[Avodah] Would Ruth's conversion be rejected today?

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

I wrote about two possibilities regarding when it was that Ruth converted. One being in the latter part of the story, by "amech ami", and the other being prior to marrying Machlon and Kilyon.

Regarding "amech ami", R' Zev Sero asked:
> Isn't that passage the source for most of hilchos giyur?
> Isn't that where she accepted the yoke of mitzvos, and went
> through a sampling of "some of the light and heavy mitzvos"
> as required in SA?

and regarding those who hold they converted at the beginning, he asked:
> I'm unfamiliar with these opinions.  Who are they?

The two views are mentioned in ArtScroll's Overview to Ruth (and we've mentioned in here on Avodah as well): Page 48 cites Rabbi Meir in Ruth Rabba 1:4 that Machlon and Kilyon did *not* convert them, and page 49-50 cites Zohar Chadash Ruth 180-182 that they *did*.

I can't deny that "amech ami" *IS* the source for much of Hilchos Gerus, but there are also big problems with saying that she was not Jewish until that point: Would Elimelech have allowed his sons to marry non-Jewish women? And if Ruth was still a non-Jew when Machlon died, then Boaz was not a real relative, and not a real go'el.

I acknowledge that at that point in history, Yibum was not only a halacha, but a social practice as well, and I've heard the argument that Boaz was not halachically obligated to Ruth, but acted as her goel merely as a chesed. But I'm very uneasy with that - I'd think that a tzadik like Boaz would much sooner have sat shiva over Machlon's intermarriage, and not been so quick to support his widow.

I have heard that a resolution to this conundrum can be found in the idea of Gerei Arayos -- that's Arayos with an Aleph, meaning "lions". (ArtScroll 50-52 uses the term "eimas baaleihem" - the fear of their husbands.) They say that both Ruth and Orpah did indeed convert prior to marrying, but because of the social situation, their Kabalas Ol Mitzvos was tenuous and tentative, so much so that when the family situation changed, they were able to retract the conversion, much as a child can retract it on adulthood. And while Orpah went back, Ruth used "amech ami" to confirm her prior conversion. In this manner, Machlon married a Jew, and Boaz was a real goel.

But I have big problems with this too. Regardless of how tentative that original conversion was, it was enough to allow Elimelech's sons to marry them. And if so, how could Naami ENCOURAGE them to go back to their Avoda Zara? To tell the truth, this is what I had *thought* this thread was about.

The Subject line is "Would Ruth's conversion be rejected today?" and it seems to me that this third idea does not sit at all well with what I read about how today's rabbis pasken in gerus. Consider: These two women were living in a Jewish family for TEN YEARS, and then Naami gives them the option of rejecting it retroactively? My Shulchan Aruch says that if a convert does aveiros, even avoda zara, the Jewishness is never lost. I simply do not understand how to fit that in to the story of Orpah.

"Would Ruth's conversion be rejected today?" is an important question. But it must be taken hand-in-hand with "Would Orpah's conversion be accepted today?"

Akiva Miller

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