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From: R. Halevi
Subject: Self-attestation
Date: 9 Kislev 5781
Perhaps. Or perhaps the specification is honest about what can and cannot be determined.
Consider what the tradition itself says. The Shulchan Aruch in Even HaEzer defines criteria for Jewish status: born of a Jewish mother, or properly converted. The Rema adds Ashkenazi glosses and local customs. The responsa literature addresses edge cases: the child of a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother, the convert whose conversion is later questioned, the person whose family records were destroyed.
But even with centuries of legal development, disputes persist. The Shulchan Aruch does not resolve who counts as a valid witness to a conversion. The responsa do not agree on what constitutes proper acceptance of mitzvot. Different communities reach different conclusions from the same sources.
Our specification does not have more authority than the Shulchan Aruch. If the codes of Jewish law cannot definitively resolve these questions, how can a technical format?
—Dov Halevi
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