I want to begin a new subject today and to approach it through the teaching of a fascinating section of Mishna. Just to review, the mishna is the first post-Torah code of Jewish law containing material usually attributed to 200 bce-200 ce. codified by Rabbi Judah HaNasi. The mishna forms the basis for the Talmud which is a combination of the MIshnaic text and the commentaries known as the gemara.

This is a timely section of the mishna to consider because it concerns the bikkurim, the first fruits, brought on or after the holiday of Shavuot. We observe Shavuot (which is observed two weeks from Thursday evening) ) largely as the anniversary of the giving of the Torah but the origin of the holiday is as an agricultural festival celebrating the bringing of the first fruits to the Tabernacle and later the Temple as a thanks offering to God for bringing the farmer into the land and giving him a good harvest.

The first section of the mishna of Bikkurim discusses the tradition detailed in the book of Deuteronomy that the farmer would put his bikkurim, his first fruits, in a basket and come up to the temple and say: My father was a wandering Aramean (words which should be familiar from Pesach) who went down to Egypt...(the section concluding) with a thanks to God who brought the farmer into the land of which he is presenting the first fruits.

The mishna talks about different classes of people, those who bring the fruit and say the words, those who bring the fruit but don't say the words and those who don't bring the fruits at all.

The most interesting category is the middle one: those who bring the fruits but don't say the words. The only people in this category according to the Mishna are gerim, literally strangers, more commonly assumed to be similar to the usage of the word gerim today: converts, those who choose to be part of the Jewish people.

Before we explore this, let me make it clear that there is a possibility that ger did not mean convert in Mishnaic times and most certainly didn't mean it the way we mean it today. But, the Rabbis in later generations who knew of the experience of conversion in the same way we do today interpreted the text in the Mishna to refer to converts. So, let's proceed with that assumption.

The reason why the converts did not read the section according to the Mishna is that part of the statement is: "the land that God promised to our ancestors to give to us." Since his ancestors were not part of the Jewish people, he can't say these words. Similarly, the mishna goes on when a convert is praying privately: they should, instead of saying our God and God of our ancestors, say "the God of the patriarchs of Israel" and when leading the congregation in prayer they should say: "The God of YOUR ancestors".

This text is very different from the general attitudes of the Talmudic Rabbis who considered Jews by choice to be equal to those born Jews in every way (in fact, as we'll see later, there are comments which point out the honored position that Jews by choice have, even more so, in some respects, than those born Jews). In addition to this fact is the fact that later generations of Rabbis, Maimonides for instance, disagreed vehemently with this Mishnaic text and insisted that since Abraham was called: "av hamon goyim", the father of many nations, it was reasonable to trace one's lineage to Abraham even if one were not born a Jew.

The issue of conversion has many interesting aspects to it which I will address in weeks to come. The most important starting point though is that in Jewish tradition, a Jew by choice becomes an equal member of the people and acquires for herself not only an equal role in the Jewish present and future but by being named Ruth (or any name chosen), THE DAUGHTER OF ABRAHAM OUR FATHER AND SARAH OUR MOTHER, acquires the Jewish past as well as their own personal history. No one asks a convert to Judaism to deny their own heritage, their own family, ethnic origin or any personal family traditions (except those rooted in another faith) but with the new identity comes, like it does for each Jewish child born, a connection to the past as well, an acquired history which now becomes theirs.

That is why this Mishna strikes me as being so inconsistent with Jewish tradition as it has developed. Nowhere would we ask a Jew by choice to declare themselves as at a different level from a Jew by birth. Instead, we welcome those who have chosen Judaism with open arms as an equal part of our people past, present and future. We'll continue with these thoughts. if you have specific questions or areas you'd like discussed, please let me know. RD

Robert Dobrusin, Rabbi
Copyright © 2000, Robert Dobrusin.
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This message was originally posted on May 24, 2000.

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