Received: from latitude [196.25.32.24] by mail.end-time-issues.org.za with ESMTP (SMTPD32-5.05) id A11665920256; Mon, 05 Mar 2001 13:11:50 +0200 Message-ID: <024501c0a563$68fc89a0$6930a8c0@CLTDOM> Reply-To: "End Time Issues" From: "End Time Issues" To: "James End Time Issues" Subject: [ETI Main] Conversion versus Decision Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2001 12:56:15 +0200 Organization: End Time Issue Ministries MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0228_01C0A573.A9CD4CC0" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 X-RCPT-TO: X-UIDL: 3964 Status: U This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0228_01C0A573.A9CD4CC0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Greetings Following is a mail that was received today. This follows a discussion that I have recently held regarding the = distinction between people making a "decision for Christ" and people = being "CONVERTED". This teaching is in the Judaic context and was posted on a Messianic = list. However, it contains some thoughts which seem to me to have a = bearing on those who call on the name of Yahshua Messiah (Jesus Christ). In particular, the emphasis on conversion being a drastic change is = something that has been exercising my attention for some time. All too often, people come to accept Jesus Christ as Lord based on a = very simple decision. This decision results in the experience which = many refer to as being "born again". Without going into the semantic = issues regarding being "born again" what is important is that we = recognize that most of those who make a decision and become "born = again", that is who confess Jesus Christ as Lord, find that their lives = are little changed and MANY of them will be found far from God in years = to come. This contrasts with those who have a "conversion" experience, that is = those who come to a dramatic and profound revelation of their sinful = natures and a deep revelation of their need for God to touch their = lives. Such people seldom turn back and will generally be found serving = God years later with dedication, having overcome many of the obstacles = which cause those who make a "decision" to stumble and fall. Accordingly, while I suggest that there is no need to read this = particular item in depth, thereby getting immersed in detailed Jewish = technicalities, I commend it to you for a brief review as a source of = ideas to challenge all those who seek to preach the Gospel and lead = others to salvation. May the LORD (Yahweh) bless you and keep you and make His face to shine = upon you. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Yahshua Messiah) of = Nazareth, King of king's and Lord of lord's. James Robertson END TIME ISSUE MINISTRIES james@end-time-issues.org.za (0027)-(0)-11-791-2327 (0027)-(0)-83-251-6644 P O Box 898, Randpark Ridge, 2156, Republic of South Africa EMAIL ADMINISTRATION Please forward this to anyone else you feel might be interested. If you do not want to receive further mail on this and related topics, = please reply to this mail with the words "Please remove me from your = mailing list" in the subject line. If this is forwarded to you and you want to receive future mailings, = please mail us with the words "Please add me to your mailing list" in = the subject line. >>> ARTICLE BEGINS <<< From: "Yeshivat Har Etzion's Virtual Beit Midrash" To: yhe-halak@vbm-torah.org Subject: HALAKHA61 -13: On Conversion=20 YESHIVAT HAR ETZION ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM) ********************************************************* =20 TOPICS IN HALAKHA On Conversion=20 =20 By Harav Aharon Lichtenstein Translated by Dr. Michael Berger =20 The status of gerut (conversion) as a subject of discussion and debate is not a recent phenomenon. For ages, indeed millennia, this topic has been implicated in a broad range of problems. Some have been disturbed by the option of gerut, per se. For those who have stressed the unique, inborn holiness that characterizes the Jew - for instance: Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, the Maharal of Prague, and the School of Chabad - the ability of a non-Jew to convert aroused varied difficulties and objections. Quite apart from this primary issue, however, the problems can be further subdivided. First, how is one to treat the candidate for Judaism? This question has practical consequences in determining the actual conversion process. Shall we pursue the proselyte or avoid him? Repel with the left hand while attracting with the right or vice versa? Secondly, how should we relate to the ger (proselyte) after his conversion? Needless to say, the possibility of derision is out of the question; the Torah explicitly admonishes us: "And the ger you shall not deride nor oppress."[1] And the Rabbis state: "...He who derides the ger violates three negative commandments;"[2] R. Eliezer the Great numbers thirty-six distinct places - and according to one opinion, forty-six - where the Torah forewarns us to respect the ger.[3] But beyond this, assessment of the nature of the ger and his integration into the Nation of Israel appears unclear - perhaps in dispute. Encouragement on the one hand and repulsion on the other; some esteemed the ger while others approached him with cautious apprehension. GERUT AS SPIRITUAL REBIRTH However, the issue of relating to the ger is not the one I wish to address. My focus is on the process of gerut itself - the phenomenon, per se. If we wish to define and describe it, we will discover that the essence of gerut is its being a turning point. Its foundation is a radical transformation: an uprooting from one world to strike root in a different one. This point specifically characterizes Jewish gerut and distinguishes it, historically, from parallel movements in the classical world. As Arthur Darby Nock emphasized, whereas adoption of one of the religions that dominated the Helellenistic world - Orphism, Mithraism, and others - meant merely a supplement to the local tradition and not the former's total negation, Judaism (and consequently, Christianity) presents conversion as a total metamorphosis. The ger is compelled to abandon his past background and enter the realm of his future, for commitment to Judaism is based on Elijah's question[4]: "How much longer will you oscillate, wavering between two options?" In the words of Nock, conversion demands "renunciation and a new beginning. What was required was not merely the acceptance of ritual, but rather a willful attachment to a theology; in a word, faith: a new life in a new nation."