Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- Parashat Hashavua
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- D'varim
- Re'e
We should fully appreciate the loftiness of Yehoshua’s vision, some 3,500 years ago, when the world was at such a low spiritual level, to anticipate a perfected world, with all the nations joining us in service of Hashem. To the average person, this would have appeared unfathomable!
In our generation, that of the beginning of the ultimate liberation, we need to act on two planes:
1) We need to strengthen the already-existing movement of non-Jews who want to keep the seven Noahide mitzvot. (We commend Rav Uri Cherki’s exceptional work with Noahides.) These groups of good people use these mitzvot for doing their part in making the world a place of justice and respect for human rights. Such people also appreciate Am Yisrael, who accepted upon themselves 613 mitzvot.
2) We should encourage additional converts, who are truly and fully interested in joining Am Yisrael for the right reasons, not for benefits such as economic advantage in Israel. It is important to learn the halachic sources on this matter seriously. On the one hand, Chazal set as a rule that it was wrong to accept converts in the times of David and Shlomo, due to concern that people were motivated by fear and awe of the kingdom’s grandeur/success, respectively (see Yevamot 76a). Commentaries ask from a different gemara, which states that 150,000 converts joined Bnei Yisrael at the time of David. The Maggid Mishneh answers (see language of Rambam, Isurei Biah 13:15) that those converts were accepted by improperly trained courts. This is a difficult answer, as there is no hint to this distinction in the gemara.
What happened to all of those converts? In Shmuel II, the navi tells of a harsh famine, and David received a divine message that it was because of the complaints of the Givonim, some of whom Shaul had killed during his reign. When David tried to appease them, they demanded to take revenge through the killing of a number of Shaul’s family members. The gemara (Yevamot 79a) justifies the unusual steps taken against the royal family because the Givonim had joined Bnei Yisrael, albeit through trickery, after being impressed by the miracles Hashem did for them at the time of Yehoshua. It says that the reason the bodies were hung publicly for an extended amount of time was to demonstrate how seriously Bnei Yisrael took the responsibilities toward converts. We see that even at the time of David, converts existed and their concerns were addressed.
Regarding the contradiction, the Ritva says that while there was concern that people would convert for the wrong reasons, when one proved they were doing so for the right reasons, they were accepted. In our days as well, when candidates demonstrate their sincerity, they are to be warmly welcomed and protected.
Parashat Hashavua: The Symbolism of Mashiv Haruach U’morid Hageshem
Rabbi Yossef Carmel | Tishrei 5786
Monotheism in Egypt?! Yes!
Various Rabbis | Tevet 5768
Frogs and Embarrassment
Rabbi Yossef Carmel | Tevet 28 5778
