Lech Lecha 5773

Bereishis 12:1 Vayomer Hashem el Avram lech lecha meartzeha umimoladteha u mibeit aviha el haaretz asher ar’eha   - Hashem said to Abram, “Go for yourself from your land, from your family, and from your father’s house to the land that I’ll show you”.

 

Rabbi Soloveichick dedicated this shiur in memory of Dr.Harris Goldenber’s father Dr. George Goldenberg /Yona ben Azriel/ and his uncle Harold Goldenberg /Hershel ben Azriel/, who passed away this week. 

 

Rabbi Soloveichick changed his mind about the topic of the shiur in the last 4-5 minutes before the class to focus on the specific topic of conversion, as many halachot of the conversion process are based on this week’s Torah portion, Lech Lecha. 

The Gemorrah says that when someone goes through conversion, after Beit Din asks all the necessary questions ensure that the person is a proper candidate, there is a mitzvah to do conversion right away, as soon as possible, so that not to postpone doing mitzvah.  This is a mitzvah on the beit din, based on the mitzvah in accepting converts.  This is essential to Lech Lecha.  The intention of this shiur is to clear up some attitudes surrounding conversion. 

 

Ravad (Rabbi Abraham ben David) says the mitzvah of accepting converts is mentioned in Lech Lecha:

Bereishis 12:5 Abram took his wife Sarai and Lot, his brother’s son, and all their wealth that they had amassed, and the souls they made in Haran; and they left to go to the land of Canaan, and they came to the land of Canaan. 

 

When Avraham left Ur Kasdim G-d gave him command to leave his father’s house, his birthplace – he took the souls that he made in Haran.  Avraham acquired servants and took with him his servants.  Another explanation is that Avraham converted men, and Sarah converted women.  Torah does not say they converted people, it mentions separately, Avraham converted men and Sarah converted women.  It is important to note that Avraham took them all with him.  He bore the responsibility for the souls that he and Sarah had made to the extend that he did not leave them behind, but brought them along with his immediate family. 

 

It is not just legal conversion, but we talk about kiruv, bringing people closer to tradition, this became very popular in the last 30 years, but it’s important to understand the relationship that the person has with the party that he or she brings closer to Torah observance.  It is not that the man cannot serve as an example to a woman.  But there are certain things, like attitudes, the makeup of a human being, that only a woman can relay to a woman.  The act of conversion is not just an act of making yourself clean, washing in a mikvah.  The idea of putting your head below the water is that a person goes through the state of non-existence.  It is difficult to survive with your head below water.  A person cannot survive with head below water, when you raise your head above water, you go from a state of non-existence to existence, it is a remaking of a personality. 

 

Go from your birthplace and your father’s house.  Reb Chaim noted how it is said in the order opposite to the actions performed – normally to go abroad I would first leave my house, then Illinois, then U.S. – this is opposite order – G-d tells Abram to leave his land, his family, his house - how do we explain it?  His father was born on May 1^st, 1917 – there was a death penalty for babies born on 5/1/1917 for those who left Russia, so he lied that he was born in 1918 – the parents moved to Warsaw, Poland.  As soon as he left he forgot Poland, but remembered Warsaw, then he forgot Warsaw, but remembered the house.  The last thing we forget is the home.  It was in the reverse order to tell Avraham that this was an emotional leaving, to become a new person. 

 

The controversial issue of legitimacy – what should be attitude of a ger to his natural parents – there is pasuk that they should cut themselves off – Rav Moshe’s father held a different opinion.  At his shul there was once a chazzan from Europe, he did not have children, they adapted a Jewish child from England. The boy grew up, got engaged, was going to get married.  The parents allowed the boy to have relationship with his biological parents, and before the wedding the question arose as to who should walk him down the isle – Rav Moshe’s father said that the adapted parents should.  The supporting text in Torah is where Moshe Rabbeinu was getting Yithro’s permission to return to Egypt – when Hashem commanded him to do so! - although his real father, Amram, was in Egypt, but Moshe had a debt to his father in law.  If the person was taken in by somebody, clothed and fed, he should give him more honor than to his biological parents.  He was required to give more honor to the one who took him in, than to his natural parents.   Should a convert cut himself off from his biological parents?  No, Yithro was not Jewish, Amram was, so the converting child should spend time and has greater requirement to show respect to the non-Jewish parent.  Rav Moshe’s father said to the natural parents to ask Rav Aharon Kotler and he agreed with his opinion.  So this is a basis for a convert to keep ties to his biological parents.  Even though he would redo himself, he has to see himself a new person, this does not remove an obligation to show respect to those who took care of him.  The convert should see himself a new person, this is the process of taharah.  A reborn Jew – that’s a process of taharah – non-existence / raising head above water / existence.  The personality becomes changed. 

