The Spirit of Welcoming
I was recently asked to participate in an online dialogue with another Reform rabbi, Rabbi Stephen J. Einstein, of Congregation B’nai Tzedek, Fountain Valley, CA, responding to the question, “Should the Reform Movement Actively Encourage Conversion?” In a four week program, entitled, Eilu v’Eilu, Rabbi Einstein and I wrote four essays: the first week, we answered the question blindly, without benefit of seeing the other’s response; the second week, we reacted to each other’s statements; the third week, we answered questions from community members; and the fourth week, we summed up our positions. Since it says a lot about who we are at Ohef Sholom, I thought it would be worth your reading. So, following is the first essay I submitted. For those interested in the entire discussion, it can be accessed at http://urj.org/torah/ten/eilu/.
And Ruth said: Do not urge me to leave you, to turn back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people and your God my God. (1:16-17).
The first “conversion” to Judaism is often attributed to the Moabite, Ruth. For following her husband’s untimely death, Ruth beseeches her beloved mother-in-law, Naomi, to let her remain with the Israelites and live as a member of the Jewish people. In her few, heartfelt words, still among the most moving and powerful of all of our sacred texts, Ruth casts her lot...more
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Dearest to God is the Convert
August 17, 2007
Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg
A midrash, or rabbinic story, by Martin Buber, comments on Abraham’s journey to becoming a Jew, when he is called to leave his land, his birthplace and his father’s house. Buber writes: “Dearer to God, than all of the Israelites who stood at Mount Sinai, is the convert, for had the Israelites not witnessed the lightning, thunder, quaking mountain and the loud trumpet blasts, they would not have accepted the Torah. But the convert, who did not see nor hear any of these things, came and surrendered herself to God and took the yoke of the commandments upon her. Can anyone be dearer to God than such a person? (Tanchuma Buber, Lech Lecah 6:32a).”
Buber’s words illuminate for us...more
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