[Avodah] Geirus

[Moshe Y. Gluck]

R'n CL (on Areivim):
If kabalas ol mitzvos is an intrinsic requirement for giyor, then it could
not be done for a minor, because a minor does not have daas, and hence is
not capable of kabalas ol mitzvos.  If it was an intrinsic requirement, all
this stuff about zakan adam shelo befanav would all be irrelevant.  You
could give chinuch to a potential minor ger, do the bris etc, but the actual
conversion would have to wait until they were bar or bas mitzvah, and they
would then have to come before beis din and proclaim their kabalas ol
mitzvos.

We don't hold like that.  We don't even *require* them at bas or bar mitzvah
to make a formal acceptance (although some do).  To uproot the giyor, they
have to make a formal protest - without that, they are Jews.  In that sense
everybody agrees that the giyor "takes" without any formal kabalas ol
mitzvos (and lets face it, devarim shebe lev ano devarim).
----------

Maybe the lack of Kabalas Ol Mitzvos (KOM) of an adult is a repudiation of
the Geirus, because it's like the Geir is saying, "I want to be a Jew and
not listen to Hashem." While the lack of KOM of a child is not any sort of
repudiation of the Geirus, because - like you say - the Katan has no Daas,
anyway. So it isn't that KOM is required, as much as that lack of KOM - by a
Gadol - is contradictory to the Geirus process, intrinsically. If this is
true, we can't get away from the requirement of KOM by a Gadol. 

Going out on a limb here (because I'm not in the Sugya) I think the Rambam
is Mashma like this, that KOM is not a condition of the Geirus, but that
lacking it by a Gadol is a repudiation of the Geirus. Rambam Issurei Biah
13:1 says that Klal Yisrael were Nichnas L'bris with three things: 1) Milah
2) Tevillah 3) Korban. In Halachah 4 he says that when an Akum wants to be
Nichnas L'bris and L'histofeif Tachas Kanfei Hashechinah and *accept the
yoke of Torah* he also needs these three things - 1) Milah 2) Tevillah and
3) Korban. So an active acceptance of the yoke of Torah is not one of the
necessary conditions for Geirus, because the Rambam doesn't include it as
one of the things that Klal Yisroel needed to do. But at the same time the
Rambam mentions it, because it is, by definition, part of the Geirus. Klal
Yisroel accepted the Torah from hashem and Moshe - they made it clear that
they were accepting the yoke of Torah, or KOM. But if someone comes now and
doesn't specifically indicate that he is coming to accept the Ol Mitzvos,
then he, by definition, is not a Geir. Unless he can't accept the Ol
Mitzvos, because he's a Katan (without Daas) in which case his
non-acceptance of KOM is not a repudiation of the Geirus, and since it's a
Zechus for him he becomes a geir with the other conditions. 

IOW, you are right that KOM isn't a condition for Geirus, but it's still
necessary (by a Gadol) because without it you have a repudiation of the
Geirus, or, if you will, a Geirus that's M'zuyaf M'tocho.


KT,
MYG