Insincere conversion to Judaism?

Hi,

"One who converts in order to partake of a royal table, or to be among Solomon's servants, is not a valid convert, per Rabbi Nechemiah. For Rabbi Nechemiah said: Those who have converted for fear of wild animals or due to dreams, and those who converted in the days of Mordechai and Esther, are not valid converts…

"Rav said: The law follows the view that they are all valid converts [after the fact]."

(Talmud, Yevamot 24b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

An 11th century conversion standard

Hi,

A daunting standard:

"We do not equate with ourselves everyone who enters our Torah by verbal commitment alone, but only those who enter with deeds involving strain, with purity and learning and circumcision and many deeds prescribed by the Torah and performance of our customs…  Perhaps his seed will succeed, will succeed in receiving the Divine. One who cleaves to this path will have, him and his seed, a great portion of closeness to Gd."

(Rabbi Yehudah haLevi, Kuzari 1:115)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The reason for exile?

Hi,

"Israel was exiled among the nations only so that converts would be added to them."

לא נגלו ישראל לבין האומות אלא כדי שיתוספו עליהם גרים

(Talmud, Pesachim 87b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Attracting conversion

Hi,

"When Israel fulfills Gd's will, Gd scours the world, finds righteous people and brings them to Israel, like Yitro and Rachav."

(Talmud Yerushalmi, Berachot 2:8)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Sins from before conversion?

Hi,

"R' Yosi said: Gd punishes a convert to Judaism for actions which preceded his conversion.

"R' Yehudah said: Gd does not punish him; he is like a newborn person."

(Masechet Gerim 2:6)

For thought: How is conversion different from repentance?

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Is there a mitzvah to seek converts?

Hi,

"The court blesses 'On the immersion of converts' before a [minor] convert's immersion, just as we bless before performing any other mitzvah.

"If one will ask where the court was instructed in this mitzvah, it is from [Avraham and Sarah], 'The lives they created [by teaching them Jewish beliefs] in Charan.'"

(Raavad, Baalei haNefesh, end of Shaar haTevilah)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

A ger has always been a ger

Hi,

"Why do we say, 'A ger who converts is like a child who has just been born,' rather than say, 'A non-Jew who converts is like a child who has just been born?'

"This is because the souls of future converts were presents at Sinai when we received the Torah; it's only that he waited until now to join."

(Chida, Midbar Kedemot 3:3, based on Shabbat 146a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The warning to a potential convert

Hi,

"When someone comes to convert, we do not accept him immediately. Rather, we say to him: Why do you want to convert? Don't you see that this nation is low and tortured among all of the nations, that great illnesses and sufferings befall them, that they bury their children and grandchildren, that they are killed for observing circumcision and immersion and other mitzvot, and that they do not conduct themselves publicly as the other nations do?"

(Masechet Gerim 1:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The conversion process

Hi,

An interesting passage on the relationship between mitzvah-acceptance and conversion:

"A potential convert accepted all of the commandments and prohibitions, and sought to be circumcised.

"One person gave him non-kosher food to eat, saying that so long as this person is not circumcised and not immersed, he is not Jewish. His friend told him: This is true for a Jew, in that if he would touch a Jew's wine then the Jew could not drink it, but since he has already accepted all of the mitzvot, how could you feed him non-kosher food?!"

(Sefer Chasidim 690)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Conversion to Judaism

Hi,

"Those who convert to Judaism are also considered 'children of our father Abraham,' for all who keep the Torah are included in his children; Avraham was the first of those to convert.

"It is written: I have made you a father of many nations. At first he was a father to Aram, and now a father to all nations [as they are represented among those who convert to Judaism]."

(Explanation of Rosh to Talmud, Nedarim 31a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai