Gerut in Jewish Tradition: A Reform Perspective

(1) The word that Isaiah son of Amoz prophesied concerning Judah and Jerusalem. (2) In the days to come, The Mount of the LORD’s House Shall stand firm above the mountains And tower above the hills; And all the nations Shall gaze on it with joy. (3) And the many peoples shall go and say: “Come, Let us go up to the Mount of the LORD, To the House of the God of Jacob; That He may instruct us in His ways, And that we may walk in His paths.” For instruction shall come forth from Zion, The word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

(1) Thus said the LORD: 1 Observe what is right and do what is just; For soon My salvation shall come, And my deliverance be revealed. (2) Happy is the man who does this, The man who holds fast to it: Who keeps the sabbath and does not profane it, And stays his hand from doing any evil. (3) Let not the foreigner say, Who has attached himself to the LORD, “The LORD will keep me apart from His people”; And let not the eunuch say, “I am a withered tree.” (4) For thus said the LORD: “As for the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths, Who have chosen what I desire And hold fast to My covenant— (5) I will give them, in My House And within My walls, A monument and a name Better than sons or daughters. I will give them an everlasting name Which shall not perish. (6) As for the foreigners Who attach themselves to the LORD, To minister to Him, And to love the name of the LORD, To be His servants— All who keep the sabbath and do not profane it, And who hold fast to My covenant— (7) I will bring them to My sacred mount And let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices Shall be welcome on My altar; For My House shall be called A house of prayer for all peoples.” (8) Thus declares the Lord GOD, Who gathers the dispersed of Israel: “I will gather still more to those already gathered.”

(31) “When the time had passed, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason was restored to me. I blessed the Most High, and praised and glorified the Ever-Living One, Whose dominion is an everlasting dominion And whose kingdom endures throughout the generations. (32) All the inhabitants of the earth are of no account. He does as He wishes with the host of heaven, And with the inhabitants of the earth. There is none to stay His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’ (33) There and then my reason was restored to me, and my majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom. My companions and nobles sought me out, and I was reestablished over my kingdom, and added greatness was given me. (34) So now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and glorify the King of Heaven, all of whose works are just and whose ways are right, and who is able to humble those who behave arrogantly.”

(27) I have hereby given an order that throughout my royal domain men must tremble in fear before the God of Daniel, for He is the living God who endures forever; His kingdom is indestructible, and His dominion is to the end of time; (28) He delivers and saves, and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, for He delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”

(14) They broke into weeping again, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law farewell. But Ruth clung to her. (15) So she said, “See, your sister-in-law has returned to her people and her gods. Go follow your sister-in-law.” (16) But Ruth replied, “Do not urge me to leave you, to turn back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. (17) Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus and more may the LORD do to me if anything but death parts me from you.” (18) When [Naomi] saw how determined she was to go with her, she ceased to argue with her;

(13) So Boaz married Ruth; she became his wife, and he cohabited with her. The LORD let her conceive, and she bore a son. (14) And the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not withheld a redeemer from you today! May his name be perpetuated in Israel! (15) He will renew your life and sustain your old age; for he is born of your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons.” (16) Naomi took the child and held it to her bosom. She became its foster mother, (17) and the women neighbors gave him a name, saying, “A son is born to Naomi!” They named him Obed; he was the father of Jesse, father of David.

(10) Then Ezra the priest got up and said to them, “You have trespassed by bringing home foreign women, thus aggravating the guilt of Israel. (11) So now, make confession to the LORD, God of your fathers, and do His will, and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women.” (12) The entire congregation responded in a loud voice, “We must surely do just as you say.

(18) Among the priestly families who were found to have brought foreign women were Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah. (19) They gave their word to expel their wives and, acknowledging their guilt, offered a ram from the flock to expiate it.

(26) It was just in such things that King Solomon of Israel sinned! Among the many nations there was not a king like him, and so well loved was he by his God that God made him king of all Israel, yet foreign wives caused even him to sin. (27) How, then, can we acquiesce in your doing this great wrong, breaking faith with our God by marrying foreign women?”

The Wicked One directed his heart to pray to Adonai and Adonai was not willing to listen to his voice. He then vowed a vow to Adonai, saying that he would proclaim freedom to the city that he had previously sworn to destroy and make a cemetery of the Jewish people, and that the Jews that were not precious enough in his eyes to even give them a burial for their dead, that he had said he would let be eaten by the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that he swore on oath to make them free like the citizens of Athens. He swore further that the Mishkan from which he had stolen all its beauty, he would provide once again all of its service implements that were formerly hers and would give from his own treasury enough for the services and sacrifices of the Temple. He also swore an oath to become a Jew and to travel the whole inhabited earth to make known the power of Adonai under all the heavens.

