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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>: There is no chiyuv to accept gerim because there is no obligation for a
goy <BR>: to become a ger. He can get olam haba by keeping the
Sheva Mitzvos. [--TK]<BR><BR>RMB wrote:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>>>And yet: Ratzah HQBH leZAKOS es Yisrael, lefikhakh hirba lahem
Tora<BR>umitzvos.....<BR><BR>....Having mitzvos, for someone committed to
mitzvos, is a plus -- and thus<BR>bringing people to that state is doing them a
favor.<<<BR></FONT></DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent"
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size=2>>>>>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>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. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>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.</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============</B></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Start the year off right. <A title="http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489" href="http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489" target="_blank">Easy ways to stay in shape</A> in the new year. </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>