The Door That Does Not Swing Back

About This Talk

Israel entered the covenant through three acts, and the chapter builds everything on them: circumcision in Egypt before the Paschal offering, performed by Moses because every tribe but Levi had let the covenant lapse, immersion in the desert before the Giving of the Torah, and burnt offerings brought by the young men of Israel as agents for the whole people. A convert repeats all three, a woman the two that apply to her, the offering being a burnt offering of an animal or two birds; with no Temple the offering waits, and the convert is a full member of the Jewish people before he brings it. Circumcision without immersion or immersion without circumcision converts nobody, the immersion requires three men and so may not be held on Shabbat, a festival or at night, though one held at night is effective; immersing alone or before two is void, a minor is immersed on the court's guidance and may refuse at majority but is bound if he accepts then and regrets later, and a pregnant convert's immersion carries her unborn child. On proof the Rambam is exacting: a man's own claim to have converted is not accepted for marriage without witnesses, his admission disqualifies himself but not his children, a visibly observant convert is a righteous convert and still needs witnesses to marry, while one of whom nothing was known is believed by the principle that the mouth which forbade him permitted him, limited to the Land of Israel in the Talmudic era, with the present investigation called an added stringency to protect lineage. Servants acquired from gentiles are circumcised and immersed before three by day as a partial conversion and immerse again when freed, all in a mikveh fit for a woman after her separation. The chapter closes on motive: the court examines for money, position or fear, discourages the candidate with the weight of the yoke, accepted none under David or Solomon, and watched rather than rejected those who converted anyway, since even a convert accepted without examination, and even one who later worships idols, is a Jew whose betrothal binds and whose lost property must be returned.