(1) Ten [familial] statuses came up from Babylonia [to Israel]: Kohanim, Levites, Israelites, chalalim [offspring of a union prohibited to Kohanim, and who is thereby disqualified for the priesthood for marriage and Temple service.], Gerim, freed slaves, mamzerim [the offspring of certain prohibited relationships who may not marry into the general Jewish population], netinim [Gibeonites], shetukim and asufim. Kohanim, Levites and Israelites are permitted to [marry] with one another. Levites, Israelites, chalalim, proselytes, and are permitted to marry one another. Proselytes, freed slaves, mamzerim, netinim, shetukim and asufim are permitted to marry one another.

(10) Just as there is fraud regarding commerce, so too there is fraud regarding words. One should not say to [a merchant], "How much is this object?" if he does not want to buy. If someone was a penitent, one should not say to him, "Remember your former actions." If someone is the child of converts, one should not say to him: "Remember the deeds of your ancestors." As is written (Exodus 22:20): "You shall neither deceive a stranger, nor oppress him."

(1) [There are] four [persons] who are [considered] Mechusar Kippurim [one who has purified himself via immersion but who still needs to bring a sacrifice before eating sacrificial meat], and [there are] four [persons] who bring a sacrifice for intentional transgressions as [they would] for unintentional transgressions. The following are Mechusar Kippurim: A Zav [a male who has certain types of atypical genital discharges, which render him impure], a Zavah [a female who has certain types of atypical genital discharges, distinct from her menses, which render her impure], a woman who has given birth, and a Metzora [one rendered severely impure from an unsightly skin disease; upon recovery and purification he must bring offerings]. Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says: A convert [has the status of] a Mechusar Kapparah until the blood has been sprinkled [on the altar] for him; and Nazir [a person who swears abstention from all grape products like wine, from cutting his hair, and avoidance of corpse impurity] [depends on his sacrifices to be permitted] his wine, his hair-cutting and his impurity.

(1) (Exodus 12:49) "One Torah shall there be for the citizen, etc." What is the intent of this? Is it not already written (Ibid. 48) "And he shall be as the citizen of the land"? From "And if there live with you a stranger and he would offer a Pesach to the L rd," I would think that the proselyte is equated with the citizen only in respect to the Pesach. Whence do I derive (the same for) all the mitzvoth of the Torah? From "One Torah shall there be for the citizen and for the stranger."

