An examination of the Sources and Responsa in brief
By Ian Adams
Who is a Jew? Is being a Jew a religious issue? Is it one of culture, of society, can it be national or even racial? Can you tell a person is a Jew when you meet them? Can you become a Jew? What does it take to become a Jew? Who can convert the proselyte? As a people these are questions that we have wrestled with for thousands of years. Our literature, from the Torah to the Talmud, to modern responsa, even into the secular political arena, is filled with writing on this subject. Who can become a Jew and what does it take? This is the question that I want to address in this paper.
I would like to point out at the beginning that when I use the terms Orthodox, Conservative or Reform, I am speaking specifically of the organized movements themselves, i.e. Orthodox conversion done under the RCA or Conservative conversions done under the RA, etc. When I use the term Traditional or Liberal, I am speaking about non-movement associated approaches that are very broad in nature. For example, traditional might refer to an ‘orthodox’ practice that is not necessarily associated with the RCA organization.
What is a halakhic Conversion?
There are two basic types of conversion in the Jewish world. There are halakhic conversions and there are non-halakhic conversions. Non-halakhic conversions would be those done by the Reform and pluralistic movements, primarily in the US but they exist elsewhere also. These conversions do not always require a Beit din, or circumcision, and sometimes even the mikvah is optional. These conversions are seldom, if ever, recognized outside of the liberal movement.
The other type of conversion is a halakhic conversion- which will be the main discussion for this paper. Let us consider that there are three basic steps to a halakhic conversion (hereafter referred to only as a conversion). They are:
- The actual act of conversion.
- Accepting the kabbalat ol ha’mitzvot.
- The Beit Din or court accepting the convert.
Let’s briefly examine each of these in turn.
The Act of Conversion
In Numbers 15 we read “And when, throughout the ages, a stranger who has taken up residence with you, or one who lives among you, would present an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD—as you do, so shall it be done by the rest of the congregation. There shall be one law for you and for the resident stranger; it shall be a law for all time throughout the ages. You and the stranger shall be alike before the LORD; the same ritual and the same rule shall apply to you and to the stranger who resides among you.“ These verses from the Torah form the basis for all conversions. It says, in essence, that the convert (ger – stranger) must share the same law as the Jew, going through the same process. In the Talmud, Keritot 9a, Rabbi Yehuda NaHasi says:
The offering of a convert is derived from the verse: “As you are, so shall the stranger be”, which means as your ancestors were: Just as your ancestors entered the covenant only through circumcision and immersion in a ritual bath and the sprinkling of blood on the altar, so too they may enter the covenant only through circumcision and immersion and the sprinkling of some blood, which requires at least a bird offering.
What this means is that, prior to the destruction of the Second Temple, conversion required circumcision, immersion(mikvah), and bringing a sacrifice to the Temple. After the destruction of the Temple, sacrifices stop but the other requirements remain. The traditional teaching of Judaism is that all converts must have been circumcised (if male) and immerse in a mikvah. This is universally accepted.
It is interesting to note that the Gemara offers the objection that: if a sacrifice was required for the convert, and we can no longer offer sacrifices, can we accept converts? Rav Aha bar Ya’akov replies in the affirmative stating that the reference to ‘throughout your generations’ implies that we can continue to accept converts even when there is no Temple. Which bears witness to the words of our greatest prophet Moses who said, in Deuteronomy 19 “I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the LORD our God and with those who are not with us here this day.” That reference there to ‘those who are not with us here this day’ clearly says that there will be other Jews, past, present, and future. And in reference to this we read in the Talmud, Shavuot 39a, that this refers to future converts whose souls were there at Mount Sinai accepting the covenant along with the Jews at that time. It is quite common for people who are wishing to convert to Judaism to already ‘feel’ Jewish. To feel as if they should be Jewish but are not simply through a mistake of birth. This is the soul of the convert recognizing that Jewish spark that was ignited at Sinai.
Accepting the Kabbalat Ol Ha’Mitzvot
There is a lengthy beraita found in the Talmud, Yevamot 47a-b, that talks about the necessary process for conversion. Basically, it says that after the interested person is informed, or taught, about some of the major and minor commandments and if he accepts them, he is immediately taken to be circumcised. The Hebrew word קיבל (accepted) found in this portion of the beraita is vital, it means that the potential convert is accepting the commandments that he is being taught about; accepting the obligation to keep the commandments. Even more explicitly we read in Bekhorot 30b that if one will not take on even a single law, that person cannot be accepted as a Jew. Which in turn ties back to our earlier point about all of our souls being together at Sinai; where the Jews physically present collectively took on the 613 mitzvot taught in Torah- so then do all of us to this day and to the last.
