חדש באתר: עוזר בינה מלאכותית המבוסס על כתביו ושיעוריו של הרב מיכאל אברהם

Q&A: The Commandment to Love the Convert

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This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.

The Commandment to Love the Convert

Question

I have a question, just for the sake of sharp analysis.
Does the commandment to love the convert obligate all observant Jews with respect to every kind of convert? If, for example, I am a Jew who is very strongly attached to the approach of Rabbi Shach, and a lax convert in mitzvah observance comes to me—some kind of “traditional-plus” type, who keeps the Sabbath, tries to observe the laws of niddah, and prays three times a day—am I obligated to love him and draw him close? After all, according to my learned way of thinking, which advocates meditating on Torah day and night, that person is ultimately thousands of light-years away from living a life of Torah and mitzvot properly. And at the end of the day, it may be that his joining causes more harm than overall benefit. Does the commandment to love the convert apply to me with regard to such a convert?
And of course it could be the other way around as well. If I am very strongly attached to the teachings of Rabbi A. I. Kook, then from my perspective the joining of a Haredi convert to the Jewish people could delay the process of redemption in many ways.
And more generally: how do you reconcile the view that “converts are as difficult for the Jewish people as a scab,” that most of them should be suspected because many return to their former ways, with the halakhic rule that even a convert who reverted to his former ways is a Jew in every respect, and his lost object is a lost object that I must return? Why should I have to treat with respect a person who causes spiritual harm and has strayed from the path, and is even called a scab?
 

Answer

From a halakhic standpoint, the commandment to love the convert is not connected to the convert’s behavior. We do not derive the reason for the verse as a basis for limiting the law. Therefore there is a full obligation to love every convert. At the same time, of course, you may oppose his path and condemn him for his actual behavior, and even hate him if he is wicked in your view.
In the third book of the Talmudic Logic series, I explained very clearly the meaning of having different kinds of relationships, from different aspects, toward the same person. But the point is simple even without getting too meticulous about it. There are also columns here on the site (29–30) about a complex evaluation of people.

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