Q&A: Minor Convert
Minor Convert
Question
Hello Rabbi,
The Talmud in tractate Ketubot 11a discusses the conversion of a minor, who is converted with the consent of the religious court under the rule of "acting for a person in his absence when it is to his benefit." How is it possible to attach someone else’s intention to another person’s act? It seems similar to a person who does not know how to have the proper intention in prayer, and someone else would intend on his behalf while he actively performs the prayer. And in light of this, can one say that the process of converting a minor is בעצם a kind of acquisition, where circumcision and immersion are the practical forms of expression, and in that way the conversion can be conferred upon the minor? (I know this idea exists in yeshivot that deal with this topic.)
Answer
It seems to me that it is important here to distinguish between two formulations.
- Simply understood, the Talmud’s intent is that they effect the conversion for the minor under the rule of acting for him in his absence when it is to his benefit (like an agent who performs an act on his behalf. There is no reason to define this specifically as acquiring something, just as with agency for separating terumah or for divorce). Here the religious court are his agents. (Tosafot there already notes that one can act beneficially for a minor because this rule does not operate by virtue of agency. And Rabbi Akiva Eiger wrote that even if it does operate by virtue of agency, it is a form of agency that does not require appointment, and therefore can apply even to a minor. True, he is also a gentile, and there is no agency for a gentile. Tosafot and the commentators there in Ketubot already discuss this.) In this formulation, it is not correct to say that the court’s intention is effective for the minor. The court are his agents, like an agent for betrothal.
- The religious court immerse the minor (like a person immersing a vessel). An example of this is what Rabbi Shimon Shkop wrote on the Talmud in Hullin 31a: that if one woman pushes another into a mikveh, the latter becomes purified with the intention of the one pushing her (of course this is speaking about purification for sacrificial foods and terumah, which requires intention). And Rashash explained that the one pushing performs the act of immersion upon the one being pushed, and therefore the pusher’s intention is effective because the act too is hers. The same applies to a minor convert: the act is that of the religious court, and therefore their intention is effective—not on behalf of the minor, but for their own act. The result is that the minor becomes Jewish.