[5] This should not cause surprise. Gerut, after all, embodies - nay, constitutes - the forging of a covenant, which is, by its very nature, exclusive: "And the two of them made a covenant"[6] - to the exclusion of others. Nonetheless, the question still arises: what type of turning point? How does it take effect and in what manner is it realized and manifested? It seems to me that in gerut,[7] both in the process and in the outcome, there exist two elements that are to some extent parallel, to some extent complementary, and to some extent contradictory. On the one hand, gerut is grounded in a profound revolution. In its ideal form, its root is a longing for holiness; its core, desire for the Infinite, gravitation to a sublime and exalted ethic, striving for a world wholly good and wholly true. "David called himself a ger, as it is said:[8] 'I am a ger in the land.'"[9] Of course, he was not a ger in the strict halakhic sense (although he was descended from proselytes); rather, in the realm of religious experience, he had penetrated the soul of the ger and related to it: "As a hart panting after water brooks, so my soul pants after You."[10] Here is the essence of gerut: a craving that can dislodge one from the society of one's youth and which finds expression in the overcoming of the confines of group and nation. The source and character of this element are, to be sure, apt to change. In certain cases, its essence is reaction to a sullied past, a renunciation of a life filled with iniquity or deprived of meaning and purpose. In this form, gerut is included in teshuva, repentance; it is precipitated by regret over the past, abandonment of sin, and resolve for the future. At other times, the motive propelling the proselyte is the glow of the future, rather than the sordidness of the present. The potential ger, despite his being in a setting that is not necessarily defiled, but merely defective, sees himself as isolated, "in a dry and thirsty land, without water." In his anguish he pleads: "O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You: my soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for You."[11] At the practical level, as the Rambam put it, the ger desires "to enter the covenant and to be absorbed under Divine aegis, and to accept for himself the yoke of the Torah."[12] But categorizing the different types of gerut is merely a matter of detail. The fundamental motive here is one - a religious experience, a spiritual effervescence - sometimes feverish, ofttimes tranquil; in short, the birthpangs of a Jewish soul. This creation is private and personal - if you will, even subjective. Essentially, it is the ger's intimacy with the Holy One. "The king has brought me into his chamber," and no stranger will trespass into the inner sanctum. Nothing is more a matter of the heart than gerut, and, in the channels of the heart, can there be room for external involvement? This principle finds expression in a simple, yet famous, halakha: "A ger is like a newborn babe."[l3] ... FOOTNOTES 1. Shemot 22:20; compare ibid. 23:9 and Vayikra 19:33. 2. Bava Metzia 59b. See also the Rambam's Sefer Ha- Mitzvot, the beginning of the ninth shoresh (in Rav Heller's edition, pp. 19-20), in which he explains, in light of his opinion of multiple warnings for one commandment, that the transgressor does not violate three actual negative commandments, but rather only one, which is merely "strengthened" by the repetition or the admonitions. But in the Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Mekhira 14:15-17, the Rambam sets down that one does transgress three negative commandments, literally. However, his words there require further explanation, in their own right, for it appears that in reference to a ger, he ruled that all who vex the ger either verbally or financially violate both prohibitions, whereas for a vexing Jew, he made a distinction between the two. See also the prohibition raised by the discussion in the gemara, ad loc. The Rambam's commentators have dealt with this extensively in their comments to the Mishneh Torah, ad loc. 3. See Bava Metzia, 59b and the sources cited in the notes of Rav Chaim Heller on the Sefer Ha-Mitzvot loc. cit. 4. I Melakhim 18:21. 5. Arthur Darby Nock, Conversion (Oxford, 1933), p.12. 6. Bereshit 21:27. 7. My approach here is phenomenological, and I am dealing with types. Of course, from a sociological standpoint, the issue must be dealt with entirely differently, but the two approaches are not mutually exclusive. 8. Tehillim 119:19. 9. Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishmael, Mishpatim, portion 18; in the Horowitz-Rabin edition, p.312. 10. Tehillim 42:2. I quote the verse in light of the explanation of the words that are in the Targum: "that desires." The Septuagint translates, likewise, epipothei, and from there, the Vulgate, desiderat. But Rashi accepted the interpretation of Dunash, that the verb refers to the ram's cry; the Midrash Shocher Tov there, following in the same vein, understood the whole psalm as placed in a time of exile and calamity. 11. Tehillim 63:2. 12. Hilkhot Issurei Bi'ah 13:4. His three-way division is of fundamental importance, but this is not the place to analyze it. 13. Yevamot 22a. ************************************************************ ------=_NextPart_000_0228_01C0A573.A9CD4CC0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Greetings
 
