Conversion and Shavuot
Happy Holidays,
I agree with most of your comments this week on the subject of conversion.
I am willing to talk about a lenient policy toward immigrants in the State of Israel in our time, but it is not something that is so principled.
You mentioned a case where a convert planned in advance to get married in a place where the Sabbath was desecrated. This may be a problem, but you will probably also agree that failure to observe a commandment after conversion cannot in practice be used as an indication for annulling a conversion (i.e., a declaration that was not valid in the first place!). The great men of Israel never did this, and it can be proven (I dedicated the fifth part of my unforgettable book to this fundamental issue…). Until rabbis arose in regional courts and did this in the last decades, and in a shameful manner in my opinion, not to mention the Sherman tank that became a chariot that trampled hundreds of converts wholesale, while committing a terrible blasphemy, in my opinion.
(It seems to me that the catalyst for all this was the ruling in the case of Rabbi Goren’s brother and sister from the early 1970s, in which the cancellation of the conversion was one of the ways taken to purify the bastards, that is, with “positive” intentions. Incidentally, this ruling, and Rabbi Goren’s mistakes, are also analyzed in my monumental book.)
All of this as an introduction to the main point, which you only hinted at, and did not expand on. That is, there is room for a thorough clarification of whether the definition of conversion is joining the people of Israel or joining the religion of Israel (and thus the people of Israel). We both think that entry into the people is through entry into religion, since the commitment to the commandments is the definition of the Jew/Judaism. Others, led today by Avi Sagi and Zvi Zohar, believe that conversion is joining the people of Israel. The debate is therefore about the definition of Judaism . I invite a conversation about this at an opportunity.
Not to detract from immediate consideration now, as such.
Happy holiday, M.
To the Mohar”r M. Shlita Shihi’.
How pleasant it was for me to see Mr. in our place (that it would not be done in our place…).
As for Mr.’s statement, that was my argument: that a distinction should be made between a plan in advance and a failure to fulfill a commandment in retrospect. I also argued that perhaps leniency should be given to this, since perhaps he originally planned to be an Israeli criminal but understands his obligation.
I think the argument of those who annul because of non-observance of a mitzvah after conversion (Sherman also annulled because of the wickedness of the dayanim) is an argument that is difficult to underestimate: there is currently a presumption that the convert no longer intends to receive mitzvahs in the first place and does so for social, economic, and romantic purposes (and as far as I know, it is a fact that most converts through the state route do not really do so). Therefore, if he is one of those who does not observe mitzvahs, this is a reason to attribute to that presumption that he did not intend to do so in the first place. Maimonides, who denies annulment due to non-observance of a mitzvah, speaks of a situation in which the presumption was reversed: someone who converts clearly did so in order to observe mitzvahs (otherwise why would he join the degenerate and drifting Jews), but this is not the situation in our place and time.
My personal opinion is that this explanation is not sufficient to invalidate the conversion of a kosher (and not a kosherman) Jew who decided at the time of conversion that the convert had the intention of receiving a commandment. But as for the substance of this argument, I actually agree with the explanation.
Regarding joining the Jewish people – as I said, I think it is difficult to attack this from sources (because they can all be interpreted as commandments being a sign of joining the nation and not a fundamental requirement for defining conversion). In my opinion, the main problem is conceptual-analytical, because I do not accept that there is such a thing as secular Judaism (as distinct from secular Jews, of course). See my article on this here:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%A2%D7%9C-%D7%96%D7%94%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%99%D7%94%D7%95%D7%93%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%96%D7%9E%D7%A0%D7%A0%D7%95-%D7%95%D7%91%D7%9B%D7%9C%D7%9C/
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