Here's some information on ger toshav which may be helpful in opening doors to some who wrestle with what it means to be deep within a particular tradition.
you may want to look at STeve Greenberg's take on intermarriage and other faiths.
But take a look at this one excerpt about the history of what ger toshav has meant. There's more if you read on.
The
ancient Biblical catagory of Ger Toshav- "resident
alien"- may offer a solution; it has been applied at various times
throughout Jewish history. It is time to renew and transform this ancient
category.
Between Intermarriage and Conversion: Finding a Middle Way
ADVANCE d4. By Rabbi Steve Greenberg
ADVANCE d4Despite our deeply ingrained binary conception of Jewish identity
(i.e. that a person is either a Jew or a non-Jew and that there is no category
in between), perhaps it is time to invent something new. The increasing rate of
intermarriage has become a cause celebre generating many new efforts, none of
which speaks to the new reality that Jews face as fully integrated members of
the societies in which they live.
ADVANCE d4Historically, whenever we Jews have been intimately involved in a
non-Jewish society, we have intermarried. We did it in Spain in the Middle Ages
and in Europe in the nineteenth century, and we are doing it now in America.
The community=s preferred approach to date has been to encourage the non-Jewish
spouse to convert, but this approach is rather problematic, as it tends to
produce conversions of questionable sincerity. This leads me to suggest another
approach: why not invent a new category between Jew and gentile? In fact, over
the course of Jewish history the tradition has grappled with variants of this
challenge and bequeaths to us a number of ideas that we might profitably
rehabilitate today. One of the most interesting of these is the tradition=s idea of the ger toshav, or resident alien, who occupied this
in-between position in biblical times.
ADVANCE d4The ger
toshav was not a convert. He was, according to the rabbis, a gentile
who lived among the Jewish people, happy to be part of the Jewish world and
supportive of the religious and social frames of Jewish life. He could eat
tref, but was not permitted to publicly worship other gods, and if he was
circumcised, he could even partake of the Passover sacrifice. In antiquity, he
was the Jewish goy at the seder table. He was a lover of the
Jewish people, though not a Jew himself. In many intermarried homes today, this
characterization would aptly describe the feelings and commitments of the
non-Jewish spouse.
ADVANCE d4When my cousin Janet married a non-Jew, I did not attend the
wedding. At the time, I was studying to be a rabbi. I am a year older than
Janet and we had always been close, but after the wedding we didn=t speak for years. Eventually, the shock wore off, they had children,
and everyone managed to deal with reality. In fact, we all have come to love
Janet=s mate, Bill. He has effortlessly become a full-fledged member of
the clan. Janet and Bill have raised their children Jewishly with Janet=s hard work and Bill=s encouragement, and Bill is proud to be the non-Jewish father of
a Jewish family.
ADVANCE d4Since Janet and Bill tied the knot, the Jewish community=s attitude toward intermarriage has undergone a huge change. What
was once taboo has become the norm. The AJC=s 1999 Survey of American Opinion found that 62 percent of the
respondents consider anti-Semitism a greater threat to the Jewish people than
intermarriage.
ADVANCE d4And though I am saddened by the increased numbers of Amixed@ kids growing up in intermarried homes, I no longer can stomach
the indignation that I once proudly held on the matter. All of us, including
those of us in the Orthodox community, must do more to address this issue than
we have.
ADVANCE d4Steven Bayme of the AJC recently criticized the Reform movement=s policy of outreach to the intermarried, insisting that such
programming undermines the communal resistance to mixed marriages. Eric Yoffie
has responded to him that intermarriage is a consequence of modernity. The only
way to put the genie back in the bottle would be Ato return to the ghetto.@
ADVANCE d4There is no doubt that the contemporary cult of the self has had
onerous effects upon all sorts of cultural, moral and religious norms. Despite
whatever criticisms we might have of the contemporary zeitgeist of freedom and
self-expression, there is no going back to an age when personal desire was
routinely subordinated to familial or communal norms.