Following is a mail that was received today.
 
This follows a discussion that I have recently held regarding the=20 distinction between people making a "decision for Christ" and people = being=20 "CONVERTED".
 
This teaching is in the Judaic context and was posted on a = Messianic=20 list.  However, it contains some thoughts which seem to me to have = a=20 bearing on those who call on the name of Yahshua Messiah (Jesus = Christ).
 
In particular, the emphasis on conversion being a drastic change is = something that has been exercising my attention for some time.
 
All too often, people come to accept Jesus Christ as Lord based on = a very=20 simple decision.  This decision results in the experience which = many refer=20 to as being "born again".  Without going into the semantic issues = regarding=20 being "born again" what is important is that we recognize that most of = those who=20 make a decision and become "born again", that is who confess Jesus = Christ as=20 Lord, find that their lives are little changed and MANY of them will be = found=20 far from God in years to come.
 
This contrasts with those who have a "conversion" experience, that = is those=20 who come to a dramatic and profound revelation of their sinful natures = and a=20 deep revelation of their need for God to touch their lives.  Such = people=20 seldom turn back and will generally be found serving God years later = with=20 dedication, having overcome many of the obstacles which cause those who = make a=20 "decision" to stumble and fall.
 
Accordingly, while I suggest that there is no need to read this = particular=20 item in depth, thereby getting immersed in detailed Jewish = technicalities, I=20 commend it to you for a brief review as a source of ideas to challenge = all those=20 who seek to preach the Gospel and lead others to salvation.
 
May the LORD (Yahweh) bless you and keep you and make His face to = shine=20 upon you.  In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Yahshua Messiah) = of=20 Nazareth, King of king's and Lord of lord's.
 
 
 
James Robertson
 
END TIME ISSUE MINISTRIES
 
james@end-time-issues.org.za=
(0027)-(0)-11-791-2327
(0027)-(0)-83-251-6644
P=20 O Box 898, Randpark Ridge, 2156, Republic of South Africa

EMAIL=20 ADMINISTRATION
 
Please forward this to anyone else you feel might be = interested.
 
If you do not want to receive further mail on this and related = topics,=20 please reply to this mail with the words "Please remove me from your = mailing=20 list" in the subject line.
 
If this is forwarded to you and  you want to receive future = mailings,=20 please mail us with the words "Please add me to your mailing list" in = the=20 subject line.
>>> ARTICLE BEGINS <<<
 
From:          = "Yeshivat Har=20 Etzion's Virtual Beit=20 Midrash"
To:         &nbs= p; =20 yhe-halak@vbm-torah.org
Su= bject:      =20 HALAKHA61 -13: On Conversion=20


          &= nbsp;       =20 YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
      ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY = VIRTUAL=20 BEIT MIDRASH=20 (VBM)
*********************************************************
&nb= sp;           &nbs= p;            = ;  =20
           &nb= sp;       =20 TOPICS IN=20 HALAKHA

         &nbs= p;            = ;    =20 On Conversion=20
           &nb= sp;           &nbs= p;   =20
           &nb= sp; =20 By Harav Aharon=20 Lichtenstein
         &nb= sp; =20 Translated by Dr. Michael=20 Berger
          &nb= sp;           &nbs= p;    =20

      The  status of gerut = (conversion) as=20 a  subject  of
discussion  and  debate is not a=20 recent  phenomenon.  For
ages, indeed millennia, this topic = has=20 been implicated in
a  broad  range of problems. Some have = been=20 disturbed  by
the  option of gerut, per se. For those who = have=20 stressed
the unique, inborn holiness that characterizes the Jew  = -
for instance: Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, the Maharal of = Prague,
and =20 the  School of Chabad - the ability of a non-Jew  = to
convert=20 aroused varied difficulties and objections. Quite
apart from this = primary=20 issue, however, the problems  can
be further=20 subdivided.

