Question: Lately, various missionary groups have been very active in my neighborhood and other Jewish areas, anxious to convert our brethren to their way. Why don’t we, in turn, seek to convert them? This should be correct especially in light of the Yom Tov of Shavuot that we are celebrating when we read of the conversion of Ruth the Moabite, a woman of such exceeding piety that she proved to be the ancestress of King David and his dynasty, from which will sprout the ultimate king and redeemer, Melech HaMashiach.
Moshe Jakobovitz
Via email
Answer: We shall later return to Ruth and her epic conversion, but first, I too find myself approached, either by a knock on the door or even in the street, by seemingly well-meaning and modestly dressed members of Christian groups (either Witnesses or Adventists) who wish to save my soul. In jest I usually respond to them that they place themselves in danger, for perhaps after our conversation the tables will turn and I will end up converting them to Judaism. Then I go on to explain that we Jews don’t as a rule proselytize. I further point out to them that were they to come to our neighborhood on a Saturday – the Jewish Sabbath – they will see a community of people who are not only G-d-fearing but openly manifest it with numerous trips to the synagogue.
Rather, I explain to them, if they truly wish to accomplish for their faith, it would be best for them to come to our neighborhood on a Sunday morning – their Sabbath – and behold they will find few if any of my gentile neighbors going to church. It is to those homes, the ones that do not have a mezuzah on the door – the gentile homes – where they should best direct their activities. I further explain that that is not to say that we don’t accept gentiles into the Jewish fold, rather it is imperative that they come of their own free volition.
Now, let us turn to the source that deals with one who wishes to join the Jewish people. The Mechaber (Yoreh De’ah 268:2) states as follows: “If a prospective ger (convert) comes [to the Beit Din] to convert, we tell him: ‘What have you seen that you now come to convert? Are you not aware that the Jewish people in our time are oppressed, downtrodden, and harassed, and pain and hardship come upon them?’ If the prospective convert responds and says, ‘I am aware and I am even unworthy of joining them,’ he (or she) is accepted immediately. We explain the main elements of our religion – the unity of Hashem and the prohibition of idolatry – and we discuss those at length. We also inform the prospective convert of some of the minor mitzvot and some of the major mitzvot, as well as some of the punishments meted out for transgressing the prohibitions… and just as we enumerate the punishments, so do we talk about the reward for performing the mitzvot…”
From the above text of the Mechaber, which is based on the Gemara (Yevamot 47a-b), and the thorough quizzing of the prospective ger – the derishot ve’chakirot which the Gemara derives from the conversation between Naomi and Ruth (Megillat Ruth) – we see that we are not active in pursuing proselytes and, more so, as in the case of Ruth, we seek to discourage proselytes. Thus, only those who are truly sincere in their intentions are accepted into the ranks of the Jewish nation.
Indeed, Ruth the Moabite was a convert who was married in a variant form of Levirate marriage, similar but not the same as the Biblical, post-Sinaitic Levirate marriage (Deuteronomy 25:5), to Boaz, probably the highest ranking and most respected zaken – elder of his time and a scion of the tribe of Judah. It was Judah whom our patriarch Jacob divinely blesses and bestows with the eternal Kingship of Israel. For Ruth, a convert, to reach this pinnacle in her life tells a lot about her exceptional character. Boaz himself is of the lineage of Peretz, the son of Judah and Tamar, the woman who initiated the pre-Sinaitic Levirate marriage (first with Er, then Onan, and finally with Judah (Genesis 38:17-18)). Thus we see that Boaz too stems from a circumstance that, post-Sinai, would be a forbidden union, yet he is an ancestor of the royal Davidic dynasty.
Yet we do find that Abraham and Sarah practiced proselytization, as we read (Genesis 12:5), “Vayikach Avram et Sarai ishto ve’et Lot ben achiv ve’et kol rechusham asher rachashu ve’et hanefesh asher asu be’Charan vayetz’u lalechet artza Canaan vayavo’u artza Canaan” – and Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and all the possessions they had amassed and the souls they made in Haran and left to go to the land of Canaan, and they came to the land of Canaan.”
The above passage – “The souls they made in Haran” – is explained by Rashi, quoting the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 39:4) and the Gemara (Sanhedrin 99b), to mean that Abraham converted the men he encountered and Sarah converted the women she encountered.