ADVANCE d4Recent proposals to enrich Jewish experiences prior to marriage
have much merit. The deeper and more intense an individual=s Jewish cultural, social and religious commitments are, the
greater their desire to marry a Jewish person is likely to be. Such direct
campaigns to combat intermarriage, like the Birthright Foundation=s project of sending thousands of young adults to Israel, might
slow down the trend, but they are surely not going to turn it around.
ADVANCE d4Instead of focusing our attention on mixed marriages, why not
attend instead to the problem of mixed homes. Why not secure the Jewish home by
creating a contemporary ger toshav -- not a convert to Judaism, but a gentile
who actively chooses to live among Jews.
ADVANCE d4From time to time, interfaith couples planning to marry ask me to
discuss their options. They do so not because the non-Jewish partner is ready
to begin conversion, but because they want to begin the exploration of their
options by consulting with an Orthodox rabbi. What I have discovered in these
conversations is that I have very little to offer such couples.
ADVANCE d4The traditional Jewish community forces the non-Jewish spouse to
consider an all or nothing bargain -- either full-fledged Jewish identity by
conversion, or rejection. An alternative approach that would emphasize the
positive value of Jewish culture and tradition, and the joys of living in a
Jewish home without insisting upon conversion has, until now, not been
imaginable. What if we
were to create such an approach that would in effect look upon non-Jewish
spouses as potential gerei toshav? Rabbis would then be able to offer to
non-Jews wishing to marry a Jewish spouse the opportunity to become not
converts, but committed fans of the Jewish people.
ADVANCE d4For this approach to have a chance of becoming widely accepted in
the Orthodox world, potential gerei toshav would have to learn about
Judaism in a course specifically designed for this purpose along with their
prospective spouse. They would have to be prepared to raise Jewish children and
to help create a Jewish home. Children growing up in such a home would know
that they have two parents, one Jewish and one not, but that they are
full-fledged Jews and not half-Jews. In situations where the woman was the
non-Jewish partner, the children could be converted in early childhood by a
proper bet din, thereby insuring that they are treated as Jews within the
larger Jewish community.
ADVANCE d4Forcing
conversion on people doesn=t work for many reasons. People often have good reasons for not wanting to convert. For
some, the weakness of their religious convictions regarding their own faith
makes them feel inauthentic about adopting another faith. Such folks don=t feel strongly enough about religion to pledge their faith in
good conscience. Conversely, others may feel powerfully drawn to Jews and
Judaism, but feel unable to abandon the faith of their childhood. They may not
be prepared to cause the familial upset and disappointment that their
conversion would produce for those they love. Still others, while they may be
ready to marry a Jew and raise Jewish children, find themselves in possession
of Christian faith that they simply cannot deny or give up. Adoption of the ger
toshav status would provide a means of sustaining their own faith while still
being wonderful parents to Jewish kids.
ADVANCE d4The marriage of a Jew and a ger toshav would not be legitimate
under existing halachic frameworks. However, my own work in finding solutions
to gay and lesbian marriage has shed light on this issue for me. In thinking
about non-normative marriage partners, I have decided that kiddushin, the
traditional ritual for the Jewish wedding, simply doesn=t apply to gay couples. What does make sense for such couples is a
religiously meaningful commitment ceremony. In this case as well, the
traditional ritual would not well serve a mixed couple. New rituals for such
marriages, rituals that partake of Jewish resources and speak honestly about
what is actually happening, are needed. Exactly what such marriages could mean
for the Jewish community, how they ought to be formally enjoined, or how they
should be terminated when they end are all questions that call for the exercise
of cultural creativity.
ADVANCE d4Maimonides makes it clear that the traditional marital ritual was
an innovation when it began. Until then, a man took a woman into his tent, and
when they came out they were married. If the present form of kiddushin was once
an invention, then innovation itself is not the problem.
ADVANCE d4If Abraham had two wives and Jacob had four, doing things just
like our forebears is also not the issue. If the Talmudic sage Rav would call
out on his travels, AWho will marry me for the day?@ in order to provide a Aday wife@ for himself, it must be clear that marriage and family-making are
always a part of the larger cultures in which they reside. It is time that we
provide a place for the non-Jew in our families in much the same way that the
ger toshav, or alien resident, was given a place in ancient Judea.