I want to point out that simply accepting kabbalat ol ha’mitzvot (the yoke of the commandments) verbally is not in and of itself enough to become Jewish. One cannot say they will keep the mitzvot and then nothing more and have a valid conversion. If the intention is to not keep the commandments, but a person says they will, there is no reason to accept the conversion. More importantly, not knowing everything is not a reason to keep a person from converting. The Rambam said, “A convert whom they did not examine or did not inform of the commandments and their punishments and was circumcised and immersed, he has left the category of non-Jew.” Rabbi Yosef Karo alludes to the same point in the Shulchan Aruch. If one knowingly does not keep the commandments that person has not converted. If one does not know a commandment, was not taught it (or even any of them), than that person’s conversion is valid.
A Bet Din accepting the Convert
In the aforementioned Yevamot 46b, speaking about the process of conversion, we read a reference to the court (a Beit din) immersing the convert. Speaking to this, in Kiddushin 62b, we learn that the convert requires the presence of three Jews for his conversion. It is a reference to a court of judgement, a court procedure. Becoming a Jew, unlike conversions in, Christianity or Islam, is a legal process. When one converts to Christianity one does so strictly as a matter of faith. One believes that Jesus was God, one accepts Jesus as their ‘savior’ and one becomes a Christian. The process may vary depending on the Church (as both Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches have a catechetical process of education that can last for as long as a year), but it always begins and ends with a rather nebulous matter of faith.
For Jews however, action is always more important than belief or ‘faith’. We accept the mitzvot of the Torah and we do them regardless of our feelings or belief in them. Judaism is very much a legal religion, more in tune with the idea of our people as a nation governed by laws, than as a purely faith-based religion. Not that faith is unimportant, Maimonides clearly says otherwise in his 13 principles, but for many Jews, wrestling with the idea of God, with His nature, with belief in Him, is not uncommon; yet we will keep the commandments regardless. Converting to Judaism then can be seen more as a legal process that requires a court to settle the matter than simply a personal decision. One cannot simply say, “I am a Jew”, and be Jewish. You must be accepted into the nation through a process, through a judgement, in a court.
As a synopsis, let us look at what the Rambam summarized in the Mishnah Torah:
Through three things Israel entered into the covenant: Circumcision, ritual immersion and a sacrifice. There was circumcision in Egypt, as it was said: And those who were not circumcised shall not eat of it (the Passover sacrifice). Moses, our rabbi, circumcised them, for circumcision was ignored in Egypt except for among the Levite tribe, and regarding this it was said: and your covenant they preserved. And there was ritual immersion in the desert prior to the giving of the Torah, as it said: And you shall sanctify yourselves today and tomorrow and wash your garments. And sacrifices [as well], as it said: And he sent the youths of the children of Israel and they offered offerings for all of Israel they sacrificed them. And so too for the generations, when a non-Jew wants to enter into the covenant and to take refuge under the wings of God’s presence and receive upon himself the yoke of the Torah, he needs circumcision, ritual immersion and the offering of a sacrifice. And if a female, she [requires] ritual immersion and a sacrifice, as it says: for you and for the stranger’; just as you required circumcision, and ritual immersion and a sacrificial offering, so, too the convert for all generations with circumcision, ritual immersion and the offering of a sacrifice. And what is the offering of the convert? – a bull offering or two pigeons or two doves, both of them total offerings. And in these times where there are no sacrifices, one requires circumcision, ritual sacrifice and when the Temple will be rebuilt, he will bring a sacrifice. A convert who is circumcised but without ritual immersion or had ritual immersion without circumcision is not a convert until he has both circumcision and ritual immersion. The ritual immersion must be performed before three. And since it required a court, one does not convert on Shabbat, nor on a festival and not at night. But if they immersed him, he is a convert.
In summary: a traditional conversion requires a person to accept the yoke of the commandments, to be circumcised (for males), to immerse in a mikvah, and to be confirmed by a Beit din.
Conversion for Concealed Reasons
Next we need to consider a very difficult subject because the conclusions can be very important. Let us consider someone who wishes to convert for ulterior motives. Perhaps they wish to marry an observant Jew but have no desire to be observant themselves. Perhaps they wish to pursue monetary gains or have some other motivation. Conversion is a matter of belief. Yes, I wrote earlier about it being a legal issue, and it is. But the motivation behind the conversion must be one based on believing in God and in Israel. One cannot convert simply because they want to marry someone who is Jewish. However, how do we deal with the situation where someone has done this and then is discovered? Or perhaps claims to be Jewish with no evidence but is living in a Jewish situation?
