The Problem with the Convert

[Music] conversion is not an obvious or unpraised to belong to one of the biblical tribes so when later on converts came to be accept it by Judaism the difficulties the ambivalence didn't go away uh should we accept converts or shouldn't we when we look at the talut even though converts had been accepted already for a long time we still see evidence of that ambivalence and there is a teaching which says that converts are as difficult to Israel as a sore needless to say this is a very disturbing teaching so we look at the commentaries and in the 12th century the Tuda commentary called TOA gathered a number of interpretations of this teaching to try to make sense of it some of them will not make us very comfortable for example there's one that says that converts are a problem because they never learn enough about what they're supposed to do as Jews another which says that even when they learn they don't observe the way Natural Born Jews would uh and there's even one which has a little bit of a racist quality say saying that Israel should be a pure seed and if you mix in Outsiders it's going to pollute that Purity uh these are not interpretations that will make us comfortable but on the other side there are actually some interesting medieval interpretations that suggest far more open possibilities so for example there is one that suggests that the difficulty with converts is that the Torah demands of born Jews that we never oppress a gar which in Rabin Hebrew is a convert well how can we possibly keep ourselves from oppressing others uh in the way that the Torah might demand it's a difficulty a challenge another interpretation suggests that it's actually a Mitzvah to bring in converts and that Israel is sent out into the diaspora in order to be in contact to have as neighbors non-jews and through that contact we'll be able to fulfill the miss of attracting others to Judaism and bringing that in them in the problem there is that converts are good but to be in the diaspora is not always so good because Jews have experienced some difficult things in the diaspora of all the interpretations the one that I find most interesting is one attributed to someone named Rabbi Abraham hagir Abraham the convert and toot well understood that if you want to get to the truth of something go ask the person themselves someone who's been through the experience so Abraham the convert himself a Rabbi says that the difficulty with converts is that having chosen Judaism they're actually more committed to it they observe it with commitment and energy in ways that Jews born to Judaism might not I love this interpretation for a variety of reasons firstly because as a teacher uh I've been around this country visiting synagogues communities as a scholar residents and I must say that I've often seen that the most active people in many communities the most energetic and committed people in many communities are actually those who have chosen Judaism converts uh so Robie AR AER has something that's true even to this day in his observation uh but I have to also share something personal in this connection because uh my father was a convert he's someone who was raised in a mixed family but as he became an adult he had to choose to be a Jew to go through the conversion ceremony uh and it is his choice that inspired me to become a Jewish teacher a Jewish scholar uh it's his choice and love of what he had chosen uh that made me love it as well and so if there's anything that I have to contribute as a teacher it's thanks to a Jew by choice uh this is the blessing that I experience and I would only add that as we consider converts uh we hope that they be welcomed into Judaism because in fact they're joining Natural Born Jews will make us all richer and all more committed to what we believe is important

Channel: The Jewish Theological Seminary

Views: 49,062

Keywords: David Kraemer, Librarian (Occupation), Talmud (Religious Text), Rabbinic Judaism (Religion), conversion, Religious Conversion (Field Of Study), Shavuot (Event), Judaism (Religion), JTS, Jewish Theological Seminary Of America (Religious Organization), The Jewish Theological Seminary

Id: 5ANTizLZj2M

Length: 4min 49sec (289 seconds)

Published: Mon May 19 2014