In this week’s parsha, Parshas Naso, the Torah speaks of a scenario where one steals from someone who has no relatives. If the person who was stolen from should die, the thief must return the item to a kohen.
The Gemara in Sanhedrin 68b is disturbed by the necessity of such a halacha. The Gemara questions, is there any person in Klal Yisrael who does not have relatives? The Gemara answers that the pasuk is referring to a ger kattan – a minor convert. Since he is a ger we can assume that he does not have relatives, because a ger looses all of his relationships when he converts. He is even halachicly permitted to marry his biological sister. Additionally, since he is a kattan we can assume that he does not have any children, in accordance with one opinion in the Gemara that a minor cannot father children.
Tosafos there is bothered by two points: one, how can a kattan own something that another can steal, and second, how can there be a ger who is a kattan? Both of these two steps require that a minor acquire something; his Judaism and physical items. The difficulty is that there are numerous sources that state that a minor cannot acquire anything m’d’Oraisa.
Tosafos suggests several answers as to how a minor can own an item, m’d’Oraisa. First, he says that if an adult will transfer his item to the minor it will be a valid transaction m’d’Oraisa. This is referred to as daas acheres makneh – another mind is executing the transaction. The only time a minor cannot acquire something, according to this answer of Tosafos, is if he finds a lost object or is acquiring from hefker. If an adult will sell him something, the seller’s intention to transfer the item helps the acquisition occur.
The next answer that Tosafos suggests is that perhaps the boy inherited from his father before he became a ger. A non-Jew inherits his father m’d’Oraisa. Therefore if his fathered passed on before he became a ger, he could own items, which could then be stolen from him.
Tosafos then suggests that although a minor cannot buy anything, he can own items by making them and from his earnings. A minor’s wages belong to him. Therefore if a minor made something or worked and earned money he could own something that could then be stolen.
Regarding the question of how a minor can become a ger, the above solutions do not explain how a minor can acquire his Judaism. Tosafos then suggests that perhaps the Gemara is talking about a scenario where a pregnant woman converted. In this case when she delivers, the child will have the status of a ger. Tosafos suggests that the case that the pasuk is referring to is such that the ger’s mother converted while she was pregnant with him.
Tosafos then suggests that a minor would be able to make the acquisition of acquiring his Judaism. Even though a minor cannot acquire monetary items, Judaism is different. Tosafos explains that when one becomes a ger, he is entering himself under the “wings of the Shechina.” Even a minor can perform this type of acquisition. Thus the geirus is valid even m’d’Oraisa.
Tosafos proves this from the fact that at ma’amad Har Sinai there were many minors and their conversion was valid. The Ritvah in Kesubos 11a echoes this point: the fact that there were minors present at ma’amad Har Sinai should demonstrate that a minor can become a ger.
The sefer Harirai Kedem vol. 2, explains that the geirus of Mattan Torah was different from a regular geirus. At Mattan Torah each individual did not convert on an individual level all at once; rather it was a geirus of the tzibur (a communal conversion). At Mattan Torah the entire nation converted as one; when all of Klal Yisrael proclaimed “na’aseh v’nishma” k’ish echad b’lev echad, it was an acceptance of the yoke of the Torah and mitzvos as a whole nation.
