Giyyur 018
of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel
and the Masorti Movement
HALAKHAH STUDY GROUP
Today's shiur is dedicated by Marvin Szymkowicz
in memory of his father,
Wolf Szymkowicz
Zev Me'ir ben Moshe Leib z"l,
whose Yahrzeit is today.
THE HALAKHAH OF GIYYUR (Conversion to Judaism)
Wherever you go I will go; wherever you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die and there I will be buried. Thus and more may God do to me if anything but death parts me from you. [Ruth 1:16-17].
(For the Hebrew text of this passage please click here.)
Part Four (continued).
30:
We have seen [Giyyur 017] that Rabbi Ĥelbo made a comment in the Gemara [Yevamot 47b] that seems to be quite derogatory towards the easy acceptance of converts.:
Converts are as problematic for Israel as a scab.
We have also seen that the Tosafists tried to soften the percieved harshness of Rabbi Ĥelbo's teaching. ((You can learn about the Tosafists in Avodah Zarah 008.) Actually, the way in which the Tosafists deal with this matter can serve as a good example of the manner in which they comment on the Talmudic text in general. Often they take Rashi's comments and suggest that Rashi was wrong! For example, in the previous shiur we learned that Rashi explained that the reason why 'converts are as problematic for Israel as a scab' is
because they are not expert in the niceties of the mitzvot but Jews [nevertheless] learn from their behaviour.
The Tosafists point out that when this same teaching was presented in a different location in the Gemara [Niddah 13b] Rashi gave a different explanation!
In the Commentary he gave a different version: 'because all Jews are responsible for one another'. [See Giyyur 017, Explanation 29.] This is problematic. [The Tosafist's polite way of saying that Rashi was wrong!] Because in Sotah 37b we learn that [Israel at Sinai] did not accept responsibility for [the religious behaviour of] converts, because there [in Sotah 37b] responsibility for 'the mixed multitude' was not included.
The term 'mixed multitude' derives from the Torah [Exodus 12:38] which states that together with the Israelites themselves 'a mixed multitude' of people from different provenances left Egypt.
31:
The Tosafists now offer a couple of other suggestions as to why 'converts are as problematic for Israel as a scab'.
It may also be said that 'converts are problematic for Israel' because they mix [intermarry with Jews] and the Divine Immanence only rests on Jewish families with a ['pure'] pedigree.
With our own modern perceptions today we might well say of this comment by the Tosafists that 'it is problematic!' It clearly reflects medieval concerns. We have seen on several occasions [Giyyur 013 for example] that the Talmudic sages had a quite different view of converts. Perhaps the Tosafists themselves realised that this comment was 'problematic', because they add yet another explanation as to why 'converts are problematic for Israel':
Because Jews have been severely warned about [not disparaging] converts and it is impossible to be so meticulous.
We have seen on several occasions [Giyyur 013 for example] that disparaging a convert is prohibited many times in the Torah. This means that this is a serious sin. The Tosafists are concerned that the Jews, as a body politic, are not able to refrain from such disparagement as required of them.
32:
The Tosafists were a school of commentators, not one individual. Although the first of the school were Rashi's grandchildren the movement continued for two centuries or more. So it is not surprising that in their commentary we find differing views concerning this topic. When the teaching of Rabbi Ĥelbo is found yet again in the Gemara [Kiddushin 70b] we find the Tosafists taking a different tack. 'Converts are problematic for Israel' –
Because it is because of converts that Israel is in exile! It is asked [Pesaĥim 87b]: "Why are Jews scattered in all countries…? – So that converts will join them!" This does not seem correct, because it says in Yevamot [47a, as we have seen] that when a non-Jew applies to convert [we discourage him and] say to him, 'What have you seen that you come to convert? Do you not know that Israel in this day and age are rejected and spurned…' [see Giyyur 006]. And we say there 'If he desists, he desists.' [see Giyyur 009]… So we see that it is after they have converted that they are 'problematic'.
33:
It is to the credit of the Tosafists that they included in their number at least one convert! The above-quoted passage now continues:
Rabbi Avraham the Convert explains [why converts are problematic for Jews]: because they are expert in the mitzvot and very careful in their observance, so they are as problematic for israel as a scab. Because [by behaving in this way] they remind God of Israel's sins when they do not do His pleasure – in the same manner as the woman from Sarafat [1 Kings 17] says [to Elisha], "Why have you, man of God, come to me to remind [God] of my sin?". Because he is so righteous it seems as if he is reminding God of her sins.
To be continued.
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