There is a famous teshuvah written by Maimonides (Responsa 211) that deals with this situation. In it, a Jewish man buys a slave woman who lives in his household. They are accused of cohabiting. When brought before a judge she claims to be Jewish. The judge sends them away and they begin living together. The question then becomes: should they be separated by the courts? And the Rambam’s answer is one that we might consider to be very lenient. And he answers in such a way that our modern Beit din need to really pay attention to. Rambam’s answer is that he should free her and marry her. They should not be separated.
Rambam wants this person to fix the situation he is in without actually making it worse. That since the man desires the woman, rather than live with her as a non-Jew he should marry her as a Jew. Normally one cannot marry a non-Jew. Nor can a man live with a non-Jewish woman. One might think that the ruling would be for the Beit din to separate them and say they cannot be together. But Maimonides’ ruling surprises! He basically says, break the law in order to better save the law. Rather than put the man and woman in an impossible situation or force them to continue breaking the law, accept her as a Jew and marry them. It is a ruling that puts the people before the law where it benefits Israel. Rather than force a separation between two people that might cause one or both to leave Israel and cease living as Jews, the Rambam says break the established law and do what needs to be done to keep them Jewish.
Beit Din
The most famous convert in Torah is, of course, Ruth and there is no record of a conversion process for her beyond her simple declaration and determination to become part of Israel by staying with Naomi. But over time, as Judaism develops and codifies its laws, its courts become responsible for the conversion of proselytes. But the Beit din is much more, or perhaps much less, than what many people assume. Let’s examine that here.
In the first chapter of Deuteronomy we read the verse “Hear out your fellow men, and decide justly between any man and a fellow Israelite or a stranger.” The word stranger is of course ger, the same word we use for proselyte or convert and from this verse we derive the need to have a court judge the conversion, this discussion occurs in Yevamot 47a. If we jump slightly backwards to the preceding 46b, we learn from the story of the proselyte who came to the court but was told to wait a day while they would make the arrangement of an ablution. From this the Talmud derives the teachings that there must be both conversion and ablution, that there must be three men present, and it may not take place at night. However, the conclusion of who must be present is inconclusive – must it be sages (learned men/rabbis) or just three men? This is not a settled argument in the halakha. Generally, it is accepted that it should be three rabbis, but the Rambam only specified three men. Overall though, how does this work out. Let us quickly look at the Shulchan Aruch:
All aspects of conversion, be it informing the convert of the commandments in order to receive them, circumcision or ritual immersion require three who are capable of judging, and must be during the day. However, this refers to ab initio (beforehand) [requirements], but after the fact, if he had been circumcised and immersed before two or at night, even if the immersion was for a purpose other than conversion, for instance a man for an emission or woman who immersed herself after menstruation, the person would be a convert and permitted to marry. However, the acceptance of the commandments is impeded if it is not done during the day and with three. Rabbi Isaac Alfasi and Maimonides, however, hold that even after the fact if immersion or the circumcision was done before two or at night, it impedes [the conversion] and the convert is prohibited to marry, but if such a convert does marry a Jewish woman and he sires a son from her, we do not render the son not Jewish.
Since the immersion of a convert requires a court of three, one should not do the immersion on Shabbat or Yom Tov nor at night. But if he immersed at night, he is a convert.
Rabbi Joseph Karo clearly states that a conversion not carried out precisely according to the law, but which contains all of the requisite parts remains a valid conversion.
But we should expand on the place of the court in the process of conversion. There are a number of tales in the Talmud of heathens who came to Shammai and Hillel to convert. From these we learn that the Beit din acts in a judicial capacity, making decisions about the conversion. Ultimately, as Rabbi Joseph Karo will write: Everything is according to the discretion of the court.
Problems in Modern Conversions
There are a few issues in modern conversions that I do want to address. These tend to occur exclusively in the liberal movements. The first is the issue of circumcision. The Hatafat Dam Brit, the covenant of circumcision, established between Abraham and God cannot be simply disregarded as some in the liberal movements have begun doing. While there has always been a halakhic exception to circumcision for men with medical issues where the procedure could put them at risk, not having it done simply because modern society screams out against it, is a travesty and one we must fight against. Secondly, refusing to go to the mikvah, or telling a convert that they are Jewish and can go to the mikvah whenever they want is also a modern invention and goes against the clearly established halakha.
