[Avodah] Chiyuv l'kabel gerim

[T613K at aol.com]

: There is no chiyuv to accept gerim because there is no obligation for a  
goy  
: to become a ger.  He can get olam haba by keeping the  Sheva  Mitzvos. 
[--TK]

RMB wrote:
>>And yet: Ratzah HQBH leZAKOS es Yisrael, lefikhakh hirba lahem  Tora
umitzvos.....

....Having mitzvos, for someone committed to  mitzvos, is a plus -- and thus
bringing people to that state is doing them a  favor.<<





>>>>>
All well and good.  It's better to be a Jew than not, and it is an  elevation 
for a goy to convert.  We nevertheless have no obligation to go  out there 
and missionize and try to be mekarev non-Jews to convert.  And we  have no 
/obligation/ to accept gerim.  If they had an obligation to  convert, then we would 
have an obligation to accept them -- to tell them,  preach to them, mekarev 
them, and to accept any and all would-be converts.   We have no such 
obligation.  We only have an obligation to teach them the  sheva mitzvos. 
 
A bais din has every right to evaluate would-be gerim for knowledge,  
sincerity, emotional stability, whatever.  If the BD had an /obligation/ to  accept 
gerim, that would create on the part of the would-be convert a  concomitant 
/right/ -- the /right/ to be Jewish.  There is no such  right.  It's a privilege, 
not a right.  Of course we have in general  been accepting of sincere 
converts, after the conversion, and the Torah has many  exhortations to be fair, 
kind, welcoming and just to gerei tzedek.   None of which says a bais din /must/ 
accept for giyur every would-be  convert who shows up.




--Toby  Katz
=============



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