 

More on the pasuk - Avraham took with him the souls.

The person who has influence on the ger becomes a spiritual parent of the ger.  He learns from the person who was involved in his conversion.  You don’t just go into the mikvah, say hi to the rabbi, go home.  Avraham took his converted souls along with him!  It is the mitzvah of ahavas Hashem to accept ger.  What is the mitzvah of love of God, how does one love God?  People would look at nature, see what God has done, seeing God in history, in current events, penetrating the veil of nature and history.  And to see the special relationship that God has with Jewish people.  To see God in Torah.  There are people who study Torah as a history, or psychology, book.  When do you see the real love of God – how does one see the real love of God?  Noah saw God in nature, but Avraham was different – Avraham went around bringing people to God – one demonstrates his love of God by being like Avraham, by bringing people closer to God, by facilitating a real sincere conversion.  There is a mitzvah to bring people closer to God. 

 

Why is it that we have to discourage a potential ger from converting?  It is not that we don’t want people to go through conversion, but we have to make sure that they are really committed, but it’s not like we don’t want converts, we want converts.  Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer observed that in New Orleans there were many Jewish children born to a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother  - he felt that we should encourage these children to convert, to have positive attitude to these children.  And Rabbi Eliashiv also encouraged conversion of children of Jewish fathers, on the basis that they were of the holy seed, zerah kodesh. Although we should only encourage true commitment and sincere conversion, he felt that children raised with one Jewish parent should have a better chance to become Jews.

 

Another mitzvah – ahavas hager – love of the ger – does this apply only after he becomes the convert, so why it is a mitzvah to speed it up before he becomes a ger.  What does the word ger mean?

The word ger comes from gargir – the seed – something that does not yet have roots – the ger does not have root.  Mitzvah to not allow to make the ger feel bad.

What happens when someone comes from another section of town, does not have friends yet, or when a child comes from another school, he is not part of the crowd.  When someone came from a non-religious situation – cannot look down on them – it is someone who does not have roots, is a newcomer – mitzvah to make them feel at home.

Person becomes a ger when he cuts himself off from his roots and becomes a seed, without roots.  When someone comes to beit din and says he wants to convert, and they see that he wants to have a new life - this means that the person has cut his roots and becomes a seed. 

 

The Torah portions, sidras are not just arbitrarily ordered, to pick the topic of Lech Lecha it would be the conversion of Avraham – he becomes a Jew – this is how one becomes a Jew, it is a change in personality, becoming a seed, cutting his roots.  The conversion of Avraham starts in the beginning of Lech Lecha.  We have to have the positive attitude to the ger even before the conversion – because he decided to follow the path of Avraham – lech lecha, cutting himself from his roots.  He separates from Lot, but when Lot is in trouble he gathers an army to save Lot.  When we become Jewish, we still have responsibility to our family and the people in our life, even though they don’t yet share our believes.  We become new people, but that does not mean that we should have bad attitude  - means rising up a level, not lowering a level.  If we feel we don’t want to help others, then it’s a step down.  The ger  has to recognize his roots. 

 

Converts are considered children of Avraham.  Why not Avraham, Itzhak and Yakov?  Avot are our examples, Avraham himself was a ger, so he is the father of the ger.  Itzhak and Yakov are great, but they are not gerim.  To be a father is to be someone one can identify with – gerim can identify with Avraham and Sarah, because they were gerim. 

Sarah was the mother of the gerim.  To influence a ger, true about kiruv, outreach, too, it requires setting an example, only women can be complete examples for women. 

 

DM: I was very fortunate to have as my female teacher Mrs. Shira Eliaser of CJHS, who sacrificed her free summer time to teach Torah classes to the wider community and whose class Miriam and I attended for the last four summers. This fall to compensate for Miriam’s absence I signed up for a class with Shira’s teacher, Dr. Esther Shkop, whose first class I left with the thought “Wow, I think I found my teacher!” 

However, it is a general problem to find women teachers outside of the formal college education who are as knowledgeable and intellectually rigorous like Shira Eliaser and Dr. Shkop.  Women generally have less free time than men to learn and to teach, we are more private and unfortunately sometimes lack enough confidence to undertake teaching.  I am very grateful to Rabbi Karsh for encouraging me to learn challenging subjects and teach whenever there is an opportunity.