(1) (Exodus 22:20) "And a stranger you shall not afflict and you shall not oppress him": You shall not afflict him with words and you shall not oppress him in money matters. Do not say to him: "Yesterday you worshipped the deity of Nevo, and (the flesh of) swine is still between your teeth, and you would dare contend with me!" And whence is it derived that if you taunt him he can taunt you in return? From "And a stranger you shall not afflict … for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" — whence R. Nathan derived "Do not attribute a blemish of your own to your neighbor." Beloved are the strangers, for in many places you are exhorted concerning them: "And a stranger you shall not afflict", (Devarim 10:19) "And you shall love the stranger", (Exodus 23:9) "And you have known the soul of the stranger." R. Eliezer says: Because a stranger's past is to his disadvantage, Scripture exhorts concerning him in many places. R. Shimon b. Yochai says: It is written (Judges 5:31) "And His lovers are like the rising of the sun in its might", and it is written (Devarim 10:18) "And He loves the stranger, etc." Now who is greater? One who loves the King or one whom the King loves? Certainly, one whom the King loves. Beloved are the strangers, for by every epithet that Israel is called, the strangers are called. Israelites are called "servants," as it is written (Leviticus 25:55) "For unto Me the children of Israel are servants." And the strangers are called "servants," as it is written (Isaiah 56:6) "… to love the name of Adonai and to be servants unto Him." Israelites are called "ministers," as it is written (Ibid. 6:6) "And you, 'priests of Adonai' shall you be called; 'ministers of our God' will it be said of you." And the strangers are called "ministers," as it is written (Ibid. 56:6) "… and the strangers who join Adonai to minister unto Him." Israelites are called "lovers," as it is written (Ibid. 41:8) "the seed of Abraham, My lover." And the strangers are called "lovers" (i.e., beloved), as it is written (Devarim 10:18) "And He loves the stranger." "Covenant" is written of Israel, viz. (Genesis 17:13) "And My covenant (i.e., circumcision) shall be in your flesh." And it is also written of strangers, viz. (Isaiah 56:4) "and they hold fast to My covenant." "Acceptance" is written of Israel, viz. (Exodus 28:38) "for acceptance for them before Adonai." And "acceptance" is written of strangers, viz. (Isaiah 56:7) "their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices for acceptance upon My altar." "Watching" is written of Israel, viz. (Psalms 121:4) "He neither slumbers nor sleeps, the Watcher of Israel." And "watchers" is written of the strangers, viz. (Ibid. 146:9) "The L rd watches the strangers." Abraham called himself a stranger, viz. (Genesis 23:4) "A stranger and a sojourner am I with you." David called himself a stranger, viz. (Psalms 119:19) "I am a stranger in the land," and (I Chronicles 29:15) "For we are strangers before You and sojourners as all of our ancestors. As a shadow are our days upon the earth, without a prospect." And it is written (Psalms 39:13) "For a stranger am I with You, a sojourner as all of my ancestors." Beloved are the strangers (i.e., the proselytes), as witness Abraham's not being circumcised until the age of ninety-nine. For if he were circumcised at twenty or thirty, a stranger could become a proselyte only if he were younger than thirty — wherefore the L rd prolonged commanding him until he was ninety-nine, so as not to bar the door to future proselytes. And thus do you find (the L rd's esteem for the stranger-proselyte) in the four classes who respond before Him who spoke and brought the world into being, (Isaiah 44:5) "One shall say: 'I am the L rd's'; another shall call in the name of Yaakov; another shall mark his arm 'of the L rd'; and in the name of Israel he shall be called": "I am the L rd's" — these are the fearers of Heaven, untainted by sin. "another shall call in the name of Yaakov" — these are the minors (who died in childhood), the sons of the wicked in Israel. "another shall mark his arm 'of the L rd'" — these are the penitents. "and in the name of Israel he shall be called — these are the righteous strangers (i.e., the proselytes).

..."Return, my daughters, go" (Ruth 1:12) Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani in the name of Rabbi Yudin son of Rabbi Chanina [explains]: In three places it is written here "return" "return" "return" [verses 1:8, 1:11, 1:12] corresponding to the three times we push away a [potential] convert. And if he bothers [trying to convert] longer than that we accept him. Rabbi Yitzchak said "A convert should not stay over outside" (Job 31:32): [this teaches that] A person should always push away with his left and bring closer with his right.

(22) "And Ruth said: entreat me not to leave you and to return from following you"-- what does "entreat" [lit. "hurt"] mean? Ruth said to Naomi, "Do not sin against me by telling me to leave and return from following you. I intend to convert anyway, and it is better that I do it with you than with someone else." When Naomi heard this, she immediately began to lay out before her the laws of conversion. Naomi said, "My daughter, Jewish women do not go to the non-Jews' theaters and circuses." Ruth said, "Where you go, I will go." Naomi said, "My daughter, Jewish women do not live in a house where there is no mezuzah." Ruth said, "Where you lodge, I will lodge." "Your people shall be my people," refers to warning and punishment, and "Your God shall be my God" refers to the rest of the mitzvot.

(1) There are three ways in which someone enters the covenant: by circumcision, by immersion, and by a Temple offering.

(2) Circumcision as it was in Egypt, as it says, "Every uncircumcised person shall not eat of it (the Passover offering)." Moses our teacher circumcised them and everyone spurned the covenant in Egypt with the exception of the Tribe of Levi. On this it says, "Your covenant was withheld."

(3) Immersion was in the desert before receiving the Torah, as is said, "Sanctify yourselves today and tomorrow; wash your clothes." The offering, as is said, "Send the young ones of Israel to bring elevation offerings" - and everyone in Israel brought them.

(4) Throughout the generations, any non-Jew who wants to enter the covenant and come in under the 'wings of the Presence of God' accepts upon him or herself the yoke of Torah - he needs circumcision, immersion and a Temple offering. If female, she needs only immersion and an offering, as is said "As for you, so for the foreigner." That's to say, just as you (entered via) circumcision, immersion and an offering, so too the foreigner (shall enter via) circumcision, immersion and an offering.