Entering a New World: The Status of Converts in Judaism

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The Jewish people are a breed of our own: identified by lineage, bound by theology, marked for exclusion. Not quite a religion, not quite a nationality, not quite a race or ethnicity or tribe, we have members who are atheists and members who are converts. From a halachic perspective, any person born to a Jewish mother is a member of the tribe, believer or not.

But what about converts? How do we understand their place? Are they “latecomer Jews”, second-best, after-the-fact witnesses? Or are they part of our very fabric, lost souls in search of Truth’s calling, and worthy of the highest respect when they heed that call?

The Talmud¹ states explicitly that once a convert has accepted the yoke of mitzvot, immersed in the mikveh, and in the case of a male, been circumcised, he is like a born Jew in every sense. At that point, there is no going back. He is responsible for every halachic requirement and liable for any infraction, and is granted equal civil status to every other Jew. And the love, protection, acceptance, and service that is a part of our – respective and collective – relationship with Hashem are each separately guaranteed for the righteous converts among us.²

When we refer to converts and their spiritual stature, we are assuming good-faith, all-in conversions. Only Hashem knows the ways of one’s heart, and only He can be a judge of one’s motivations. The charge of the beit din is to test for insincerity or ulterior motives prior to the conversion to the extent they deem reasonable, and it is our duty to accept every halachic ger with absolute integration.

The Torah is full of reminders that we may not oppress or harm a convert. The Talmud cites a disagreement if such warnings are found in thirty-six places, or forty-six; but the message is undeniable that it is incumbent on us to treat converts with kindness, dignity, and respect. In the bracha of Al Hatzaddikim, we include a supplication for gerei hatzedek, alongside our daily prayers for the righteous and the pious among the Jewish people.

Converts have risen to become some of the most illustrious within our people. Ruth, the grandmother of David Hamelech and eventually of Melech Hamashiach, was a convert, as was Yitro, Rachav, and the father of Rebbe Akiva. So was Onkelos, the groundbreaking translator of the chumash.

Our mesorah asserts that the neshamot of converts were present at Har Sinai. We learn this from the words Moshe said to the Jewish people at the end of his life, in the name of Hashem, saying, “Not with you alone do I seal this … also with those not here today.”³ The Talmud⁴ says that this refers to future converts.

In some ways, converts get preferential treatment. Hashem says, “Why do I love righteous ones? I love those who love me… I will honor those who honor me”⁵. Righteous ones, says the midrash, are people whose status is not patriarchal, whose attainments were actively earned. Hashem loves those who have sought him out, who have willingly joined His flock.

The Torah is full of reminders that we may not oppress or harm a convert. The Talmud⁶ cites a disagreement if such warnings are found in thirty-six places, or forty-six; but the message is undeniable that it is incumbent on us to treat converts with kindness, dignity, and respect. In the bracha of Al Hatzaddikim, we include a supplication for gerei hatzedek, alongside our daily prayers for the righteous and the pious among the Jewish people.

What is the reason for the special obligation to not oppress a convert? The Torah follows the commandment by explaining, “…because you were strangers in Mitzrayim”⁷. This is a remarkable lesson in personal sensitivity and humility, but the Ohr Hachaim gives a deeper explanation: Do not mock him for his unholy past, because you were yourself once mired in the tumah of Egypt.

Another perspective is given by Ramban, who says we should learn from our own experience in Mitzrayim that Hashem frowns upon the persecution of strangers. In this vein, Rashi⁸ points out that ger refers to a newcomer in any setting, whether work or community.

The Sefer Hachinuch⁹ explains that converts might not have the family or support system to defend them from harassment. Indeed, in the commandment to not verbally harm a convert¹⁰, they are listed among other defenseless people whom the Torah gives us an extra warning to be sensitive to. Converts are vulnerable in the way that orphans and widows are, and there is additional danger that in their anguish and anger, they may return to their old ways.

An enlightening discussion is brought in the Talmud, where it is quoted that “Converts are as difficult upon the Jewish people as a scab”¹¹. Various explanations are given by the Rishonim; Tosafot says that the extreme care we are obligated to take in honoring a convert means we will inevitably stumble. In this way, the ger serves as a blight on the collective Jewish conscience, so to speak. They also cite a more humbling reasoning; converts tend to be more scrupulous and passionate in their observance, which renders Klal Yisrael inferior by comparison.

Another explanation Tosafot gives concerns the gemara which states “The Holy One, Blessed be He, exiled Israel among the nations only so that converts would join them.”¹² R Yonatan Eibishitz further elucidates this. “Know that… when the genuine converts join the house of Yaakov then the redemption will come, because this was the purpose of exile to foreign lands…” Galus is certainly a difficult price we are paying on behalf of those who might join us along the way.

A further proof of this can be brought from the Ohr Hachaim on the laws of Yefat To’ar¹³. The details of those laws are unrelated to the topic at hand, but it essentially addresses a case where a Jewish man out in battle meets an exceptionally beautiful woman from a foreign nation and forcibly brings her home with him. The woman is then made unattractive for a period of thirty days – her hair is shaved, her clothing is replaced, and she weeps for the family she left behind. This process is meant to tease out whether the love was a fleeting desire, in which case she is returned home, or if there is a true soul connection, in which case he marries her.

The Ohr Hachaim explains that in a case where the attraction is proved to be lasting and legitimate, that indicates that the woman’s soul was a lost spark, a Jewish soul that was attached to foreign nations and needed to be redeemed. He likens this to converts, who are likewise Jewish souls within foreign nations, whom we are meant to gather from among the exiles along our journey to redemption.

Many are familiar with the Midrashic tale of how, in preparation for matan torah, Hashem went around offering the Torah to the nations¹⁴. Each inquired what was written in it; each was told about a commandment that challenged their culture and required a complete transformation of their value system. Each nation, in turn, refused the Torah, until Bnei Ysrael embraced it with the words “naaseh v’nishma – we will do, and we will hear”. No questions, no tests, just immediate acceptance and total trust.

Avraham ben Avraham, the Polish nobleman of the eighteenth century who converted and was eventually martyred for it, is quoted to have said that converts are the singular souls within the foreign nations who wanted to unilaterally accept the Torah¹⁵. That same sacred cry of naaseh v’nishma, that same total trust and commitment. Those eventual converts earned it just the same way we did, and their service and sacrifice are revered and precious.

In that way, we really are all in the same boat: ultimately just lost and grasping souls in the corners of the exile, waiting to be claimed and returned to our true spiritual home. May we merit seeing that day soon.