Giyyur 013
of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel
and the Masorti Movement
HALAKHAH STUDY GROUP
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).
4:
In the first three parts of this series of shiurim we have studied what is expected of the non-Jew who wishes to become Jewish and the procedures that the sages developed for such an eventuality. In Giyyur 013, at the start of Part Four, we began looking at what is expected of us, the Jewish people, in our relationships – both collective and individual – with those who have thrown in their lot with Israel and Israel's God. We have been studying a rather long passage from the Mekhilta, Mishpatim, Tractate Nezikin, Section 18. The passage is a commentary on and a development of the verse of the Torah [Exodus 22:20]:
Do not wrong a ger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
The Hebrew word ger (plural: gerim), of course, is the word now used to define a Jew by choice.
5:
The Midrash now continues with four apposite examples:
Beloved are gerim because He [God] warns [us] about them:
- Do not oppress the ger [Exodus 22:20];
- Do not wrong the ger [Exodus 22:20];
- Love the ger [Deuteronomy 10:19];
- You know how a ger feels [because you were gerim in Egypt] [Exodus 23:9];
As we shall see, there were always two views concerning gerim, one which was very positive and another which was more wary. Since the midrash has emphasised the mitzvah of relating positively towards the ger this is developed with two contrasting views. Rabbi Eli'ezer was known to be an arch conservative in his halakhic views and his view is quoted first:
It is because the ger has a bad streak that scripture warns about him in so many places.
Rabbi Eli'ezer is aware that many gerim are in danger of falling back into their former ways; that, he says, is the reason why the Torah has warned us to be so considerate towards gerim – to smother them with love.
6:
Some fifty years after Rabbi Eli'ezer, a teaching of Rabbi Shim'on ban-Yoĥai represents a riposte:
Rabbi Shim'on ben-Yoĥai says: But it [scripture] says [Judges 5:31], "Those that love Him are like the sun when it dazzles". Now, who is the greater? – He who loves the king or him whom the king loves? You must say that it is him whom the king loves – and it is said [Deuteronomy 10:18] "And He [God] loves the ger."
7:
The midrash now offers a long list of biblical quotes which are intended to show that God's relationship to those born Jewish and to those who elect to become Jewish is the same. The list is long so I shall offer only a few examples.
Beloved are gerim because in all places He [God] likens them to Israel.
- Israelites are called [God's]slaves [Leviticus 25:55] and gerim are called slaves [Isaiah 56:6];
- Israel are called servants [Isaiah 61:6] and gerim are called servants [Isaiah 56:6];
- Israel is called beloved [Isaiah 41:8] and gerim are called beloved [Deuteronomy 10:18];
- 'Covenant' is found in connection with Israel [Genesis 17:13] and 'covenant' is found in connection with gerim [Isaiah 56:4].
And so on – as I said, the list is long.
8:
Another midrash tries to teach the quality of the sincere ger. It may be found in Yalkut Shim'oni on Exodus 12, item 213.
God says of someone who converts in God's name that "he is in my eyes as one of them [Israel]", for it says, "There shall be one [and the same] law for you and for the the ger; it is an everlasting rule throughout all your generations: you and the ger are equal before God. One Torah and one law shall there be for you and for the ger who joins you." [Numbers 15:15-16] Moreover, he is compared to a Levite, for it says [Deuteronomy 14:28-29], "The Levite, who has no ancestral land among you, and the ger, the orphan and the widow who are in your towns shall come [to your feasts] and eat [with you] and be satisfied." On this Moses said to God, "Sovereign of the Universe, can a ger be like a Levite before you!?" God replied, "Anyone who converts in My name is even greater before Me."
When we bear in mind that Moses was himself a Levite the import of the midrash is clear: the sincere convert is honoured in God's eyes even more than Moses himself!
9:
Another midrash is now offered, following immediately after the previous one:
It is like when a deer that grew up in the desert and comes of his own accord to unite with the herd. The shepherd will feed that animal and see that it drinks and show it affection more than the rest of his flock. Others might say to him, "How can you love this deer more than the rest of the flock?" He can reply to them, "I have expended a great effort for my flock – taking them out in the morning and bringing them back in the evening – until they are grown. But this one, who grew up in desert wastes and in forests came to join my flock of its own accord. That's why I love it." Similarly God [might say], "I have expended a great effort for Israel: I took them out of Egypt, I appeared before them [at Sinai], I sent down manna for them, I sent the quails for them, I created a well for them [in the desert], I surrounded them with clouds of glory so that they might accept My Torah. But this [ger] has come of his own accord; that is why he is valued by me the same as a [born] Jew."
To be continued.
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