ADVANCE d4The more we Jews are empowered as a people culturally, materially
and politically, the more non-Jews will be drawn to us. Uriah, Bathsheba=s husband and a trusted commander in David=s army, was a Hittite. Though he was a non-Jew, he was an insider
in ancient Judea, with his home opposite the palace of the king. His name Uriah
means AGod is my light@ and apparently was his not by accident. He was so morally upright
that, despite David=s urgings that he go and sleep with his wife Bathsheba so as to
obscure the fact that she was pregnant by King David, Uriah refused to sleep in
the comfort of his bed while his men were in the battlefield. Perhaps instead
of a new Jewish name which converts receive, a ger toshav should adopt a new
middle name, that of Uriah.
ADVANCE d4In my own opinion, it is better when two Jews marry and produce
children who carry on the covenant of Israel as knowledgeable and proud Jews. But for the great non-Jewish
souls who find themselves, like Uriah, drawn to the Jewish people and ready to
stand up and even fight with us in our battles, we must find a way to formally
recognize them. It is a sign of our success that we ought to celebrate
rather than to mourn.
By Lawrence J. Epstein
Reprinted with
permission from The Theory and Practice of Welcoming Converts to Judaism (The
Edwin Mellen Press, Ltd.).
One of the difficulties
about considering conversion in the talmudic period was that the biblical
terminology used to discuss the subject was redefined by the rabbis. For the
rabbis, for instance, a ger [a "stranger" in the Bible] specifically
meant a convert to Judaism.
Categories of Gerim
The rabbis made a
distinction between two types of gerim. A ger toshav, or settler convert, also
called a ger ha‑sha'ar (or proselyte of the gate, as in Exodus 20:10), was a
resident alien given permission to live in land controlled by Jews if he or she
did not worship other gods or engage in idolatry of any kind or blaspheme God.
The ger toshav agreed in the presence of three scholars to follow these Jewish
principles. In addition, a ger toshav had to observe the Noahide laws [seven
laws considered binding on all humam beings, including prohibition of idolatry
and murder]. The ger toshav did not have to perform work on the Sabbath, but
was not required to join in worship or perform specifically Jewish religious
commandments. Maimonides called them righteous gentiles. They were clearly not
full converts to Judaism.
The second category of
gerim was the ger tzedek, a righteous proselyte, one who converted for the sake
of religious truth and not for any other motive. (Such a ger was also called a
ger emet, a true proselyte, or a ger ben b'rit, a proselyte who is a child of
the covenant.) These gerim didn't just follow the principles of Judaism, but
also its rituals and practices. They are mentioned in the 13th blessing of the
Amidah [the major prayer in Jewish liturgy].
Some people, the
gerurim, converted to Judaism for nonreligious reasons such as marriage or a
perceived economic or other advantage. Such proselytes (including, for example,
the Gibeonites, who became Jewish by a trick to avoid destruction, and those
who had been forcibly converted) were considered to be fully Jewish.
In addition to those who
formally converted, there was another group mentioned in Psalms and by
Josephus, among other places. This group, known as "God‑fearers,"
frequently kept the Sabbath, and many believed in monotheism and prophetic
ethics. They did not eat meat from a pig. However, they did not observe the
other prescribed rituals of Judaism. They were not proselytes, just gentiles
following many Jewish customs in a very wide variety of ways. The God‑fearers,
sometimes called semi‑ proselytes, included the magi of Persia, the
Gymnosophists of India, and such well‑known Greek thinkers as Plato, Aristotle,
and many of the stoics.
Part of the problem with
developing such categories is that, apart from those who formally converted,
there were many ways with which gentiles identified with Judaism short of
actually becoming Jewish. These ways have been defined by Shaye J. D. Cohen,
and include:
1.
admiring an aspect of Judaism or Jewish life;
2.
acknowledging that the Jewish God is powerful;
3.
receiving a benefit from Jews or being friendly with Jews;
4.
practicing some or many Jewish rituals;
5.
praising the Jewish God; and
6.
joining the Jewish community.
