How to understand the possibility of passing a conversion? Does it mean that any non-Jew can become a Jew? It follows from this that any Jew can marry or marry a non-Jew. It turns out that every Jew can mix, and it is enough to pass conversion, and he / she will become a Jew? Why then the law on non-mixing of Jews with other nations ...? Can a non-Jew have "aidishe neshume" [1] by accepting conversion?


I appreciate your answers. And I would like to hear from you a more meaningful answer ...



Rabbi's answer:


giyurThanks for your appreciation of my responses. I hope that I will not undermine your confidence by arguing that there is no need to write at length about this issue. After all, the answer to your question is quite simple - indeed, a non-Jew has a unique opportunity to become completely Jewish and receive “aidishe neshume”. Having passed the conversion, the gentile becomes a new person. The Talmud says in the treatise Yevamot (22 a): "A Ger who has undergone conversion is like a baby who has just been born." Since the hero becomes a full-fledged Jew, there is no ban whatsoever for the hero from marrying a Jewess, and there is no prohibition on marrying a Jew.


Of course, I fully understand your bewilderment. It really sounds very strange: can a person change his nationality? The opportunity to accept another religion is understandable. After all, religion is, first of all, a person's beliefs, and everyone can change their beliefs. But change your nationality ?! Nationality, however, has nothing to do with a person's beliefs, it is a genetic fact.



giyur giyur

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SARA HUSSEIN US Jewish rapper Shyne (R) studies the Torah at the Esh Hatora yeshiva in Jerusalem on November 17, 2010. He might seem like a walking contradiction, but Shyne could be charting himself a highly unusual path back into the music business, 10 years after it seemed his short-lived but promising rap career was over. AFP PHOTO / LIOR MIZRAHI (Photo credit should read LIOR MIZRAHI / AFP / Getty Images)


However, the Creator, by His great mercy, gave such an opportunity: having passed the conversion procedure in a serious rabbinical court, “change” nationality and become a part of the Jewish people. And this is what Ramkhal writes (The Path of the Creator, part 2, chapter 4): “By His great kindness and benevolence, the Creator decreed and allowed even the“ branches ”of other nations, if they so wished, to uproot themselves from their“ root ”by their choices and actions. and enter into the community of "branches" of our father Abraham, peace be upon him. "


The Greatness of the Heres in Jewish History


It should be added that the Jewish people achieved their highest achievements in many cases thanks to the Gera.


As you know, King David was a descendant of Ruth's giyoret, respectively, and the Mashiach (Messiah) will be her descendant. Rabbi Akiva, thanks to whom the Oral Torah was not forgotten (see Talmud in the treatise Yevamot 62 b), was a descendant of the Ger (Rambam in the preface to Yad ha-Khazaka, see also Sanhedrin 96 b). Rabbi Meir, who laid the foundations of the Mishnah (see Sanhedrin 86 a), was a descendant of the Roman commander Nero, who accepted conversion (treatise Gittin 56 a). The leaders of their generation, Shmaya and Avtallion, who, among other things, were the teachers of the greatest Jewish sage Hillel (see Pirkei Avot 1, 12), were also Gers (Rambam in the preface to Yad Ha-Khazaka, and see Tosfot Yom Tov to Pirkei Avot, there). Onkelos, who translated the Torah into Aramaic and thereby helped a large number of people understand many passages in the Torah, was also a her (in the treatise Gittin 56 b it is described in detail about his conversion). The Talmud in the Treatise Sanhedrin (39 b) says that the prophet Obadiah was a ger.


The famous commentary "Orach Chaim" (section of Vayekhi) explains in detail why these highest achievements of the Jewish people were made possible precisely because of the Geres. It says there are great souls among non-Jews. And when these people do conversion and thus come to the Jewish people, they bring with them a lot of holiness.


Rav Pyatigorsk






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