[Avodah] Chiyuv l'kabel gerim

[Daniel Eidensohn]

R' Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer wrote:
> I see no evidence from these sources for your position.
>   
You are making an assertion based upon your sevora. You haven't brought 
any sources that state what you seem to be such an obvious position.

>
>>  *Rashi[2] <#_ftn2>(Yevamos 47b): If he withdraws * - and doesn’t become 
>> a convert *Let him withdraw – *and it is of no concern of ours.
>>
>>   
>>     
> That is because he clearly was not interested in the full scope of Judaism.
>   
How do you know that? The obvious meaning of Rashi is that we don't get 
excited about making converts and thus if a non-Jew loses interest it is 
of no concern to us. Maybe if he had been given some encouragement he 
would have realized that his objections were not significant. However 
Rashi is saying - I don't care if a non-Jew converts. Obviously once he 
converts the obligation of loving the ger becomes operative. Where do 
you see that it is desirable to increase the number of converts?

> It would be patently absurd for the Torah to command us so many times to 
> love geirim if we were not meant to facilitate the process. Chazal's 
> precautions require us to notify a potential Ger of the full extent of 
> his undertaking.
>
>   
Sources? So far you haven't offered a single one. We are to love them 
once they convert. Where does it say we should encourage or facilitate 
the conversion of non-Jews?

It is important to note that there is a conflation of two issues here. 
Accepting the convert and the historical, sociological and psychological 
reality that most of the time the convert  is not successful and is 
detrimental to the Jewish people.

On the one hand there is clearly an advantage to increase the ranks of 
those who truly serve G-d through Torah. However the statements I have 
cited deal with the reality that our Sages throughout the ages have 
experienced that  there is a significant downside to converting someone 
who is not the ideal - and that the typical convert is far from ideal. 
Thus we have gedolim such as the Achiezer and Rav Moshe Feinstein who 
say they have nothing to do with converting people because of the high 
failure rate.

Consequently on the ideal level I would agree with you. However on the 
day to day level of reality - most of the time the acceptance of geirim 
is in fact detrimental to the Jewish people. That is why various 
communities (e.g., Syrian) have banned the acceptance of geirim.

There is a parallel discussion in Chazal as to whether it is better to 
be born or not (Eiruvin 13b; Berachos 17a). For most people (and souls) 
the answer is no.

In sum, there is no chiyuv to faciliate the conversion of a non-Jew. 
Would appreciate sources - not servora - that says otherwise.


Daniel Eidensohn