      First,  how  = is  one  to treat  the  candidate =20 for
Judaism?  This  question  has practical =20 consequences  in
determining  the  actual =20 conversion  process.  Shall  we
pursue  the = proselyte or=20 avoid him? Repel with  the  left
hand while attracting with = the=20 right or vice versa?

       = Secondly, =20 how  should  we  relate  to   = the  =20 ger
(proselyte)  after his conversion? Needless to  = say, =20 the
possibility of derision is out of the question; the=20 Torah
explicitly  admonishes us: "And the  ger  = you =20 shall  not
deride nor oppress."[1] And the Rabbis state: = "...He =20 who
derides the ger violates three negative commandments;"[2]
R. = Eliezer=20 the Great numbers thirty-six distinct places -
and according to one = opinion,=20 forty-six - where the Torah
forewarns  us  to  respect = the=20 ger.[3] But  beyond  this,
assessment  of the nature = of the=20 ger and his  integration
into  the  Nation of Israel = appears=20 unclear - perhaps  in
dispute.  Encouragement on the one = hand and=20 repulsion  on
the  other; some esteemed the ger while = others=20 approached
him with cautious apprehension.

GERUT AS SPIRITUAL=20 REBIRTH

     However, the issue of relating = to the=20 ger is not the
one  I  wish  to address. My focus is = on=20 the  process  of
gerut  itself  - the phenomenon, = per se.=20 If  we  wish  to
define and describe it, we will = discover that=20 the essence
of  gerut is its being a turning point. Its = foundation=20 is
a  radical transformation: an uprooting from one world = to
strike=20 root in a different one.

      = This  point=20 specifically characterizes Jewish gerut
and   = distinguishes =20 it,  historically,   from   = parallel
movements =20 in the classical world. As Arthur  Darby  Nock
emphasized, = whereas=20 adoption of one of the religions that
dominated  the = Helellenistic world=20 - Orphism,  Mithraism,
and  others  -  meant = merely a=20 supplement  to  the  local
tradition  and  = not the=20 former's total negation,  Judaism
(and consequently, = Christianity)=20 presents conversion as a
total metamorphosis. The ger is compelled to = abandon  his
past  background and enter the realm of = his =20 future,  for
commitment  to Judaism is based on = Elijah's =20 question[4]:
"How much longer will you oscillate, wavering between=20 two
options?"  In  the  words  of  = Nock, =20 conversion  demands
"renunciation and a new beginning. What was=20 required  was
not merely the acceptance of ritual, but rather a=20 willful
attachment to a theology; in a word, faith: a new life = in
a new=20 nation."[5]

      This  should not = cause=20 surprise. Gerut, after  all,
embodies  - nay, constitutes - = the=20 forging of a covenant,
which is, by its very nature, exclusive: "And = the=20 two  of
them  made  a covenant"[6] - to the exclusion = of =20 others.
Nonetheless,  the  question still arises:  = what =20 type  of
turning point? How does it take effect and in what = manner
is=20 it realized and manifested?

     It seems to = me that=20 in gerut,[7] both in the process
and in the outcome, there exist two = elements=20 that are  to
some  extent parallel, to some extent=20 complementary,  and
to  some extent contradictory. On the = one hand,=20 gerut  is
grounded in a profound revolution. In its ideal form,=20 its
root is a longing for holiness; its core, desire for =20 the
Infinite,  gravitation to a sublime  and  = exalted =20 ethic,
striving for a world wholly good and wholly true. =20 "David
called  himself a ger, as it is said:[8] 'I am a  = ger =20 in
the  land.'"[9] Of course, he was not a ger in the=20 strict
halakhic   sense   (although  = he  =20 was   descended   from
proselytes);  =20 rather,   in  the   realm   = of  =20 religious
experience,  he had penetrated the soul of  = the =20 ger  and
related to it: "As a hart panting after water = brooks, =20 so
my  soul  pants  after You."[10] Here is the =20 essence  of
gerut:  a craving that can dislodge one from = the =20 society
of   one's  youth  and  which =20 finds  expression  in  the
overcoming of the confines = of group=20 and nation.

