Conversion to Judaism

Overview

Recall questions on conversion in the Shulkhan Arukh, circumcision, the questions put to a convert, the mikveh, how men and women convert, descent and patrilineal descent, Orthodox and Progressive conversion, Judaism as non-missionising, and the community's role.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What process for accepting a convert is set out in the Shulkhan Arukh?

   Model answer

   The candidate is first questioned about motive, and asked why they wish to join a people that is persecuted and oppressed. If they persist, they are taught some of the lighter commandments and some of the weightier ones, together with the penalties for breach and the rewards for observance, so that they know what they are undertaking; the tradition warns against overwhelming them with detail. They must then accept the commandments as binding. A male candidate is circumcised, and once healed immerses in a mikveh in the presence of a court of three; a female candidate immerses before the same court. In Temple times an offering was also required. On emerging the convert is regarded as a full Jew.

2. 2

   Why is circumcision required of a male convert, and what happens if he is already circumcised?

   Model answer

   Circumcision is the sign of the covenant with Abraham, so a man entering the covenant takes on its mark; entry is understood as joining a people, not merely adopting beliefs, and the sign belongs to the people. A man already circumcised for medical or cultural reasons undergoes instead the drawing of a symbolic drop of blood from the site, since what is required is the covenantal act rather than the surgical result. The procedure is carried out by a trained circumciser, and adult candidates are advised of the recovery time before immersion can take place.

3. 3

   What is the purpose of the questions put to a prospective convert?

   Model answer

   They test motive and understanding rather than knowledge. The court is looking for whether the candidate is joining out of genuine conviction rather than for marriage, advantage or impulse, and whether they grasp that they are accepting obligations and joining a people with a difficult history. The traditional warning about persecution is a deliberate discouragement, and the classic instruction that an applicant should be turned away and only accepted if they persist serves the same function. The questions also serve the convert, since a person who has been told plainly what is involved cannot later claim to have been misled.

4. 4

   What role does the mikveh play in conversion?

   Model answer

   Immersion is the act that completes the conversion, and it is required of men and women alike. The candidate immerses completely in the pool, with nothing between the body and the water, in the presence of or under the supervision of a court of three, recites blessings, and emerges as a Jew. The tradition describes the convert at that moment as being like a newborn child, a striking image that carries legal consequences and expresses the idea that a new identity has genuinely been acquired rather than added. Converts customarily take a Hebrew name and are described as the son or daughter of Abraham, so that they have Jewish parentage in the liturgical sense.

5. 5

   What are the similarities and differences in how men and women convert?

   Model answer

   Both require examination of motive, instruction in the commandments, formal acceptance of them, immersion in a mikveh before a court of three, and both produce identical status as a Jew. The difference is that a man must also be circumcised, or undergo the symbolic drawing of blood, and must wait for healing before immersing. Practical arrangements differ too: a woman's immersion is observed by a female attendant with the court outside the room hearing rather than seeing, out of modesty, and the court then confirms the immersion. Nothing in the halakhah makes a female convert less fully Jewish, though the difference in the physical requirement is sometimes read as reflecting the male-centred framing of the covenant sign itself.

6. 6

   How does halakhah determine who is a Jew by birth, and what is patrilineal descent?

   Model answer

   Rabbinic law determines Jewish status by the mother: a child born to a Jewish mother is Jewish regardless of the father, and a child born to a non-Jewish mother is not, regardless of the father, and would need to convert. Patrilineal descent is the position, adopted by the American Reform movement in 1983 and earlier by the Reconstructionists, that a child of one Jewish parent of either sex is presumed Jewish provided the child is raised with public and timely acts of Jewish identification. Liberal Judaism in Britain takes a similar view, and British Reform adopted it in 2015, the two movements having since united as Progressive Judaism, while Orthodox and Conservative Judaism reject patrilineal descent altogether.

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