What was The Syrians communities Rabbis motivation For disallowing conversions and when did it happen and did any other Sephardi communities join in this decision later on?
Answer
When their community first started to take root in the US many of their men began to date gentile women. This lead naturally of course to them wanting to marry these women. However given the strong social stigma and taboo associated with intermarriage (not to mention the halachic issur) many of them preferred to encourage their romantic partners to convert to Judaism. This however is a halachically dubious practice (see Hilchos Issurei Biah 13:14). Accordingly the community (primarily under the tutelage of Rabbi Kassin) enacted the "Edict." Here is a copy of a letter that Rabbi Saul J. Kassin issued to his community re-affirming the original edict: Rabbi's Message. As far as I am aware no other communities have joined in on this ban.
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