Some of these led to Cohen's
seventh category, actual conversion.
External Restrictions
Bring a Decline in Proselytism
The destruction of the
Second Temple in 70 CE and the defeat of Bar Kochba (135 CE) marked the end of
Jewish sovereignty, or even national existence under occupation, for almost
2,000 years. The existence of Jewish life in the Diaspora, as it had during the
Babylonian exile, propelled the importance of religious views. The Jews
themselves still had a favorable attitude toward converts, and Judaism was
still considered attractive by many, but various factors imperiled Jewish
universalism's survival.
The external
restrictions imposed on a stateless and militarily weak Jewish people by
Christian and Muslim authorities were a major factor in the decline of proselytism.
Converts, for instance, were persecuted by Domitian between 81‑96 CE. The
converts' property was confiscated, and they were sentenced to death or exile.
In 131 CE, Hadrian prohibited circumcision and public instruction in Judaism.
Five years later he added to the list of prohibitions the observance of the
Sabbath and the public performance of any Jewish ritual.
In the year 200, the
Emperor Severus promulgated laws forbidding heathens to embrace Judaism. In
325, Constantine reenacted Hadrian's law, forbidding Jews to convert slaves or
engage in any proselytizing activity. In 330, Emperor Constantius decreed that
Jews would forfeit any slaves converted to Judaism and the circumcision of a
Christian slave carried a death penalty and the confiscation of property. Seven
years later, Constantius passed a law confiscating all property of a Christian
who converted to Judaism.
These and other early
prohibitions greatly affected Jewish religious leaders. The rabbis who wrote
and edited the Mishnah [an early rabbinic legal code] and the Gemara [a
commentary on the Mishnah that, together with the Mishnah, makes up the
Talmud], as well as other writings, had, as has been seen, generally favorable
attitudes toward converts. Drawing on the prophetic implications that
proselytism was, in effect, the Jewish mission, the rabbis saw conversion as
affirming both the truth and the eventual triumph of Judaism.
Despite Difficulties,
Conversion Continues
These conversions did
not stop even after the loss of national sovereignty. In the second and third
centuries, there continued to be a series of conversions, especially among the
intellectuals. Both Raba and Rab Ashi, Babylonian scholars in the fourth
century, vociferously advocated proselytism. It seems as though entire villages
approached Rabbah ben Aboah to be converted, and the Talmud notes that Mahoza,
a major Jewish community, had many proselytes. (Avodah Zarah 64a; Kiddushin
73a)
The post‑Mishnaic minor
tractate [of the Talmud] Gerim detailed a procedure for welcoming converts;
provided regulations regarding circumcision, ritual baths, and sacrifices;
defined the ger toshav; and reminded the Jews that they were to have a friendly
attitude toward converts. M. Simon suggests that "the existence of
Masseketh [Tractate] Gerim‑‑a manual of the laws relating to converts‑‑is in
itself a substantiation" of a claim by George Foot Moore that all the
persecutions did not prevent the Jews from persisting in vigorous missionary
efforts.
With Rise of
Christianity, Attitudes Change
Still, slowly, over
time, the rabbinic attitude, and the Jewish peoples' attitude, changed. The
rise of Christianity was one reason for the change. Christianity used the
Jewish missionary zeal and methods, ultimately transforming the Jewish concept of conversion
from an ideal into a requirement and transforming the means of
effecting conversion from offering into intrusive missionary work.
MYRON KINBURG
ADVANCE d4In recent years articles have
appeared in Jewish newspapers (Philadelphia Exponent 1992) reporting on the
large number of non-Jews joining synagogues, sitting on the shul Boards, and
raising Jewish children. Various synagogues and Temples are dealing with this
dilemma in different ways. Sometimes the non-Jews receive membership, sometimes
the non-Jews receive aliyot, and in some cases they are also allowed to hold
office. At the same time though, -some are not...the picture is anything but
consistant, and in most cases the non-Jew is accepted uneasily. The time has
come to wrestle with this situation and address how to acknowledge non-Jews as
part of our communites including ways to welcome them, while drawing our
boundaries of difference. The
ancient Biblical catagory of Ger Toshav- "resident
alien"- may offer a solution; it has been applied at various times
throughout Jewish history. It is time to renew and transform this ancient
category.
