Q&A: The Convert Mentioned in the Torah
The Convert Mentioned in the Torah
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Rashi wrote in the portion of Mishpatim:
Every use of the term ger means someone who was not born in that country, but came from another country to live there.
But many halakhic decisors explain that all the commandments stated regarding a ger
refer to a gentile who accepted the commandments upon himself.
Where do they get that from?
Or did Rashi explain only the meaning of the word ger, and not who is included in the halakhic category?
Thank you
Answer
You are conflating a ger with a resident alien. In biblical language, a ger is an immigrant, but a resident alien is a gentile who accepted upon himself the seven commandments. A righteous convert (a gentile who converted to Judaism), as far as I recall, does not appear in the Bible.
Discussion on Answer
The source is already in the Talmud itself (Bava Metzia 59b, for example).
It seems to me that from the Sages it emerges that this is the same interpretation. It is forbidden to wrong a ger, meaning an immigrant who lives among us and came from elsewhere. But interpersonal prohibitions were stated only regarding people who conduct themselves properly, so we are speaking about a ger who converted or at least accepted the seven commandments. Regarding all interpersonal commandments, the commentators disagreed whether they were also stated about a resident alien just as they were about a Jew.
Many thanks
Thank you,
I know there are differences between the various kinds of gerim,
but I really am talking about that specific verse I cited:
“You shall neither wrong a ger nor oppress him, for you were gerim in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:20).
Rashi explains that it refers to an immigrant who came from another country,
whereas the commentators explain that it refers to a gentile who accepted the commandments upon himself,
for example:
That we are forbidden to wrong the ger even with words, and he is one of the nations who converted and entered our religion, and it is forbidden to disgrace him even verbally (Sefer HaChinukh), and so too in Maimonides.
Where do they get that from?