[Avodah] Status of Non-Jew born to Jewish Father

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Nov 02, 2011 at 06:40:02PM -0400, T613K at aol.com wrote:
: He is different from any other non-Jew only in this respect:  if he  
: decides that he wants to convert to Judaism, he is not initially discouraged
: but is immediately encouraged and welcomed to join the Jewish people.

: I find it hard to believe that a Chabad rabbi performed a bris on a  
: non-Jewish baby...

This is actually the norm, Chabad and not, in such cases. As others
noted. I just want to add thenuance that you yourself explain why...
We do not try discouraging such a boy if he would choose to convert
later. And so, if the parents want a milah, why not save him future pain
-- the thought of which could well discourage him?

However, it is documented that it's lesheim geirus.

When my great uncle, R' Joseph Goldberg, performed a beris, he wrote in
a little pad that could fit in a shirt pocket the name of the child,
the purpose of the beris (if lesheim geirus) and a couple of other
details. At the time of his petirah, he had two closets full of boxes
of such notebooks, sorted by date. Just for such referencing, if they
would ever be needed. And therefore he could never throw one away.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Our greatest fear is not that we're inadequate,
micha at aishdas.org        Our greatest fear is that we're powerful
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Fax: (270) 514-1507                        - Anonymous