COMMENT
Why Judaism Must Seek Converts
DENNIS PRAGER
I
t comes as a surprise
to many Jews that
Judaism reveres and
deeply desires con-
verts. But the evi-
dence for this is
overwhelming.
lb begin with, the
first Jew was a convert,
an extremely important
fact that Jewish sources re-
peatedly stress: "Said the Ho-
ly One, 'I cherish the convert.
Abraham was a convert' "
(Tankhuma B. and Lekh
Lekha).
Not only was the first - Jew
a convert. The Tanach
(Hebrew Bible) holds that the
Messiah will come from a con-
vert, Ruth. Could Judaism
have made a more powerful
statement on behalf of con-
verts?
Against a massive pro-con-
vert, pro-missionizing body of
literature, there are just four
ambivalent statements in the
rabbinic literature. Consider-
ing the wide variety of views
on almost any subject in the
Talmud, this minimal number
is impressive proof of the pro-
convert views of traditional
Judaism. Moreover, the little
ambivalence that exists re-
laths to those converts who
proved less than loyal during
times of persecution.
As a result of Judaism's at-
titude toward convert-seek-
ing, Jews vigorously sought
converts whenever possible.
In the ancient world, Jews
were such active missionaries
on behalf of Judaism that by
the time of Jesus, 10 percent
of the Roman Empire was
Jewish.
The results were also quali-
tatively impressive. Among
the notable rabbinic converts
to Judaism was Onkelos,
whose Aramaic translation of
the Bible is studied by reli-
gious Jews to this day. A list-
ing of the rabbis in the
' Talmud who descended from
converts includes the greatest
names: Rabbi Meir, Rabbi
Dennis Prager is a lecturer
and editor of Ultimate Issues
(6020 Washington Blvd.,
Culver City, Ca. 90232) from
which this article is
excerpted.
-
Akiva, as well as Shemaiah
and Avtalyon.
It was Christianity, not
Judaism, that stopped a like-
ly massive movement of peo-
ple to Judaism. When
Christianity became the
Roman state religion, the
state immediately prohibited
conversion to Judaism, and
by 407 of the Common Era, it
became a capital offense for a
Christian to convert to Juda-
ism Both the convert and the
Jew facilitating the conver-
sion were put to death. Such
prohibitions, along with the
gradual deterioration of the
Jews' condition, and the as-
cent of Christian Jew-hatred,
are what prevented the Jews
from continuing to seek con-
verts. Jew-haters, not Juda-
ism, stopped Jewish convert-
seeking. Those Jews who
believe that Judaism should
not seek converts have
adopted the attitude of the
Jews' oppressors, not of
Judaism.
When a Jew today ex-
presses ambivalence toward
convert-seeking, he or she is
expressing a non-Jewish atti-
tude, which while indefensi-
ble, is explicable. It is time to
return to Judaism's true
aims, and to break away from
the isolation and insularity
forced upon us by anti-
Semites.
It is ironic that many of the
Jews most ambivalent or
even opposed to convert-seek-
ing are those who most deny
that Jewish religious atti-
tudes have been shaped by
historical events. For here is
a very clear case of Jews
holding a nonarah attitude
solely as a result of historical
forces. For a religious Jew to
be ambivalent about convert-
seeking is to let anti-Semites
and historical events, not
Judaism, determine his re-
ligious outlook.
The moment you mention,
convert-seeking, most Jews
recoil in horror — they think
of the historical Christian
missionizing efforts to save
others' souls, and they im-
agine Jews knocking on non-
Jews' doors, handing out
tracts.
Yet, saving souls has
nothing to do with Judaism,
and knocking on doors has
nothing to do with the sophis-
ticated outreach explained
below.
Judaism does want con-
verts, and it does demand
that non-Jews become ethical
monotheists, but it never held
that non-Jews must become
Jews. This is one reason why
Jews would never feel as
driven as Muslims or Chris-
tians to seek converts.
It is easy to understand
why Jews who are not partic-
ularly religious have little in-
terest in seeking converts.
Why would Jews who them-
selves do not care about
Judaism want others to con-
vert to Judaism? The real rid-
dle concerns religious Jews:
why don't they, who pre-
sumably love Judaism, want
others to live Jewish lives?
Either they are not con-
vinced about their own and
Judaism's ability to make the
Jewish case in the market-
place of ideas, or they are a
particularly selfish lot, desir-
ing to keep as many people as
possible away from such an
enriching way of life.
Once Jews understand that
they must seek converts for
their own sakes and for the
sake of the world, and that
Judaism wants them to seek
converts, the only remaining
question is how to go about it.
The first thing Jews must
do is to change their attitude
toward seeking converts. This
alone will lead to a profound
shift in Jewish behavior. The
moment Jews understand
that they have a mission to
the world, Judaism takes on
a far deeper meaning, the
outer world becomes far more
real, and attitudes toward
non-Jews undergo a very
positive metamorphosis.
One example can illustrate
all these points.
Few Jews invite non-Jews
to their homes for a Shabbat
meal. The reason is as plain
as it is sad. Of the Jews who
regularly invite non-Jews to
their homes, few observe
Shabbat, and of the Jews who
observe Shabbat, few regular-
ly have non-Jews to their
homes. Yet, one way to get the
word out that Jews welcome
new Jews is for Jews who
celebrate Shabbat to invite
non-Jews to their homes.
This can be achieved in two
ways: person to person and
communally. In the first in-
stance, Jews can invite non-
Jewish colleagues and ac-
quaintances to their homes.
In the second, synagogues,
federations and other Jewish
organizations can initiate pro-
grams, announced through
notices in the general media,
that anyone interested in
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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