Another issue are the so-called online conversions (those done entirely online with no physical interaction). Let’s consider some of the abuses being perpetrated online. Online education is an amazing tool, and it isn’t going anywhere, we have to accept it. And for conversions it is a great opportunity. We have seen Beit dins done online (even in the Orthodox community) and providing these are done properly there should be no real issues with that either. The problem comes when a conversion is done entirely online and there is no mohel, there is no mikvah, there is no Beit din, only a single rabbi or two, who do the teaching and interviews and then issue a certificate of conversion. That should not be acceptable- to anyone. If we are going to use online technology to facilitate conversions, as we should, we need to be responsible in the proper application of said technology. Men still must visit a mohel. Men and women must still visit a mikvah (or other permissible body of water) with witnesses. And there must be a Beit din making a decision, whether online or not.
Political Posturing
Now I want to step away from our Law and look at some of the decision making that goes on in the conversion of gentiles. Consider the difficulties that are forced on those people who wish to convert through one of the Orthodox Beit dins. Requirements tend to include being forced to move into a Jewish community approved by the Beit din, having to maintain a membership in a Shul approved by the Beit din, if married the couple may have to separate and live apart for several months, and so on. At the other extreme we see ultra-liberal conversions being done with no circumcision, with no mikvah, with no Beit din, with no sense of keeping the commandments.
We see the major movements trying to keep the conversion process to themselves, we are seeing the Chief Rabbinate of Israel refusing to accept conversions or even invalidating conversions, including those done even as much as a decade earlier. In Israel people have gone to civil court over conversions.
The cost of conversions can be astronomical. From harsh financial condition to separated families. But more importantly is what the cost of what conversion politics is doing to our people world-wide. Consider that men and women are entering into mixed marriages, children are being raised as non-Jews, our Nation is decreasing slowly because we make it so hard to join us – or to remain with us. This has to change.
Conclusion
A conversion must include a circumcision for males, a conversion must include a mikvah, the conversion must be done by a Beit din, and the candidate must take on the ‘yoke of the commandments’ to the extent of their knowledge. These requirements are very clear and unequivocal in the halakha. However, there is nothing in halakha that says a particular organization must administer the Beit din. There is nothing in halakha that prescribes particular requirements for the Beit din members being sages or a particular type of rabbi. According to halakha, any Beit din should be able to administer a conversion. And any three rabbis can convene a Beit din.
We need to get beyond the nationalism, secularism and politicization of the conversion process. We need to make them easier to obtain, but without giving up the requirements. There shouldn’t be any exorbitant fees or difficulties associated with the conversion process. Let our families be Jewish and stop pushing away potential converts, that needs to be the goal of everyone involved in the conversion process – particularly our rabbis and Beit dins.
In addition, we must learn to accept the conversions from everyone and everywhere. If someone went through a conversion process, but we don’t think they learned enough – we must stop with the political attacks against the convert, accept them as they are, and take on the burden of educating them ourselves. Chasing converts away from the faith, particularly when there are families involved is contrary to the established law and to the teshuvot written by the greatest of our sages.
Rabbi Ben-Zion Uziel, first chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel wrote, “According to Torah, it is both permitted and a commandment to accept men and women converts, even if we are aware that they will not observe all the commandments.” Uziel believed that God loves all converts and wrote that ultimately, all Jews will be loyal to Torah. But until that time, all converts, to whatever their level of observance is would be no less Jewish than a born Jew of an equal level of observance in the eyes of God and halacha. Another contemporary example is that of Rabbi Joseph Mesas, chief rabbi of Haifa who stated that the general policy is to accept all people to conversion and that rejecting people who seek to become Jewish achieves no positive results and may lead to resentment and unhappiness.
We also need to consider the reality of modern society. Like it or not, most people are used to our modern conveniences, to the instant gratification that technology and modern supply chains provide, and no matter how much we fight against it, we are in a time of crisis for the Jewish people. We are being ‘watered down’ so to speak. Jews are rapidly being assimilated into the culture at large and forgetting their heritage or disregarding it altogether as they realize that the loudest voices in Judaism, the Orthodox and Haredi in particular, are unwilling to accommodate modern lifestyles. While I would never advocate for giving up our observances, I will argue that we need to regain the leniency that was a trademark of traditional halakha as opposed to the modern Orthodox rigidness that is so characterizing of modern conversions. Perhaps we should look more to the Conservative movement and their willingness to accept those who desire to convert and maintain the traditions (despite some of the other problems in Conservative/Masorti Judaism) or to the Sephardic writings
My conclusion is that Judaism will kill itself, or at least die down to an insignificant voice in the world, if we refuse to stop the internal bickering and infighting. And that is contrary to our place as the light unto the world. We need to accept the conversions of everyone in Judaism. We need to get back to a Traditional view of conversions and the Beit dins and stop making everything political. Anyone who is willing to convert to Judaism should have the opportunity and we should welcome them with open arms.