"Torah Lights"
 
Video Insights on the Parsha
 
 by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel – “And Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and the souls which they made in Haran, and they came to the Land of Canaan” (Genesis 12:5).

One of the major challenges facing the State of Israel today – specifically in terms of its future as Jewish state – is the fate of close to 400,000 Israeli citizens from the former Soviet Union who are not halachically Jewish. These people were granted automatic Israeli citizenship under the law of the Right of Return for a compelling reason: since the Nazis' definition of a Jew to be murdered in Auschwitz was someone with one Jewish grandparent – even if it was on the paternal side, those same criteria were adopted for anyone seeking refuge in Israel. Hence, our society is faced with a large influx of non-halachically Jewish citizens who are fighting and sometimes dying for us in the IDF. Their children are attending kindergartens, schools and universities with other Israeli children, but they cannot be married in a Jewish religious ceremony and they cannot even be buried in a Jewish cemetery. This opens the door to a massive problem of intermarriage and countless desecrations of God's name, as bereaved parents ask why their beloved children were Jewish enough to sacrifice their lives for the Jewish state, but not Jewish enough to be buried alongside other Jews.

The most natural solution lies in "conversion" – a procedure first described in the Book of Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite, and the Bible forbids Moabites from "entering into the congregation of the Lord" (Deut. 23:4). Nevertheless, she forsook her family and culture, committing herself to the faith, fortune and nationality of her beloved mother-in-law, Naomi, saying: "Wherever you go, I shall go, where you sleep, I shall sleep, your nation shall be my nation, your God my God" (Ruth 1:16). The Talmud explains that a religious court determined that the ancient Biblical law only prohibited male Moabites from converting, females were permitted to join our nation (Yevamot 69a). Ruth, therefore, is praised as an "Abrahamic" figure, who married the prominent Judean leader Boaz, and became the great-grandmother of David, King of Israel and forerunner of the Messiah.

The Talmud (B.T. Yevamot 45, 46) sets down the fundamental procedures for conversion, which are codified by the Shulhan Aruch to include acceptance of the commandments, ritual immersion, and circumcision for males. The Talmud maintains that while general acceptance of commandments is mandatory, the would-be convert need only be informed of "some of the more stringent laws and some of the more lenient laws" (specifying only Shabbat, aspects of kashrut, and the charitable tithes). Another Talmudic passage (B.T. Shabbat 31) suggests in the name of Hillel that as long as the conversion candidate has embarked on a positive process of Torah study, he/she is to be accepted immediately.

Unfortunately, however, the religious courts in Israel – and especially the ultra-Orthodox religious community – have established much stricter standards, which is hardly conducive for the large numbers of converts which our present national situation so desperately demands. I believe that whether or not we apply a user-friendly attitude towards potential converts depends upon how we see our Jewish mission, especially now that we have returned to the Land. Many Talmudic commentaries actually count conversion as one of the 613 commandments. The Ra'avad (12th Century) derives this command from our Biblical portion, which mentions the souls [that Abraham and Sarah] made in Haran (Genesis 12:5). The Midrash, cited by Rashi, says Abraham converted the men while Sarah converted the women.

Maimonides goes one step further. In his Book of Commandments, Positive Command 3, he cites the Sifrei in explaining that the commandment to “love the Lord” really means “making Him beloved to all of humanity, like Abraham did. This is the meaning of the verse ‘…and the souls that they made in Haran…’” Maimonides expounds that, “Just as Abraham harnessed his great love of God to bring humanity to faith, so too, you shall ‘love the Lord’ to the extent of calling other people to Him.”

As the Mishna in Avot (1:12) teaches us, “love all humanity and bring them close to Torah.”

Shabbat Shalom