Welcoming Converts
By Michael Freund
Across the world, an unprecedented awakening
is taking place. Thousands of people from different walks of life
are suddenly seeking to become Jewish.
From a group in northeast India claiming descent
from a Lost Tribe of Israel to descendants of Spanish conversos
on the Iberian Peninsula, the phenomenon is widespread. And it
is growing.
In recent months, I have met with people from
Burma, Spain, Peru, India, Colombia and Japan, all of whom have
taken the monumental step of formally joining the Jewish people.
They include biologists and farmers, technical translators and
university professors, and even a former Catholic priest.
As disparate as their backgrounds may be, there
is a familiar thread that runs through their stories – a
singular quest for spiritual truth, one which led them on a sacred
journey to Israel and the covenant of Abraham.
Some of their stories are particularly stirring
and inspirational, such as the monk from a devotional order whose
daily Bible readings convinced him that the Torah is the authentic
Divine instruction manual for living. No longer able philosophically
to carry on with his monastic duties, he is now a Chasidic Jew
residing in Jerusalem.
Then there is the Hispanic engineer whose grandmother
would secretly light candles every Friday night, stubbornly carrying
on a tradition she did not understand which had been handed down
by her ancestors for centuries. Watching a television program
while working in England, the young engineer discovered this was
a Jewish custom, abruptly realizing that his Spanish ancestors
had been Jews, until they were forced to convert by Ferdinand
and Isabella over 500 years ago.
A few weeks ago, he stood before a rabbinical
conversion court in Jerusalem, nervously answering questions about
the intricacies of Sabbath observance. Needless to say, he passed
with flying colors.
Unfortunately, many of us have become so cynical
that we can not fathom why anyone would voluntarily become a Jew.
After all, at one time or another, we as a people have been tossed
out of nearly every decent country in the world. Throughout history,
we have been hated and persecuted, massacred and killed. Why,
then, would anyone actually choose to join us?
Sit down with a convert and you will immediately
discover the answer. Their purity of conviction and sincerity
of purpose are both humbling and overwhelming. These people transformed
their lives, overcoming tremendous personal, cultural and family
obstacles, for the simple reason that they found Judaism appealing
and attractive.
It is little wonder, then, that they are fiercely
proud of their Jewishness, setting an example of piety and devotion
that others would do well to emulate.
But while converts provide us with valuable spiritual
reinforcements, they might also just hold the key to solving Israel’s
demographic dilemma as well.
Last week, Maj.-Gen. Uzi Dayan, the head of Israel’s
National Security Council, warned that within 20 years, Jews will
comprise less than half of the population residing between the
Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
With aliyah from the former Soviet Union in decline,
and no mass immigration from the West in the offing, Dayan’s
dire forecasts of a Jewish minority in the Land of Israel should
set off alarm bells for anyone concerned about the future of the
Jewish people.
But in assessing the pool of potential immigrants,
Dayan and other Israeli officials have overlooked a vast, and
largely untapped, reservoir – namely, the masses of people
around the world who are clamoring to join the people of Israel.
They range from groups such as the Lemba tribe
of southern Africa and the Abayudaya of Uganda, to the 5,000 Bnei
Menashe living in the Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur. Each,
in its own unique and exceptional way, wishes to assume a Jewish
identity.
Large numbers of Crypto-Jews (descendants of
Marranos who were forcibly converted in Spain and Portugal in
the late 15th century), have begun returning to Judaism throughout
the southwestern United States, as well as in South America.
Most of these groups operate outside the Jewish
mainstream, receiving little if any support or encouragement from
the Jewish community or from Israel. It is time for that to change.
At a minimum, Israel should be reaching out to them, assessing
the sincerity of their desire to join the Jewish people and acting
to help those worthy of assistance. Last December, the Chief Rabbinate
of Israel courageously sent a rabbinical court to Peru to convert
nearly 100 people who had been living as Jews for over a decade.
Last month, these “new” Jews all made aliyah. The
Peruvian model, and the rabbinate’s openness toward them,
will hopefully serve as a precedent for other groups as well.
Reaching out to potential converts is, of course,
not without risks. No one wishes to see Israel flooded with economic
refugees using Judaism as a means of fleeing disarray back home.
Conversion, by definition, is a religious act, and it must be
carried out in accordance with the precepts of Jewish law. Anything
less would only lead to future grief, both for the converts themselves
as well as for the Jewish people as a whole.
But for a country struggling to find potential
new sources of immigration, groups such as the Bnei Menashe and
the Crypto-Jews might very well provide the answer.
For, at a time when so many young Diaspora Jews
are leaving the fold, these people are knocking at the door, armed
with sincerity, pleading to get in. A way must now be found to
enable them to do so.
This article was originally published in the Jerusalem
Post on June 19, 2002
