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Halakhic Leniency in Modern Responsa Regarding Conversion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2016

Shmuel Shilo
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Extract

The process of conversion to Judaism is paralleled to the acceptance of the Torah by the Jewish people at Sinai. In Jewish sources, the Sinaitic experience is viewed as a mass conversion of the Jewish people. The essence of this conversion was the acceptance of the commandments as binding upon the Jewish people. Similarly, the essence of a Gentile's conversion to Judaism in later generations, is his acceptance of the yoke of the commandments as binding upon him. In fact, the Talmudic sources go so far as to state that the Jewish people at Sinai underwent the same process as a proselyte: circumcision, immersion in a mikve and the bringing of a burnt-offering. In short, traditionally, the essence of conversion was the acceptance of the mitzvot.

Type
Articles
Information
Israel Law Review , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , Winter–Spring 1988 , pp. 353 - 364
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and The Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1988

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References

1 Yevamot 46a-b.

2 Ibid. 47a-b.

3 Ibid. 46a-b.

4 Ibid. 24b.

5 Rambam, , Issurei Bi'ah 13: 14Google Scholar.

6 Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah 268: 12Google Scholar.

7 Gen., !Rabbah 39: 14Google Scholar.

8 Mekhilta Tractate Nizikin, sec. 28 (Exodus 22:20-23).

9 Pesahim 87b.

10 Yevamot 47b; Kiddushin 70b.

11 Yevamot 109b.

12 Niddah 13b.

13 Supra nn. 4-6.

14 Bekhorot 30b: Rambam, , Issurei Bi'ah 14: 18Google Scholar.

15 E.g. Resp. Rashbash 368, Resp. R. Azriel Hilderseimer. Yoreh De'ah 234. Resp. Bet Yitzhak, vol. 2, Yoreh De'ah 100: Resp. Devar Avraham. vol. 3. 28Google Scholar.

16 Tshurat Shai, vol. 2, 3Google Scholar.

17 Shabbat 4a; Kiddushin 55a; Menahot 48a.

18 Melamed LeHo'il, Yoreh De'ah 48a.

19 Ibid., Even Ha'ezer 8.

20 Piskei Uziel 60; cf., ibid. 63.

21 Deuteronomy 21:10-14.

22 Kiddushin 21b.

23 Psalms 119:129.

24 E.g. Resp. R. Azriel Hilderseimer, supra n. 15.

25 Tuv Ta'am Ve'da'at, vol. I, 230Google Scholar.

26 Resp. Maharsham, vol. 6, Yoreh De'ah 109.

27 Piskei Uziel 65.

28 Melamed LeHo'il, Yoreh De'ah 85.

29 Cf. Ahiezer, vol. 3, no. 26.

30 Melamed LeHo'il, Even Ha'ezer 8.

31 Unterman, I.Y., “The Laws of Conversion and their Practical Application” (1971) 14 Noam 1 and (1971)Google Scholar 13 Torah Sheb'al Peh 1.

32 Ahiezer, Even Ha'ezer 26.

33 Tuv Ta'am Ve'da'at, supra n. 25.

34 E.g. Rabbi Uziel, supra nn. 20, 27 and Rabbi Unterman, supra n. 31; Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in “Problems of Conversion in Our Times,” Torah Sheb'al Peh, supra n. 31, at 21; Wienberg, Rabbi Yehiel in Seridei Esh, vol. 3Google Scholar, Even Ha'ezer 50.

35 Tuv Ta'am Ve'da'at, supra n. 25.

36 Supra n. 18.

37 Rambam, , Issurei Bi'ah 14: 8Google Scholar; Semag, negative commandments, 172.

38 Supra n. 30.

39 Supra n. 32.

40 See supra n. 34.

41 Supra n. 18.

42 Piskei Uziel 64.

43 Ezekiel 34:4.

44 Supra n. 31.

45 Ibid.

46 For English language discussions of the legal-halakhic aspects of conversion, see e.g., Berkovits, E., “Conversion – According to Halakhah – What is it?” (1974) 23 Judaism 467Google Scholar; Cohen, S., “Conversion to Judaism in Historical Perspective from Biblical Israel to Post-Biblical Judaism” (1983) 36 Conservative Judaism 31Google Scholar; Cohen, J.S., Intermarriage and Conversion – A Halakhic Solution (Hoboken, N.J., Ktav, 1987)Google Scholar; Daube, D., “Conversion to Judaism and Early Christianity” in Ancient Jewish Law, Three Inaugural Lectures (Leiden-Brill, 1981)Google Scholar; Eichorn, D., ed., Conversion to Judaism (New York, Ktav, 1965)Google Scholar; Lubling, A., “Conversion in Jewish Law” (1985) 9 Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society 76Google Scholar.