Re: Proselytizing in Judaism
Yonah Russ (yonah@hakotel.org.il)
Thu, 25 Dec 1997 23:02:04 +0200 (GMT+0200)
00srweintrob@bsuvc.bsu.edu wrote:
<<I have read that the reason Jews stopped encouraging converts was quite
simple--under both Christian and Moslem kingdoms it was outlawed. Often
those who encouraged conversion and those who converted were put to death.
These laws lasted throughout the Middle Ages and often well beyond, long
enough for Jews to think it "traditional" not to evangelize.>>
I have not heard this explanation before so I can't say that it is false
but I can say that the gemara in Ketubot, (I think 11a) discusses the
subject of a Ger Katan (a child convert) in relation to the concept of
zachin L'adam shelo b'fanav, to benefit someone who isn't present. The
halacha says that it is permissible to benefit someone without their
knowledge but not to obligate them. The Talmud questions whether conversion
is a benefit or an obligation and comes to the conclusion that for an
adult, over the age of 13, conversion is an obligation and therefore you
can not convert someone shelo b'fanav. From this I would say that at least
discouraged. If so, conversions and evangelism were most definately
discouraged before the christians. I would also say that the gemara, which
itself is a written down transmission of what generations previous passed
down, and so on back to moshe that this was always a practice of the Jews.
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Yonah Russ <yonah@hakotel.org.il>
Yeshivat Hakotel, POB 603, Jerusalem 91006
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