013 - הִלְכוֹת אִסּוּרֵי בִּיאָה פֵּרֶק יג

Laws of Issurei Bi'ah, Chapter 13

1. Through three things Israel entered the covenant: through circumcision, immersion and an offering.

2. Circumcision took place in Egypt, as it says, "כָּל-עָרֵל, לֹא-יֹאכַל בּוֹ" ("no uncircumcised person shall eat of it," Shemos 12:48). Moshe Rabbeinu circumcised them, for all of them had abandoned the covenant of circumcision in Egypt except the tribe of Levi; and of this it says, "וּבְרִיתְךָ יִנְצֹרוּ" ("and they kept Your covenant," Devarim 33:9).

3. Immersion took place in the wilderness before the giving of the Torah, as it says, "וְקִדַּשְׁתָּם הַיּוֹם וּמָחָר; וְכִבְּסוּ, שִׂמְלֹתָם" ("and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments," Shemos 19:10). And the offering, as it says, "וַיִּשְׁלַח, אֶת-נַעֲרֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וַיַּעֲלוּ, עֹלֹת" ("and he sent the young men of the children of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings," Shemos 24:5); they offered them on behalf of all Israel.

4. So too for all generations: when a non-Jew wishes to enter the covenant, to take shelter under the wings of the Shechinah and to accept upon himself the yoke of Torah, he requires circumcision, immersion and the bringing of an offering; and if it is a woman, immersion and an offering, as it says, "כָּכֶם כַּגֵּר" ("as you are, so shall the convert be," Bamidbar 15:15)—just as you entered through circumcision, immersion and the bringing of an offering, so the convert in all generations enters through circumcision, immersion and the bringing of an offering.

5. What is the convert's offering? A burnt offering of an animal, or two turtledoves or two young pigeons, both of them burnt offerings. In our times, when there is no offering, he requires circumcision and immersion; and when the Mikdash is rebuilt, he will bring his offering.

6. A convert who was circumcised but did not immerse, or immersed but was not circumcised, is not a convert until he is circumcised and immerses. He must immerse in the presence of three. Since the matter requires a beis din, he is not immersed on Shabbos, on Yom Tov or at night; but if they did immerse him, he is a convert.

7. A minor convert is immersed with the consent of the beis din, for it is a benefit for him. A pregnant woman who converted and immersed—her child does not require immersion. One who immersed privately and converted privately, even in the presence of two, is not a convert. One who came and said, "I converted in the beis din of so-and-so, and they immersed me," is not believed to enter the kahal until he brings witnesses.

8. If he was married to a Jewish woman or to a convert and has children, and he said, "I converted privately," he is believed to disqualify himself, but he is not believed to disqualify the children; and he immerses again before a beis din.

9. A convert woman whom we see constantly conducting herself in the ways of Israel—for example, she immerses for her niddah, separates terumah from her dough, and the like—and likewise a male convert who conducts himself in the ways of Israel, immersing after a seminal emission and doing all the mitzvos, are presumed to be gerei tzedek (righteous converts), even though there are no witnesses who testify before whom they converted. Nevertheless, if they come to marry into Israel, we do not marry them off until witnesses come or until they immerse in our presence, since they were established as non-Jews.

10. But one who came and said that he had been a non-Jew and converted in a beis din is believed, for "the mouth that forbade is the mouth that permitted." When does this apply? In Eretz Yisrael and in those days, when everyone there was presumed to be Jewish. But outside the Land, he must bring proof, and afterwards he may marry a Jewish woman. And I say that this is a stringency regarding lineage (yichusin).

11. Just as converts are circumcised and immersed, so slaves acquired from non-Jews for the sake of servitude are circumcised and immersed. One who buys a slave from a non-Jew, and the slave preceded him and immersed for the sake of becoming a free man, has acquired himself—provided he says at the time of immersion, "I am immersing before you for the sake of conversion." If he immersed in the presence of his master, he need not state it; rather, as soon as he immersed, he is freed. Therefore his master must hold him firmly in the water until he comes up still under his servitude, and inform the judges that he is immersing him for the sake of servitude. A slave immerses only in the presence of three and by day, like a convert, for it is a partial conversion.

12. When the slave is freed, he requires another immersion, in the presence of three and by day, through which his conversion is completed and he becomes like a Jew. He need not accept the mitzvos upon himself or be taught the fundamentals of the faith, for they already taught him when he immersed for the sake of servitude.

13. Converts, slaves and freed slaves are immersed in a mikveh that is valid for the immersion of a niddah; and anything that is an interposition (chatzitzah) for a niddah is an interposition for converts, slaves and freed slaves.

14. Do not think that Shimshon, who saved Israel, or Shlomo, king of Israel, who was called Yedidyah, married foreign women while they were still non-Jews. Rather, the inner explanation of the matter is this: The proper procedure, when a man or a woman comes to convert, is to investigate—perhaps he comes to enter the faith for the sake of money he will receive, or for authority he will gain, or out of fear. If it is a man, we investigate whether he has set his eyes on a Jewish woman; and if it is a woman, whether she has set her eyes on one of the young men of Israel. If no ulterior motive is found in them, we inform them of the heaviness of the yoke of Torah and the burden its observance places on ordinary people, so that they will withdraw. If they accepted and did not withdraw, and we see that they have returned out of love, we accept them, as it says, "וַתֵּרֶא, כִּי-מִתְאַמֶּצֶת הִיא לָלֶכֶת אִתָּהּ; וַתֶּחְדַּל, לְדַבֵּר אֵלֶיהָ" ("when she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her," Rus 1:18).

15. Therefore the beis din did not accept converts all the days of David and Shlomo: in the days of David, lest they had returned out of fear; and in the days of Shlomo, lest they had returned because of the kingship and the great good that Israel enjoyed then. For anyone who returns from the non-Jews for the sake of one of the vanities of the world is not one of the righteous converts. Nevertheless, many converts converted in the days of David and Shlomo before hedyotos (ordinary, unqualified people), and the Great Beis Din regarded them with suspicion: they did not reject them, since they had immersed in any case, nor did they draw them close, until their end could be seen.

16. Since Shlomo converted women and married them, and likewise Shimshon converted and married, and it is known that these women returned only for an ulterior reason, and they did not convert them through a beis din, Scripture considered them as if they were non-Jews who remained in their prohibition. Moreover, their end proved their beginning, for they worshipped their own idols and built them high places (bamos); and Scripture held him accountable as if he had built them, as it says, "אָז יִבְנֶה שְׁלֹמֹה בָּמָה" ("then Shlomo built a high place," Melachim I 11:7).

17. A convert who was not investigated, or who was not informed of the mitzvos and their punishments, and was circumcised and immersed in the presence of three hedyotos, is a convert. Even if it became known that he converted for an ulterior reason, since he was circumcised and immersed he has left the category of non-Jews, but we regard him with suspicion until his righteousness becomes clear. Even if he went back and worshipped idols, he is like a Jewish apostate (meshumad), whose kiddushin is valid; and it is a mitzvah to return his lost object, since once he immersed he became like a Jew. Therefore Shimshon and Shlomo kept their wives, even though their inner motives had been revealed.

18. For this reason the Sages said, "Converts are as hard for Israel as the affliction of tzaraas," for most of them return for an ulterior reason and lead Israel astray, and it is difficult to separate from them once they have converted. Go and learn what happened in the wilderness with the Golden Calf and at Kivros HaTaavah; and likewise in most of the trials, the asafsuf (the mixed multitude) were the first to be involved.