Nine Good Reasons to Welcome Converts in Israel and Outside |
Most immigrants coming to Israel from Russia and Ukraine in recent years are not Jewish by Orthodox religious law, but they are eligible for Israeli citizenship. To qualify for citizenship under the Law of Return, an individual must have at least one Jewish grandparent, or a Jewish spouse, or have undergone a conversion in a recognized Jewish community (it does not have to be an Orthodox conversion).
Judaism is not a missionary faith and so doesn’t actively try to convert non-Jewish people (in many countries anti-Jewish laws prohibited converting to Judaism for centuries). Despite this, the modern Jewish community increasingly welcomes would-be converts. A person who converts to Judaism becomes a Jew is just as Jewish as someone born into Judaism.
There is a good precedent for this. Ruth, the great-great grandmother of King David, was a convert to Judaism, and the book of Ruth in the Bible which tells the story of her becoming Jewish, is read every year during the services held on Shavuot; the celebration of the Jewish People’s receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai.
Although Jews do not send out missionaries, it is a Mitzvah to welcome non-Jews who are interested to study Judaism and to join the Jewish people if they so desire. There are at least eight good reasons for Jews to encourage interested non-Jews to join the Jewish people.
1-“If a (potential) convert comes to convert, one should extend a hand to him (in welcome) to bring him under the wings of Shekhinah” (Vayiqra Rabbah 2:9). For the tradition that Prophet Jeremiah was a descendant of Rahab the harlot, is found in Talmud Megillah 14b, listing Rahab’s many important descendants, which include eight prophets and one prophetess.
2-Rabbi Shim‘on ben Lakish taught: “A proselyte is dearer to God than was Israel when it was gathered together at Mount Sinai, because Israel would not have received the Torah of God without the miracles of its revelation, whereas the proselyte, without seeing a single miracle, has consecrated himself to God and accepted the kingdom of heaven” (Tanhuma, Lech Lecha, ed. Buber, p. 32a)
3-The central daily prayer of all Orthodox and........