      The source and = character of=20 this element are, to be
sure,  apt  to change. In certain = cases,=20 its  essence  is
reaction  to  a sullied past, a=20 renunciation  of  a  life
filled  with iniquity = or=20 deprived of meaning and purpose.
In  this  form, gerut is = included=20 in teshuva, repentance;
it  is  precipitated by regret over = the=20 past, abandonment
of  sin, and resolve for the future. At other=20 times,  the
motive  propelling  the proselyte  = is =20 the  glow  of  the
future,  rather than the = sordidness of=20 the  present.  The
potential ger, despite his being in a = setting=20 that is not
necessarily  defiled, but merely defective, = sees =20 himself
as  isolated, "in a dry and thirsty land, without=20 water."
In  his  anguish  he  pleads: "O = God, =20 You  are  my  God,
earnestly I seek You: my soul = thirsts for=20 You,  my  flesh
longs for You."[11] At the practical level, = as the=20 Rambam
put it, the ger desires "to enter the covenant and to =20 be
absorbed  under Divine aegis, and to accept  for =20 himself
the   yoke  of  the  = Torah."[12] =20 But  categorizing   the
different  types of gerut = is=20 merely a matter  of  detail.
The   = fundamental =20 motive  here  is  one  -  a =20 religious
experience,   a  spiritual =20 effervescence   -   sometimes
feverish, ofttimes=20 tranquil; in short, the birthpangs  of
a Jewish soul. This = creation is=20 private and personal - if
you  will, even subjective. = Essentially, it is=20 the  ger's
intimacy with the Holy One. "The king has brought me=20 into
his  chamber,"  and  no stranger will = trespass =20 into  the
inner sanctum. Nothing is more a matter of the heart=20 than
gerut,  and, in the channels of the heart, can  = there =20 be
room for external = involvement?

     =20 This  principle finds expression in a  simple, =20 yet
famous,  halakha: "A ger is like a newborn babe."[l3] =20 ...

FOOTNOTES

1.   Shemot 22:20; compare ibid. = 23:9 and=20 Vayikra 19:33.

2.    Bava  Metzia 59b. See = also the=20 Rambam's  Sefer  Ha-
Mitzvot,  the  beginning of=20 the  ninth  shoresh  (in  Rav
Heller's  = edition, pp.=20 19-20), in which he  explains,  in
light  of  = his =20 opinion  of  multiple  warnings  for =20 one
commandment, that the transgressor does not violate = three
actual=20 negative commandments, but rather only one,  = which
is  =20 merely  "strengthened"  by  the  repetition  = or =20 the
admonitions.  But in the Mishneh Torah,  Hilkhot =20 Mekhira
14:15-17,  the Rambam sets down that one does =20 transgress
three  negative  commandments,  = literally. =20 However,  his
words  there  require further = explanation,=20 in  their  own
right,  for  it appears that in = reference=20 to  a  ger,  he
ruled  that  all  = who =20 vex  the ger  either  verbally  = or
financially =20 violate  both prohibitions,  whereas  for  = a
vexing =20 Jew, he made a distinction between the  two.  = See
also =20 the  prohibition raised by the  discussion  in =20 the
gemara, ad loc. The Rambam's commentators have dealt = with
this =20 extensively in their comments to the Mishneh Torah,
ad=20 loc.

3.    See  Bava Metzia, 59b and the = sources=20 cited in  the
notes  of  Rav Chaim Heller on the Sefer = Ha-Mitzvot  loc.
cit.

4.   I Melakhim=20 18:21.

5.   Arthur Darby Nock, Conversion (Oxford, = 1933),=20 p.12.

6.   Bereshit 21:27.

7.    = My =20 approach  here is phenomenological,  and  I =20 am
dealing  with  types.  Of  course,  = from =20 a  sociological
standpoint,  the  issue  = must =20 be  dealt  with   entirely
differently,  = but =20 the two approaches  are  not =20 mutually
exclusive.

8.   Tehillim=20 119:19.

9.    Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishmael, = Mishpatim,=20 portion  18;
in the Horowitz-Rabin edition,=20 p.312.

10.   Tehillim  42:2. I quote the verse in=20 light  of  the
explanation  of the words that are in = the =20 Targum:  "that
desires." The Septuagint translates, likewise,=20 epipothei,
and   from  there,  the  = Vulgate, =20 desiderat.  But  Rashi
accepted  the  = interpretation of=20 Dunash,  that  the  verb
refers  to the ram's = cry; the=20 Midrash Shocher Tov  there,
following in the same vein, = understood the=20 whole psalm as
placed in a time of exile and = calamity.

11.  =20 Tehillim 63:2.

12.   Hilkhot Issurei Bi'ah 13:4. His=20 three-way  division
is  of  fundamental importance, = but this=20 is not the place
to analyze it.

13.  Yevamot=20 22a.

************************************************************<= BR>
------=_NextPart_000_0228_01C0A573.A9CD4CC0--