When I was growing up in Lincoln, it was not unusual to hear people talk about individuals who had chosen to become Jewish as converts. It never really seemed to strike home that it was not necessary to differentiate between those individuals whose parents were Jewish and those who had chosen to become Jewish. In fact until recently, on this bimah, individuals who became Jews by Choice, were called up for an aliyah with the use of the words Ben Avraham Avinu or Bat Sarah Imenu.
Where did that concept of Abraham and Sarah being the father and mother of converts come from? If you read today's parasha, the answer can be found in line 5 of chapter 12. The verse states: And Abram took with him his wife Sarai and his brother's son, Lot, and all the possessions which they had acquired and the souls which they made in Charan. And they set out to go to the Land of Canaan and they arrived in the Land of Canaan.
At first glimpse, the words "souls which they made" seem rather strange. How can an individual make a soul, isn't that something that is only in G-d's realm?
The Midrash Rabbah, commentary on the book of Genesis, points out the the souls that they had made refers to the proselytes. It asks, "why not say the souls that they had converted?" "It is to teach you that he who brings a gentile near to G-d, is as though he created him. The commentary asks, "Then why should it say that they had made rather than he made?" Rav Hunia said, "Abraham converted the men and Sarah converted the women." Another commentary from Sifri Va'etchanan states that Abraham would invite people to his home and give them to eat and drink. He would show them love and bring them close to G-d. He would convert them and bring them under the wings of the Divine Presence. It is considered as if he had created him, formed him, and developed him.
Had it not been for the process of conversion, Abraham would have entered the land of Canaan only with his wife and Lot. Had it not been for the process of drawing others near to the ideals of monotheism, the concept of populating the land would have remained a promise with no hope of fulfillment.
Conversion to the ways of Abraham probably did not involve the same criteria as conversion in latter periods. In Talmudic times, the would be convert had to be informed of some of the stringent laws and some of the more lenient laws of Judaism. Shabbat, Kashruth, and Tzedakah had to be studied and observed. Today, the potential convert is expected to approach a Rabbi at least three times before actually being accepted as a student of Judaism. It is expected that the convert will study intensively for at least one year, accept the yoke of the commandments, and undergo tevillah (mikveh), circumcision, and questioning by a bet- din.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Efrat, wrote that one of the major problems facing the State of Israel today, is that it has accepted as citizens, 400,000 individuals from the former Soviet Union who are not halachikally Jewish. How did they gain automatic citizenship? Israel set as a criteria for automatic citizenship under the law of return, the same definition employed by the Nazis. If an individual has only one Jewish grandparent, even on the paternal side, they are granted automatic citizenship under the law of return. They do not have the status of halachik Jews however. They can live in Israel, go to Israeli schools, fight in the army, but they cannot marry a Jew without it being considered an intermarriage, nor can they be buried in a Jewish cemetery.
Some might say, how terrible! But if you think about it, it is no different than what is going on in our own community. When the reform movement decided to accept patrilineal descent, we too were accepting of joining our children together for the purposes of studying together and knowing one another. The greater community standard has been to outwardly accept anyone who is raised Jewish as Jewish...but that standard only goes so far....because according to the conservative movement, if a child's mother is not Jewish, that child must be converted to Judaism in order to be considered halachikally Jewish. If a child of patrilineal descent who had been raised as a Jew since birth would want to marry within the context of a Conservative synagogue, that individual would have to go before a bet din, and undergo tevillah and hatafat ha dam. Of course as conservative Jews, we would also accept a reform conversion as long as it involved a bet din and mikveh and circumcision. We do maintain standards related to halacha, but we do not believe in making Judaism unwelcoming. We do not say that only our Rabbis can convert an individual to Judaism in order for us to maintain control over the conversion process. We recognize that it is possible for Rabbis of all denominations to adhere to the standards of an halachik conversion process and we welcome the individuals who choose to join the ranks of the Jewish people through those means. I hope that one day we will also witness a time when the stringent rules of Israel will revert to the standard of accepting all halachik conversions of Jews who work with Rabbis from all denominations of Judaism anywhere in the world.
Shabbat Shalom.
This is a great lead in to your comments today (10/23). As a convert, I welcome your hope that conversions by "Rabbis from all denominations" will be accepted universally. I also welcome the stipulation that such conversions must be halakhic. I am grateful that Rabbi Emanuel made me go through the entire process, and took the time to teach a class for those of us interested in conversion, as well as the bet din, mikvah, and even the hatafat dam brit (a new experience for all concerned!).
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