The Myths of Judaism: Rejecting Converts

“Turn back, my daughters, go, as I am too old to be with a husband.” (Ruth 1:12).
“Turn back, my daughters, go” – Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said in the name of Rabbi Yudan bar Rabbi Ḥanina: In three places it is written here: “Turn back” (Ruth 1:8), “Turn back” (Ruth 1:11), “Turn back” (Ruth 1:12), corresponding to the three times that one rejects a convert. If he insists beyond that, one accepts him. Rabbi Yitzḥak said: “A stranger shall not stay the night outside” (Job 31:32). A person shall always reject with the left and accept with the right.

It is written: Elisha came to Damascus when Ben-Hadad the king of Aram was sick. What did he come to do there? He went to bring back Geḥazi but found him absolutely impure. From here that one should push away with one’s left hand but bring back close with one’s right. Rebbi Joḥanan said, the stranger should not stay outside overnight; my doors I opened for the guest. From here that one should push away with one’s left hand but bring back close with one’s right. Not as Elisha did who pushed Geḥazi away with both hands. Elisha was sick with two sicknesses. One in the ways of the world, and one because he pushed Geḥazi away.

Rabbi Eliezer said: [God] spoke to Moses and said "I am" etc. The Blessed Holy One said: "I am the Lord who spoke and the world [came to be]. I am the one who brings close and makes distant, as it says: 'Am I only a God near at hand—says the LORD—And not a God far away?' (Jeremiah 23:23) I am the one who brought Jethro close and I did not distance him. And indeed you, when a person comes to you to convert, and they come only for the sake of heaven, indeed you must bring them close and not distance them. From this you learned that a person shall always reject with the left and accept with the right.

And to understand the words of Rabbi Yitzḥak who said: "'A ger shall not stay the night outside' (Job 31:32a). A person shall always reject with the left and accept with the right." From where does he produce this interpretation from this verse? It is possible to say that with regard to the ger, [the verse] does not say "I opened my doors to the road." (Job 31:32b) For God does not bring the ger near so much to bring them into the doors of their home. And because of this [the midrash] reads "the left hand rejects", and also because of this one would not leave them to sleep outside in the street, however perhaps one would command one's servants to place [the ger] in one building in order that they not sleep outside. This is the right hand that accepts ... However, for the Jew "I opened my doors to the road," and therefore one accepts them with two hands inside the doors of my real home and my eyes to dwell with me together with the faithful of the land.

as Rabbi Ḥelbo said: Converts are as harmful to the Jewish people as a leprous scab [sappaḥat] on the skin, as it is written: “And the convert shall join himself with them, and they shall cleave [venispeḥu] to the house of Jacob” (Isaiah 14:1). This alludes to the fact that the cleaving of the convert to the Jewish people is like a scab.

As the Master said: Converts are as harmful to the Jewish people as a leprous scab [sappaḥat] on the skin, as it is written: “And the convert shall join himself with them, and they shall cleave [venispeḥu] to the house of Jacob” - The language "scab" is because [coverts] hold on to their original ways and Jews learn from them. Or because Jews rely on them for matters of ritual law.

And they do not overwhelm him with threats, and they are not exacting with him about the details of the mitzvot, i.e., the court should not overly dissuade the convert from converting. Rabbi Elazar said: What is the verse from which this ruling is derived? As it is written: “And when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking with her” (Ruth 1:18). Naomi said to her: On Shabbat, it is prohibited for us to go beyond the Shabbat limit. Ruth responded: “Where you go, I shall go” (Ruth 1:16), and no further. Naomi said to her: It is forbidden for us to be alone together with a man with whom it is forbidden to engage in relations. Ruth responded: “Where you lodge, I shall lodge” (Ruth 1:16), and in the same manner. Naomi said to her: We are commanded to observe six hundred and thirteen mitzvot. Ruth responded: “Your people are my people” (Ruth 1:16). Naomi said to her: Idolatrous worship is forbidden to us. Ruth responded: “Your God is my God” (Ruth 1:16). Naomi said to her: Four types of capital punishment were handed over to a court with which to punish those who transgress the mitzvot. Ruth responded: “Where you die, I shall die” (Ruth 1:17). Naomi said to her: Two burial grounds were handed over to the court, one for those executed for more severe crimes and another for those executed for less severe crimes. Ruth responded: “And there I shall be buried” (Ruth 1:17). Immediately following this dialogue, the verse states: “And when she saw that she was steadfastly minded she left off speaking with her” (Ruth 1:18). Once Naomi saw Ruth’s resolve to convert, she desisted from her attempts to dissuade her.

(14) One should not think that Samson who saved the Jewish people, and Solomon King of Israel, who is called "the friend of God," married gentile woman who did not convert. Instead, the matter can be explained as follows: The proper way of performing the mitzvah is when a male or a female prospective convert comes, we inspect his motives for conversion. Perhaps he is coming for the sake of financial gain, in order to receive a position of authority, or he desires to enter our faith because of fear. For a man, we check whether he focused his attention on a Jewish woman. For a woman, we check whether she focused her attention on a Jewish youth.
If we find no ulterior motive, we inform them of the heaviness of the yoke of the Torah and the difficulty the common people have in observing it so that they will abandon [their desire]. If they accept [this introduction] and do not abandon their resolve and thus we see that they are motivated by love, we accept them, as [indicated by Ruth 1:18]: "And she saw that she was exerting herself to continue with her and she ceased speaking with her."

1. But when Hyrcanus heard of the death of Antiochus, he presently made an expedition against the cities of Syria, hoping to find them destitute of fighting men, and of such as were able to defend them ... Hyrcanus took also Dora and Marissa, cities of Idumea, and subdued all the Idumeans; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would circumcise their genitals, and make use of the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision, (25) and of the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time therefore this befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews.

3. For as the Jewish nation is widely dispersed over all the habitable earth among its inhabitants, so it is very much intermingled with Syria by reason of its neighborhood, and had the greatest multitudes in Antioch by reason of the largeness of the city, wherein the kings, after Antiochus, had afforded them a habitation with the most undisturbed tranquillity; for though Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, laid Jerusalem waste, and spoiled the temple, yet did those that succeeded him in the kingdom restore all the donations that were made of brass to the Jews of Antioch, and dedicated them to their synagogue, and granted them the enjoyment of equal privileges of citizens with the Greeks themselves; and as the succeeding kings treated them after the same manner, they both multiplied to a great number, and adorned their temple gloriously by fine ornaments, and with great magnificence, in the use of what had been given them. They also made proselytes of a great many of the Greeks perpetually, and thereby after a sort brought them to be a portion of their own body.

And I question why accepting converts was not included in the list of mitzvot, for it is a distinct imperative upon the court to accept converts and not turn them away ... Thus, it would be appropriate to count accepting converts as its own mitzvah. And even if you would collapse all of the various components of conversion into one mitzvah, as is my opinion, that one mitzvah is particularly fit to be counted on its own.