(Heb. giyyur). Conversion to Judaism is the decision of a non-Jew (traditionally defined as a person born to a non-Jewish mother) to adopt the Jewish faith with its religious way of life, undergoing the rites of conversion and being accepted as a full-fledged member of the Jewish people by a Bet Din (religious court). Since Judaism recognizes non-Jews who follow the seven Noachide Laws as meeting the essential general religious duties of man, it regards as gereĢ tsedek, righteous converts, those who take the special step of changing their religious and ethnic identity to a Jewish one and accepting for themselves the laws of the Torah. They are mentioned with the righteous and the pious in the daily prayers and particular sensitivity to their feelings is shown. Thus it is specifically forbidden to mention their past in a derogatory manner. Morever, the Jew is commanded, "The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself" (Lev. 19:34).
The educational process preceding conversion varies with the time, place, and needs of the candidate for conversion. Its objective is to ensure an informed and wholehearted lifelong commitment and integration in the Jewish community. "Some of the major and some of the lesser commandments" must be taught. The candidate must be warned of the persecutions and efforts to annihilate the Jewish people. He/she must also be told that by converting many things which were heretofore permitted will be forbidden, such as performing work on the Sabbath. In fact Jewish law specifically requires that at the beginning, an effort be made to dissuade the person from converting. This step is meant to screen out those whose motives are not sincere, such as those who seek to convert for material benefit, to attain a desired position, or out of fear. Once the candidate for conversion shows a determination to convert, then he/she is encouraged.
The essential rites of conversion are, for the male, Circumcision as entry into the "covenant of Abraham" (or for the already circumcised, the taking of a drop of blood in a symbolic circumcision) and tevilah, i.e., complete immersion in a ritual bath or other authorized body of water. For the female, tevilah is the essential ritual. At the time of the Temple, the convert was also required to bring a sacrifice. Children who are converted at the behest of parents or legal guardians may, when of age, opt out of their Judaism, but the adult convert who relapses remains technically Jewish and is still subject to Jewish law. He or she may thus return to the Jewish fold without a new conversion.
Conversion has a long history among Jews. According to midrashic tradition, Abraham would proselytize the men and Sarah the women. The Bible referred to "the ger in your gates" as a special class of the population. Ger is usually translated as "stranger." In rabbinic law the "stranger" could be either the ger tsedek, the convert, or the ger toshav, a foreigner who lived in the land and accepted the Noachide laws.
In biblical times Ruth, who proclaimed "your people are my people and your God is my God," is the model proselyte and was the ancestor of King David. At the end of the second century BCE, John Hyrcanus forced the Edomites (Idumeans) to convert, and some of the valiant defenders of Jerusalem against the Romans came from the Edomite ranks. Another large-scale conversion occurred many centuries later, when the Khazars converted.
In the Greco-Roman era, large numbers of non-Jews associated themselves with the Jewish communities of the ever-growing Diaspora (Galut), finding in the Jewish faith an answer to their dissatisfaction with pagan polytheism. Some of the greatest of early rabbinic scholars like Shemayah and Avtalyon and R. Akiva were said to be descendants of converts, and Onkelos, who translated the Pentateuch into Aramaic, was a convert.
A minority opinion among the talmudic sages offers some opposition to the policy of accepting converts. Thus, one of the amoraim expressed his opposition to conversion by claiming that "converts are as hard for Israel [to endure] as a sore" (Yev. 47b). This seems to have been a reflection of the external situation, whereby the Jewish community could be punished for attempts at proselytization. There are numerous expressions to the contrary, praising converts and their contribution to the Jewish people, and even recommending steps "not to close the door before potential proselytes." This latter view is the most prevalent in talmudic literature. It would appear that the different views on the subject were less a product of a particular philosophy than of the circumstances prevailing at any given time.
The teachers of Christianity offered non-Jews on the periphery of the Jewish communities a competing faith which did not require circumcision and the acceptance of a stringent legal code. Nonetheless, Jewish proselytizing continued apace until Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, after which proselytizing was forbidden under pain of death to the convert and the Jews who converted him. Several centuries later, Islam, as it conquered country after country, took a similar position. Jewish proselytizing went underground and became far less common.
Rabbinic literature offers answers to many questions about the status of the convert. He is considered as if born afresh and not related to his previous family; is counted as a member of a Minyan (prayer quorum), may serve as prayer leader, may serve as a judge in a rabbinical court dealing with civil cases; and in general is obligated by the same commandments as his fellow Jews. The scholars ruled that in prayer he too should pray, "our God and God of our fathers," "...for once having come under the wings of the Divine Presence, there is no difference between us; all the miracles done for us were done for him too!" There are nevertheless certain restrictions: a female proselyte is not permitted to marry a Kohen (priest) and a proselyte could not be anointed king.
In modern times many non-Jews have turned to the Jewish faith, some out of dissatisfaction with the faith they were born into, some out of a desire to marry Jews, and others, in Israel, in order to be registered as Jews by the state.. Instruction of conversion candidates today is designed so that, no matter what the original motivation, the conversion is only granted when religious motivation is genuine.
Reform and Conservative rabbis have performed or officiated at the vast majority of conversions to Judaism throughout the world in recent decades, especially in the United States, where thousands of non-Jews convert to Judaism annually, often (as with many Orthodox conversions) within a marriage situation. Most Reform rabbis do not require circumcision or immersion in the ritual bath but only a course of study and a ceremony that emphasizes the commitment to join faith with the people of Israel and to adopt the Jewish religion and culture. Reform Judaism encourages conversion to Judaism as a means of establishing the Jewish identity of families of mixed marriage and of bolstering the population of a Jewish people that has been decimated in the present century by the Holocaust and mass assimilation. Reform Judaism considers converts to be of full Jewish status, without any restrictions, including marriage eligibility. Converts are often referred to in Reform literature by the more expressive term "Jews by choice."
The Orthodox rabbinate in most places refuses to recognize the validity of conversion under non-Orthodox auspices and denies the Jewishness of offspring of women so converted. When asked to conduct a religious service, e.g., a wedding for such converts, or in Israel to register them as Jews (see Jew, Who is a), Orthodox rabbis often require a new conversion under Orthodox auspices on the grounds that the non-Orthodox conversion was not performed in accordance with halakhah, that the convert does not intend to lead an Orthodox life, that the rabbis concerned are not qualified to sit on a bet din, and that the convert was not adequately prepared.
Conservative rabbis counter that they do follow the halakhah of conversion meticulously and that many current Orthodox rulings are new takkanot, matters of policy rather than of basic Jewish law. Orthodox and non-Orthodox, each from their own perspective, warn against splintering the Jewish people over this issue.
The New Encyclopedia of Judaism. Copyright © 1989, 2002 by G.G. The Jerusalem Publishing House, Ltd. All rights reserved.
