Did Maimonides accept contemporary converts as Jewish?
At face value, this seems like a simple enough question. While not a proselytizing faith, we have long accepted converts to the religion and treated them as full members of the community.
A closer look, however, raises an interesting problem. Maimonides explains that the Israelites at Sinai “entered into the covenant” in three ways: circumcision, immersion in water, and by bringing an offering (animal sacrifice). He continues to explain that these three requirements apply to all later generations. The Torah states, “Like you, so the convert,” indicating that the means of entry for the new convert is to be the same as that of the original Israelites: circumcision, immersion in water, and bringing an offering.
Maimonides addresses the current reality when bringing an offering is not possible. “Nowadays when there are no offerings, [the convert] requires circumcision and immersion in water. When the Temple is rebuilt, he can then bring his offering.” This could imply that in the interim something is missing in the fullness of the conversion.
Indeed, Maimonides seems to be saying exactly this in another section of his code: “A convert who has circumcised and immersed, but has not yet brought an offering… the absence of the offering prevents him from being a complete convert.”
Despite these rulings, we find that Maimonides himself wrote a beautiful letter of encouragement to a unique individual, Ovadia HaGer (Ovadia the convert) who converted from Islam to Judaism. In the letter, Maimonides assures him that a convert is even greater than someone born Jewish. While the latter can trace his or her lineage to their ancient forbearers, a convert traces his or her lineage to the Almighty Himself.
Maimonides brings proof for this from the way the convert brings the bikkurim, the first-fruit offering in the Temple, in the same manner as any other Jew, even though the text references events that took place to the Israelites of previous generations. This clearly indicates that the convert is included as well.
Maimonides draws this comparison despite the fact that in those days the Temple obviously stood, so a convert could bring an offering as part of their conversion, while Ovadia could not. Suffice it to say that Maimonides would not have given empty platitudes to Ovadia. He would not have told him that he was an even greater Jew, unless he sincerely meant it.
To make sense of all this requires a change in perspective, which the Rebbe provides in simple and beautiful fashion.
Nowhere does Maimonides state that those three steps are all required in order to join the faith. Rather he says in the passive voice that when a person wishes to convert these three things need to happen. There is the key. Only two of the three steps – circumcision and immersion – are designed to enter the faith. The last – bringing an offering – is not designed as a means of entry but in order to cleanse impurities from the convert’s previous life.
One of the remaining obstacles that the offering is designed to clear away is the ability to partake of sacred foods in the Temple. As this is not pertinent in the absence of a standing Temple, it detracts nothing from the convert’s otherwise full entry to his new people. When the Temple is restored, the convert will have the opportunity to have that final obstacle removed and this last remaining issue will be resolved.
Given that the convert has no control over the fate of the Temple, as long as the Temple remains unbuilt, the convert is absolved of any responsibility.
In an allegorical sense, what we have just discussed not only applies to a formal convert, but to every Jew.
Just as we know that the Giving of the Torah is an ongoing act – we refer to G‑d as the Giver of the Torah in the present tense – likewise our entry into the Jewish people is not a one-off event. In the words of the sages: “Each day it should be in your eyes as if today you entered into a covenant with Him.”
Our own entry to the covenant may feel imperfect, as we are not free of all obstacles and imperfections. We are therefore reassured that our part in the covenant is full and complete, even if we still have more to do to achieve full purification.
Rambam’s Letter to Ovadiah the Convert
Thus says Moses, the son of Rabbi Maimon, one of the exiles from Jerusalem, who lived in Spain:
I received the question of the master Obadiah, the wise and learned proselyte, may the Lord reward him for his work, may a perfect recompense be bestowed upon him by the Lord of Israel, under whose wings he has sought cover.
You ask me if you, too, are allowed to say in the blessings and prayers you offer alone or in the congregation: “Our God” and “God of our fathers,” “You who have sanctified us through Your commandments,” “You who have separated us,” “You who have chosen us,” “You who have inherited us,” “You who have brought us out of the land of Egypt,” “You who have worked miracles to our fathers,” and more of this kind.
Yes, you may say all this in the prescribed order and not change it in the least. In the same way as every Jew by birth says his blessing and prayer, you, too, shall bless and pray alike, whether you are alone or pray in the congregation. The reason for this is, that Abraham our Father taught the people, opened their minds, and revealed to them the true faith and the unity of God; he rejected the idols and abolished their adoration; he brought many children under the wings of the Divine Presence; he gave them counsel and advice, and ordered his sons and the members of his household after him to keep the ways of the Lord forever, as it is written, “For I have known him to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice” (Gen. 18:19). Ever since then whoever adopts Judaism and confesses the unity of the Divine Name, as it is prescribed in the Torah, is counted among the disciples of Abraham our Father, peace be with him. These men are Abraham’s household, and he it is who converted them to righteousness.
In the same way as he converted his contemporaries through his words and teaching, he converts future generations through the testament he left to his children and household after him. Thus Abraham our Father, peace be with him, is the father of his pious posterity who keep his ways, and the father of his disciples and of all proselytes who adopt Judaism.
Therefore you shall pray, “Our God” and “God of our fathers,” because Abraham, peace be with him, is your father. And you shall pray, “You who have taken for his own our fathers,” for the land has been given to Abraham, as it is said, “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give to you” (Gen. 13:17). As to the words, “You who have brought us out of the land of Egypt” or “You who have done miracles to our fathers” – these you may change, if you will, and say, “You who have brought Israel out of the land of Egypt ” and “You who have done miracles to Israel.” If, however, you do not change them, it is no transgression, because since you have come under the wings of the Divine Presence and confessed the Lord, no difference exists between you and us, and all miracles done to us have been done as it were to us and to you. Thus is it said in the Book of Isaiah, “Neither let the son of the stranger, that has joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, ‘The Lord has utterly separated me from His people’” (Is. 56:3). There is no difference whatever between you and us. You shall certainly say the blessing, “Who has chosen us,” “Who has given us,” “Who have taken us for Your own” and “Who has separated us”: for the Creator, may He be extolled, has indeed chosen you and separated you from the nations and given you the Torah. For the Torah has been given to us and to the proselytes, as it is said, “One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourns with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord” (Num. 15:15). Know that our fathers, when they came out of Egypt, were mostly idolaters; they had mingled with the pagans in Egypt and imitated their way of life, until the Holy One, may He be blessed, sent Moses our Teacher, the master of all prophets, who separated us from the nations and brought us under the wings of the Divine Presence, us and all proselytes, and gave to all of us one Law.
Do not consider your origin as inferior. While we are the descendants of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, you derive from Him through whose word the world was created. As is said by Isaiah: “One shall say, I am the Lord’s, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob” (Is. 44:5).
Author: Rav Yossi Ives
Source: This article originally appeared on the website of Chabad. The original article can be found here.