ADVANCE d4. Background and Sources:There are five places where Ger
Toshav is mentioned in the Torah. They
are Exodus 12:45, Lev. 25:6, Lev. 25:40, Lev. 25:47 and Lev. 25:55. This term Ger
Toshav is translated as "temporary resident",
"landed immigrant", "resident alien" in other words someone
who has a "green card" and is accepted into the society except for a
few key privileges. The first reference to Ger Toshav
(Exodus 12:45) is found among the discussion about who may eat of the Passover
sacrifice. The Gerrim Toshavim and
employees/laborers are forbidden. In Leviticus 25:6 however, G-d is
"discussing" the rules of the Sabbatical year, and with it a promise
of abundance. We are obliged to share our food produced during the Jubilee year
with our slaves, our hired laborers, our guests and all that live with us (Gerrim
Toshavim). This implies that these "foreigners" are
an integral part of our communities.
ADVANCE d4Lev 25- 55 lays out the rules for what to do if an Israelite comes
upon hard times. Lev 25: 35 states that "if one of your countrymen becomes
poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an
stranger or resident alien, so he can continue to live among you." It goes
on to say that this means "do not make him work for you, do not take
interest from him, but let him live with you." (Lev 25:40) gives us more
information about a Ger Toshav by defining
further what to do if an Israelite falls on hard times."If your brother
falls on hard times and sells himself to you do not impose a slave's work on
him, he shall be [treated] like a guest or hired man and work until the Jubilee
year." In other words the assumption here is that the community of Israel
accepts and welcomes the stranger and resident alien and that our own brethren
deserve to be treated as well.
ADVANCE d4However in Lev 25:47 a barrier is created between an alien and an
Israelite by a description of what to do for a fellow Israelite:
ADVANCE d4If some stranger or settler among you grows rich, and your brother
falls on hard times, and is in difficulties with him and sells himself to him,
to his stranger or settler among you or to one of your descendents, he shall
enjoy the right of redemption after sale, and one of his brothers may redeem
him.
ADVANCE d4This passage indicates that Israelites are not to be at the mercy
of any strangers. What is interesting here in all of these cases is that the
Torah assumes that there are a number of different types of people that live in
our communities, slaves, laborers, and resident aliens (Ger
Toshav). They are accepted fully in some respects, but not
others.Further to this discussion in Numbers 15, God is talking to Moses describing
what the Israelites should do when they finally enter the land. They are to
bring sacrifices for payment of vows and/or voluntary gifts to one of the
feasts. Numbers 15:14-16 spells it out clearly,
ADVANCE d4Any stranger living among you, or among your descendents, will
also make a burnt offering, and appeasing fragrance to YHVH: just as you act so
must the assembly. There shall be only one law for you and the settler among
you. This is a law that shall bind your descendents: before YHVH, you and the
settler alike. There is to be one law only, and one statue for you and the
stranger that lives among you.
ADVANCE d4In effect what this is saying is that the strangers are bound by
our laws and are accepted in some way as part of our communities.
ADVANCE d4Zechariah, the prophet, makes a statement regarding the nations
that will come to worship G-d:And it shall come to pass, that everyone that is
left of the nations that have come to against Jerusalem, shall go up each year
to worship (sacrifice) to the King, the L-rd of hosts and to keep the feast of
booths. And whoever does not come up of all the families of the earth to
Yerushalyim to worship the King, the Lord of hosts upon them shall be no rain.
