Sometime before a conversion is planned a rabbi would say to the prospective proselyte who was brought up Christian, “You wish to become a Jew? Do you still harbor any lingering uncertainty as to whether or not the Messiah has come or that salvation is achieved by belief in Jesus? Was he the son of God as other humans are not? Is God to be understood as a Trinity or a Triune composite? Do not undertake to become a Jew while still perhaps a Christian or if you are likely to ‘need Jesus’ in your life sometime in the future. Remember, Jews do not put forth the promise of salvation or offer Judaism as the truth.
Rabbis are likely to admonish the candidate forthrightly along these lines:
“By your conversion to Judaism and taking on Jewish identity, by most standards, you don’t get much. You not only don’t get much in the way of promises in the next world but you may discover tough times for Jews in this world. My duty is to discourage you three times and to advise you, ‘shvare tzu zahn a yid,’ – It’s not easy to be a Jew. We are a tiny minority, numerically insignificant and outnumbered. We are often the opposition, the nay-sayers, out of the mainstream, representing the uncommon. That’s not always so easy. We are a stiff-necked stubborn people profoundly disinclined to throw in the towel and disappear. We willingly prostrate ourselves to The Eternal alone who is One. So don’t even think of becoming a Jew unless and until you are prepared to take on the negatives as well as the positives of your new identity.”
The rabbis of the Talmud some two thousand years ago taught: “In our time, should a person wish to become a proselyte, one must ask: What prompts you to become a convert? Do you not know that, in our time, Jews are scorned, oppressed, humiliated, and made to suffer? If he replies that he is aware of it, one shall admit him immediately.”
Rabbi Reuven Bulka writes that rather than subjecting the would-be convert to a possibly traumatic experience in the future, “we insist on discouraging the convert. This discouragement forces the convert to take a more sober look at the situation. If, in spite of the discouragement, the convert still pushes forward, we can at least be more confident that the convert is making this significant change fully aware of its implications.
“Jews must stand in awe and admiration of individuals who make an obviously overwhelming gesture to embrace Judaism. As excited as the community may be about the prospect, it cannot be so eager for this boost to its ego that it is oblivious to the ultimate welfare of the prospective convert. If, through discouragement, the convert actually rethinks the matter and has a change of heart, then the discouragement has done exactly what it was intended to do – to screen out those whose understanding of the implications of the conversion is minimal.” [1]
At some point prior to the conversion process, the presiding rabbi of the bet din – a tribunal of rabbis or responsible laymen convened to supervise the proceedings - will likely meet with the candidate and will explain and illustrate an unwritten but immemorial gesture. The motion the presiding rabbi makes is a kind of sign language. Although not specifically prescribed, it is a conventional and well established pantomime that begins with a pose: left hand held forward and upward in a vertical position signaling, “Stop! Halt! Don’t approach.”
The second hand however is held closer to the chest and moves in a beckoning motion towards the heart signifying, “come forward, should you decide to proceed despite the stop sign and its warning of all the many hazards and down-sides to the move being contemplated, you will be embraced. Come forward.”
Then words such as these are uttered: “Are you sure you want to do this? Why would you wish to become a Jew? There are at least three good reasons why you should give second and third thoughts to this plan of yours. This gesture you see with my left hand says reconsider, recoil, stop! You will see my left hand brought up before you three times. You must wave my stop sign away indicating that you wish to proceed despite your clear understanding of the many drawbacks and disadvantages to your decision to join the people Israel and become a Jew.”
Included among the three foremost negatives likely to confront a convert, which the presiding rabbi or one of the other judges must fully describe and elucidate, may be the minority social outsider status the Jew often represents, the financial costs connected with the educational requirements of a Jewish upbringing and the Jewish way of life. And, of course, anti-Semitism!
Despite the very real downsides, “conversion happens.” Rabbis of the Orthodox as well as of the Polydox persuasions report on the Introduction to Judaism classes they offer, the kinds of programs they have organized for prospective proselytes, the guidelines they have established to reduce tension and anxiety in preparation for the conversion process and rituals, and other assignments and procedures they have instituted for Gentiles considering adopting Judaism as their way of life. In no way denigrating Christianity, Rabbi Bob Saks in a High Holyday address, pointed out that there are “millions of people in this country who were raised in Christian homes, for whom Christianity simply doesn’t work…Over the years I’ve led a steady stream of them into Judaism.
“What do they see?” Rabbi Saks lists:
“An approach to God that is simple and clear, spiritually nourishing and intellectually satisfying.
“A tradition which is not satisfied with words or ideas unless they result in action; that honors learning; that doesn’t hit them over the head with heaven and hell; that honors human beings; that encourages us to enjoy life, and recognizes the stages of life.
“A religion that says we sin but does not call us sinners.
“A tradition and a people, small in size but outstanding in its devotion to social justice.”
Bibliography:
- Rabbi Reuven Bulka, The National Jewish Post and Opinion (August 14, 2002) p.7.