi were misleading. Sigh…
And neither are the Chasidic Rothschilds.
Finally, Avi K: this is quoting Benjamin De Rosthschild from a 1990 Haaretz interview
“And while we are on the subject of religion, let me tell you that the Jewish people made a very serious mistake by turning conversion into such a difficult process. Mathematically, if it goes on like this, the Jewish religion is liable to disappear. If someone wants to convert, let him convert. Don’t make the procedure so complicated that people despair. If you want to become a Muslim it is very simple; if you want to become a Jew it is almost impossible. My mother was converted by a rabbi in Paris but the Orthodox establishment does not recognize her conversion, so that technically I am not a Jew. If so, why do you ask for money from a goy? I think the religious establishment will have to change a great many things in this area, because it’s a matter of survival.”
How very sad.