Thus we do have a written text showing that proactive outreach to non-Jews was considered proper. Yet today we see that the view of the Mechaber, based upon Tractate Yevamot with its citation from Ruth’s conversion cited above, is the source for our qualified yet reluctant acceptance of gerim. Indeed, why is this so?
My uncle, HaRav Sholom Klass, zt”l, discussed this matter many years ago and explained the situation as follows: “Until the destruction of the Second Temple, nearly two thousand years ago, conversion was looked upon with favor by the Sages. In fact, proselytes were welcomed and were beloved by G-d (Midrash Rabbah Ruth 3, Mechilta Mishpatim 18, Tosefta Demai 2:10). Eleazar b. Pedat saw in Israel’s dispersion the divine purpose of winning proselytes (Pesachim 87b). Yitro urged Moshe Rabbenu not to shut the door in the face of the heathen (Pesikta Rabbah 35). He sent a missive to Moshe advising him to make the entry to Judaism easy for proselytes (Mechilta Yitro, Amalek 1). Ruth and Rahab are quoted as illustrating the same lesson (Midrash Shocher Tov, Psalms 5:2).”
My uncle continues, “The emperor Antoninus became a proselyte (J.T. Megillah, ch. 1; Avodah Zara 10b). The fact that Nero (Gittin 56a) and most of the ancient persecutors of Israel are presented as having finally embraced Judaism (Sanhedrin 96b), and the further fact that almost every great Biblical hero is regarded as an active propagator of the Jewish faith, that great teachers like Shemaya and Abtalion were proselytes, and that Rabbi Akiba and Rabbi Meir were the descendants of proselytes, goes a long way to suggest that proselytes were not always looked upon with suspicion.
“However, after the destruction of the Second Temple, the bitterness engendered by the Hadrianic persecutions made many proselytes revert to their former status. This, in turn, prompted the Sages to make conversion as difficult as possible. Jews suffered considerably from the cowardice and treachery of converts who often denounced the Jews to the Romans.
“The Tanna R. Shimeon b. Yochai had to hide in a cave for 13 years because of slander that was reported to the Romans (Shabbos 33b). R. Helbo said, ‘Proselytes are as hard for Israel to endure as a sore’ (see Yevamot 47b; Kiddushin 70a).
“When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, Jews were forbidden to proselytize and to circumcise their slaves. Severe penalties were invoked to enforce these laws. During the Middle Ages, proselytes were rare and Jews gradually lost the urge to win new adherents. Some communities, fearing reprisals by the church, even adopted rules forbidding the acceptance of proselytes. Nevertheless, there were occasional bold spirits who dared the displeasure of the ruling powers and the hardships of Jewish life in order to accept the faith of Israel. References to them are scattered through the responsa in almost every country and century. One such person, a certain Obadiah of Norman origin, came to the Orient as a crusader with Godfrey of Bouillon. After his conversion to Judaism, he became a distinguished personage in Damascus, Aleppo and Alexandria. He wrote an autobiographical ‘scroll’ in excellent Hebrew, of which portions have been preserved. Among the French Tosafists, we read of Rabbi Abraham the Proselyte.”
Rabbi Klass adds, “The last great success of the Jewish missionary effort was the conversion of the ruling family of the Khazars and a large portion of their subjects, and thus, for several centuries there was a predominantly Jewish state in what is now southeast Russia. Particularly famous and beloved among more recent proselytes was the 18th-century Valentin Potocki, a scion of a well-known Polish noble family, who died at the stake as a martyr for Judaism. Since the rise of the Christian church, which at the outset made it one of its basic policies to convert Jews, even by force, the entire idea of proselytizing became abhorrent to the Rabbis.
“No barbarity seemed too cruel to be used as a means of enforcing the conversion of Jews. Henceforth, conversion fell into the category of Gentile customs which were shunned by us.
“Thus,” my uncle concludes, “to this day we do not condone conversion unless the non-Jew makes a determined effort to want to join the Jewish faith. We are not permitted to influence him or aid him in any way toward this goal. Only if he or she comes of his or her own free will – not motivated by marriage or fear – may we accept any who truly wish to join the Jewish fold.”