And if the family, of Mitzrayim does not go up, and does not come they shall
have no overflow. This shall be the plague, with which the Lord will smite the
nations that shall not come up to keep the feasts of booths.(Zechariah
14:16-18)
ADVANCE d4In their book, the Path of the Righteous Gentile, Chaim Clorfene
and Yaakov Rogalsky explain, "during the periods when the Jewish people
lived in the Holy Land, their responsibility for teaching the Gentiles the
seven commandments were generally fulfilled. During the 410 years that the
first Temple stood and the 420 years that the Second Temple stood, Gentiles who
wanted to dwell in the land of Israel had to agree to fulfil the Noachide laws
and had the right to enter the Holy Temple and offer sacrifices to G-d."
(p16)
ADVANCE d4In the Rambam's discussion of the matter in the Mishnah
Torah, we find in K'doshim, Laws of Forbidden Relationships14:7
the definition of a Ger Toshav is a person that
was a former heathen who has since forsaken the worship of idols and agreed to
observe the seven Noachite commandments. Ger Toshavim are not
circumcised or immersed. Rambam further states that this category only applies
during the time when the Jubilee Laws are in effect. This implies that the Jews
are under their own sovereignty and have the power to issue visas and make the
rules, so to speak. (Another example of a law that applies only when Jubilee is
in effect are laws of ritual purity.) The return to a time when Jubilee laws
are in effect are considered almost as the days of the Mashiach,
in other words they do not apply in our time.
ADVANCE d4Rambam clarifies for us (Mishnah Torah, Laws of
Kings 8:11.) that the people living by the seven universal Noachite
commandments agree: #1. not to worship idols, #2. not to curse G-d, #3. not to
kill, #4. not to steal, #5. not to engage in sexual immorality, #6. not to eat
the limb of a living animal, and #7. to establish courts of law to enforce
them. "They become one of the Chasidei Umot ha-olam, the
Pious ones of the Nations, and receive a share of the eternal world" (p.
41) Although the Children of Noah only accept the commandments for the Seven
Laws, nothing prevents them from observing most of the 613. The ones that are
forbidden to them are: observing/resting on Shabbat and Holy days like the
Jews; Talmud or Halachic study that pertains to the Jews worship of G-d;
receiving and aliyah or writing a Torah scroll; using or making tefillin;
posting a mezzuzah. (Laws of Kings 10:9) (Clorfene and Rogalsky cite the
commentary of Radvaz on 10:10 as well)p42) According to Baba Kama 38a, when
"one of the Children of Noah engages in the study of the Seven Universal
Laws, he is able to attain a spiritual level higher than the High Priest of the
Jews, who alone has the sanctity to enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple of Jerusalem."
(p43) In other words a Ger Toshav can live in some
ways as a Jew, and can achieve a very holy state if they take their
responsibilities seriously.
ADVANCE d4Two other categories must be examined in order to complete our
discussion of what it takes to affiliate with the Jewish people. They are
proselytes and slaves. For a non- Jew to enter the covenant of the Jewish
people three things, in addition to being taught the commandments, were
traditionally demanded. They are immersion, circumcision, and sacrifice.
Sacrifice has been suspended since the destruction of the Temple, however
immersion and circumcision were still required in the Mediaeval codes. To have
a proper immersion,we must have witnesses to the mikveh
of a convert, this verifies the act. However, we are only bound to accept a
persons word for their conversion if they are new to town and we haven't seen
their papers or known their Rav -but only if they are known to be obeying the
mitzvot. In other words we can take a person's word for it, in some instances,
if they claim that they are Jewish. A proselyte is considered newly born in
every respect and completely accepted in the Jewish community.
ADVANCE d4Slavery was another doorway in which non-Jews could enter into
membership of the Jewish community. A slave was one who lived among the
Israelites, in the households. A slave had to immerse in a mikveh
before coming to live with a family. After the mikveh and the acceptance of
certain commandments, slaves had a liminal statusC they left their idolatrous background but they didn't enter
Israel. (k'doshim) However, once they were freed and
married an Israelite, they were automatically considered an Israelite in every
respect! This was because they had already undergone the immersion and had been
living as a Jew.
ADVANCE d4Slaves were taught the same commandments that were taught a woman.
