[Avodah] R' Angel & Geirus Redux

[Michael Makovi]

>  (I was just about to press the "send" button, but I reread the post first. And now I see that my quote from R' Michael Makovi's post does include the word "try". So when all is said and done, I think RMM would agree with me. He just didn't realize what his own words were saying. Or so I suspect.)
>
>  Akiva Miller

Correct. I was under the impression that we were distinguishing between
1) Saying "I will TRY to keep them all", and
2) Saying, "I will fail to keep them all, because I am imperfect"

It was my impression that some would disqualify the second for gerut.
Therefore, I said that number two is simply the same as number one,
except he admits the simple truth that though he will try, he will
fail. Number one, OTOH, is simply naive. Therefore, I couldn't
understand how anyone could disqualify two for simply being honest
with a fact that is no less true of one than of two.

So your suggestion is well taken, that one and two as I have given are
the same as far as the beit din is concerned (as I myself said that
really, they ought to be the same, with two simply being more
realistic than one), and in place of 2 should be substituted,
2) Saying, "I will not even try to keep them all, because they are too
hard, but I recognize the chiyuv"

This, I understand why some would disqualify.

In my personal opinion, even this new version of two should be
accepted for gerut, because I would presume that someday in the
future, he *will* try to keep what he cannot today. Since he accepts
the chiyuv, but is simply not ready yet, he is not so different from
the ger who will try to keep everything, but whom we all know already
that he will fail. But OTOH, I can see why some would disqualify. I
disagree, but my opponent doesn't seem so barmy anymore.

Mikha'el Makovi