[Avodah] Jew Or Not?

Michael Makovi mikewinddale at gmail.com
Thu Jun 11 15:04:06 PDT 2009


> Even without any safeiq in her yichus, we would require miqvah and
> qabbalas divrei chaveirus in front of a BD. Reaffirming a return to the
> Jewish faith, even if already born into the Jewish people.
> R' Micha

I've read extremely little on this subject, even less than I've read
on other subjects, so perhaps I have no idea what I'm talking about,
but:

I thought the immersion in a mikvah and such for a person returning to
Judaism was just a humra. Halakhically, there's absolutely no need
whatsoever; the person is a fully-fledged Jew, and no amount of
apostasy can wipe away that fact. Immersion in a mikvah is just a
symbol of teshuva.

Also, I'd think this is more relevant for the original apostate
him/her-self; he or she consciously left Judaism for Christianity, and
thus performs a symbolic return to Judaism. But the descendants never
left Judaism; they were born out of Judaism. Why should they have to
perform a symbolic return? Similarly, we might make the apostate
perform all sorts of other penitential acts (fasts, public
confessions, etc.), but surely we'd never demand a single iota of this
from a descendant.

And if she doesn't perform the kabbalah: so what? Mah koah beit din
yafeh? This is all just a symbol, no? Are we discussing what she
*ought* to do as a nice symbol and gesture, or are we discussing
something with actual ramifications? What level of halakhah are we
discussing?

Also, every discussion I've ever seen of this was by Ashkenazim.
Perhaps the Sefardim discussed this as well; I don't know. Every
discussion I saw was of an Ashkenazi apostate to Christianity, but
perhaps I've simply never seen the (hypothetical) discussions of
Sephardi apostates to Islam (or Greek Orthodox Christianity, as the
case may be). What about Rambam's letter on this subject? Does he say
anything about kabbalah and mikvah, or does he just say the Jew can
stam return to Judaism once he leaves the Almohad-controlled area?

Regarding Karaites who return to Rabbinism - and especially those who
avoided fear of Karaite mamzerut via hafka'at kiddushin and kol
d'm'kadesh ada'ata d'rabanan m'kadesh, thereby allowing Karaites to
marry Rabbinites - were the Karaites required to do anything upon
their return? Whatever the answer to the previous question, did
Ashkenazim and Sefardim agree on this, or no?

(I just heard Professor Zvi Zohar speak of one Sephardi rav (Haham
Nissim Ohanna, She’elot u-Teshuvot Naeh Meshiv, section Even HaEzer,
#2) who annuled the very Jewishness of the Karaites, in order to allow
them to marry Rabbinites. Obviously, he would require kabbalah and
mikvah! Though perhaps the kabbalah would be different than we are
used to, given another rabbi (Haham Moshe HaCohen Dreihem, sh’elot
u-Teshuvot VeHeshiv Moshe, #50/51) Professor Zohar discussed, who held
the Rav Uziel-ian view. See http://www.merkaz.com/lectures.htm --->
Professor Zvi Zohar - 10/31/04 ---> The Role of Values and Outcome in
the Halakhic Process: The Sephardic Approach
(http://www.merkaz.com/lectures/Zohar-10-31-04.mp3), Handout in Word
format (http://www.merkaz.com/lectures/The%20Role%20of%20Values%20and%20Outcome%20in%20the%20Halakhic%20Process.doc).)

Michael Makovi



More information about the Avodah mailing list