".ורבים מעמי הארץ מתיהדים כי נפל פחד היהודים עליהם ..."
"...And many among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen on them." ( NASB).
In the Hebrew the verse states : עמי הארץ--a term used in Scriptures mostly, not always, a multitude of strangers, or for regular people with no identifiable nationalistic or social standing ( Deut. 28:10; Josh. 4:24; 1 Kings 8:60). The term is also used to distinguish between the lower, and higher rungs of society ( 2 Kings 11:14).
The Sages also used the term עם הארץ to describe a lower status within the society (Bava Batra 8:71; Pesachim 49:72). This hard approach by the Sages demonstrates the complexities they encountered and the lack of patience they display. Many, many followed their interpretation of the term without really examine these complexities, especially the Sages' disdain from the pluralism of society of their times.
Rashi, in his interpretation, and commentary of the book of Ester, refers to the term מתיהדים as a process of changing one's religion. He uses the term מתגירים --to denote conversion. But his interpretation is not at all conclusive since the Term גיור-conversion as we know it today was not known in Bible era. The term לגייר-to convert, does not exist in Scripture. On the other hand, we can find many mentions of the term גר -with all its obscure interpretations. Rashi interpret גר in ( Ex. 22:20) as "A person who was not born in the same nation, but came from another nation to live there." It is of course inconclusive to interpret גר as someone who changed his/her religion. (For more on גר see Tim Hegg's Fellow heirs).
The LXX interprets מתיהדים as "circumcised themselves". Josephus expounded on that and wrote "Many from other nations circumcised themselves from the fear of the Jews" ( Antiquities of the Jews 11,6,13).
To join the people of Israel ("to become Jewish" as allegedly the Ester verse is interpreted) Out of fear, not from love, does not correlates with the views of mainstream Judaism which insists on גיור לשמו -conversion for the sake of conversion, not from any other outside motives. (Yevamot 24:72).
The difficulty to acknowledge converts who converted from fear led some commentators to interpret that מתיהדים only means "profess to be Jews," but were not true GERIM.
Eban Ezra interprets the verse: Ones who return to the Torah of Judah or are attached to Judah to save themselves." Other commentators interpret the term as "who made themselves to look like Jews, changed their clothing, but really are not full Gerim."
More to come.....
Dan, I will await part II, but from what you've outlined thus far, I think it HELPS the case FOR conversions, instead of hurting it. Which is of course yasher koach to you, since you seem to have approached the subject with a bit of whiff of objectivity by getting all kinds of evidence, even from sources that may not agree with your particular interpretation.
ReplyDeleteOf course, one could argue that conversion out of fear is not valid. However, what if this was a reverential type of "fear", one in awe of what G-d has done for the Jews (how HE has turned their lot around)? Everyone knows that G-d is not directly mentioned anywhere in that book, but we all know that he's indeed behind every event, guiding what happens.
I think the biggest support from Esther is not whether or not such conversion were valid by current standards (meaning before halakha on conversions, as we know it today, was fully developed). Instead, the biggest supporting factor is that it at least raises the possibility of Gentiles choosing to take on "Jewishness."
Gene,
ReplyDeleteYou comment on a "reverential fear" can only be characterized as: "Fishing while doing gymnastics..."
"Context, my dear Watson, context..." said the Notorious one to the assuming one......
"You comment on a "reverential fear" can only be characterized as: "Fishing while doing gymnastics...""
ReplyDeleteDan, depending on the size of the fish one's trying to pull out of the water, some gymnastics may indeed be required. But no gymnastics are needed in this case (although you may proceed with your own exercises, as usual).
Besides, if you know the history of Israel, around 125 BCE the Idumeans were given a choice to convert to Judaism (by John Hyrcanus/Yohanan Girhan, the Hasmonian ruler of Israel), or leave the land, and most chose to convert. Yes, believe it or not, forced conversions happened in Judaism at least that one time. Which means that at least some of the Jews today are probably of Idumean ancestry. Could it be you:)?
Gene,
ReplyDeleteגיורים are not מתיהדים . Two different concepts.