These commandments which were incumbent upon a slave taught him/her how to
behave in a Jewish household. They were not to be taught Torah, and were not
obligated for positive time bound mitzvot, just as women were not. If a slave
refused to accept the commandments and or be circumcised, they were to be sold
or freed after twelve months. It was not permitted to keep a heathen under a
Jewish roof any longer without conversion.( 8:12 Acquisition)
ADVANCE d4There is another issue however, that is central to the process of
transformation of status. The Kavannah, the intention for
the ritual immersion must be clear. Further in the Book of Acquisition, Slaves
8:20, Rambam codifies that, "If an Israelite seizes a heathen who is a
minor, or finds a heathen boy, and immerses him with the intent that he becomes
a proselyte, he becomes a proselyte; if for the purpose that he becomes a
slave, he becomes a slave; for the purpose that he becomes a free man, he
becomes a free man." Acquisition 8:18 also supports this by stating that
if an Israelite buys a slave from heathen, and the slave uses the mikveh
to become free rather than as a slave, he becomes free. Freed slaves have the
status of proselytes, full participants with the Jewish people. . We see from
this that a heathen or a slave has within their jurisdiction at the moment of
immersion the power to transform their destiny, by virtue of their intention
for the immersion alone, to be fully accepted into the Jewish community.
ADVANCE d4What is the practical application of this today?
ADVANCE d4In his book, Questions Jews Ask, published in 1956, Mordechai
Kaplan proposes that the status of Ger Toshav be examined in
order to encourage Jewish missionary activity. "It might be well to
reinstate an idea which is found in traditional Jewish codes, but which has
received theoretic formulation rather than practical application. I refer to
the idea of the Ger Toshav. Jewish codes
recognize two kinds of proselytes, the ger tzedeck, who seeks complete
identification with the Jewish People, and who undertakes to abide by all the
requirements of Jewish law, and the Ger Toshav, who rejects
idolatry, and abides by the other six moral laws that Judaism regards as
mandatory for all mankind." ....."Jewish missionary activity effort
in our day should, therefore, not aim to persuade converts to identify
themselves with the Jewish religious community. ...All converts should renounce
what from the Jewish point of view, is idolatry, e.g. the identification of G-d
with any person or object with corporeal attributes. They should seek salvation
as a way of ethical advancement.. ....The idea that God as the Power that makes
for salvation is of such vital importance in our day that Jews should endeavor
to gain its universal acceptance by men of all faiths."....We Jews can
moreover render a universal service to mankind by promulgating the idea that
all Peoples can help their members achieve salvation."(pp. 479-480)
ADVANCE d4In agreement with Kaplan, I believe a case can be made for the
establishment of a redefined category of Ger Toshav. Given the
number of intermarrieds and non-Jews within our midst, we must do something to
welcome them. We live in a time that the State of Israel does exist as a
sovereign nation and we can begin to apply some of the Jubilee laws. We also
must acknowledge our sovereignty over our own communities and synagogues. Just
as women have changed their status within Judaism by study and practice, it is
incumbent upon us not to be bound by prior limitations of status.
ADVANCE d4We are also confronted by the alarming statistics of intermarriage
and just do not know what to do with the numbers of unclassified people that
join our ranks. There are thousands of people who have married Jews, having
agreed to raise their children Jewish, or are participating in our communities
without undergoing formal conversion. We are uncomfortable calling them Jews,
yet they need to be welcomed into our community and their status clarified. It
is our responsibility to educate and welcome the resident alien. We need all
the allies we can get.
ADVANCE d4I am suggesting that we borrow from our tradition which has taught
us there are ways besides formal conversion to affiliate with our communities.
I offer the following ideas for practical implication of the resurrection of
the Ger Toshav category:
ADVANCE d41. A mikveh for the non-Jewish man or woman
before the wedding, given their intention to raise their children as Jews and
that they will live as Jews. This person would be called a Ger
Toshav and may or may not officially (dam
brit and study) convert immediately. They would however be
granted full status as Jews (if they were so inclined) if after the seven years
they had lived in this manner.
ADVANCE d42. A study program for
intermarried couples, or non-Jews who were interested in Judaism, culminating
in a public ceremony at the end of the process to welcome these Ger
Toshavim |
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