Conversion with the Judaism

The conversion with the Judaïsme represents the adoption by a Gentil of the rites and Jewish beliefs, and the abandonment of its own religious uses. It also implies, beyond the religion, the fact of regarding as integral part of the Jewish Peuple.

Historically, conversion meant the reception from “alive abroad in your walls” and was limited to the adoption of the distinguishing marks to the Jews, like the circumcision for the men or the worship of God One and without image.

With the appearance of time monotheists derived from the Jewish texts, like the Christianity, or of the same traditions, like the Islam, but strongly divergent, conversion became of more religious nature. The accent moved on what these religions did not divide with the Judaism, i.e. of many beliefs, of which that according to which the Messiah remains to be come, and of many practices, rites and habits like the Cacheroute. More or less strict adhesion with these rites and beliefs did not achieve the unanimity within all the Courants of the Judaism, so that the methods of conversion varied much in time, as well as the approach with respect to it.

A convert with the Judaism is called guer tzedek (Hebrew: “Proselyte just” or “of justice”) or simply guer (proselyte).

The terms Gery and Gerami are employed in Russian for the Subbotniks, a fringe of Christians sabbatariens having finally adopted all the aspects of the Judaism.

History

The Bible defined very early the Jews as “people of Israel”, and this as of the Deutéronome, delivers that the majority of the critical biblist thinks of having been the first formatted, towards the end of seventh century BC. The references indicate a endogame group there (not mixing to the other people) “You will not contract a marriage with these people, you will not give your daughters to their sons, and you will not take their daughters for your sons”, having a direct relationship with God “Forgives, O Eternal! with your people of Israel, that you repurchased”, and occupying a territory, “the country whose Eternal, your God, gives you the possession”.

Although the Bible indicates “You will not contract a marriage with these people”, the question of the interpretation of this command was put rather early. The marriage contracted with not-Jews was generally rejected, but the entry in the community of converted not-Jews was the subject of various positions.

According to the Bible, conversions are old, since it evokes the conversion of the moabite Ruth, ancestor of the King David like that of Jébuséens under its reign. The Midrash also affirms that Jethro would have been the first Jewish proselyte.

In Antiquity, the Judaism was burst in a great number of sects, each sect having its vision of the attitude to adopt with regard to conversions. Thus certain groups, like the Sadducéens, were opposed to conversions, when the Pharisiens accepted them to a certain extent. The Juifs of elephantine (Egypt) practiced mixed marriages regularly, and their attitude with respect to conversion was to thus be rather flexible.

Towards -100 before the common era, the conquerors Hasmonéens converted the tribe iduméenne of Hérode.

The estimates according to which 10% of the population of the Roman Empire were Jewish (especially in the oriental party of the empire) cannot be explained without conversions, and at that time those seem indeed rather numerous. Thus the Roman historian Dion Cassius indicates in connection with the Jews “of other men adopted the institutions of these people, though they are foreign for him. There are Jews even among the Romans: often stopped in their development, they nevertheless increased so much so that they obtained freedom to live according to their laws”.

Conversions of mass also existed until the Middle Ages. For example:

those of Ural-Altaic people like the Khazars of the south of current the Ukraine,
after the end of the Roman Empire, that of part of the Frank ripuaires and Berber Souabes,
those of (Djeraouas of Aurès and Nefoussas de Tripolitaine).

At the 20th century:

the Community Bnei Menashe, of ethnos group Mizo, in the North-East of India, from which a part emigrated in Israel.
Jewish of San Nicandro (Italy), car-converted before the war, converts officially after the Second world war and emigrants then in Israel.
Subbotniks of the ex- Soviet Union, of which much emigrated in Israel.

With these groups it is added groups car-converted to more or less orthodoxe versions of the Judaism, and generally not recognized like Juifs by the traditional Jewish communities:

Jewish Telugu of the south of India (a few tens).
Hebrew blacks, with the the United States and in Israel (a few thousands).
Jewish Igbo with the Nigeria (approximately 20.000).
the Abayudaya Community in Uganda (approximately 800).
the Community House off Israel with the Ghana (approximately 600).
Jewish “Incas” of the Peru (a few tens).

The Christian States then Moslem, contrary to the preceding States, made conversion with another religion a crime (the Apostasie), making in practice almost impossible any conversion with the Judaïsme. Those were prolonged however in-outside these two cultural surfaces, as shows it the physical appearance of old the Juifs of China, of the Juifs of the Indies or the Juifs of Ethiopia.

Practical

The orthodoxe Judaism, such as it was structured around the Talmud, codified to a certain extent the process of conversion.

The reasons for impétrant must be tested in order to refuse the candidates who wish to convert by interest.

The candidate must prove his knowledge of the Torah and commit himself practicing all the Mitzvot in front of a Beth DIN.

After acceptance, the candidate must be subjected to the Brit milah then to soak itself with the Mikvé in the presence of the court. He takes a Jewish name then and will be then indicated by this name followed by the mention Ben Avraham Avinou in the ritual.

Nowadays, the candidate with conversion must follow a programme of study of the Judaïsme and be integrated into a Synagog. The process takes of one at several years according to the “quality” of the candidate and the requirement of the rabbis who animate conversion.

The convert then has exactly the same duties and rights that a Jew of birth, except prohibition for one converted to marry a Cohen. The Halakha prohibits the discrimination of the converts formally. The Judaïsme reformed strongly softened the requirements as regards conversion, and those are thus not recognized by the orthodoxe . They are it however by the State of Israel.

In Israel

Israel authorizes two types of conversions, having involved many religious and political conflicts.

Conversions practiced abroad are recognized like valid with the title of the Loi of the return, whatever the rabbi who practiced them, that this one one is reformed or orthodoxe. Besides the orthodoxe ones require for a long time to have the monopoly of conversions, and do not recognize those of reformed. The ultra-orthodoxe parties thus regularly asked for a modification of the Loi of the return prohibiting to recognize like Jews the people converted by reformed, a requirement which was always refused by the State, which do not want to cut powerful American Judaism, with dominant reformed.

Conversions practiced into Israel are on the other hand the monopoly of the religious courts of the great Israeli rabbinate (orthodoxe), which with the reputation, even in the orthodoxe mediums, to be of an extreme severity. The newspaper Haaretz speaks thus “about a perception of long time which the rabbinical Establishment is the slave of the ultra-orthodoxe tradition making conversion difficult. Conversion they-even remain in the hands of special courts, whose judges are named by Rabbinate, which also fixes the conditions for conversion. The majority of the judges are under the influence of the ultra-orthodoxe Conseil of Wise of the Torah, which is opposed to conversions with large scales, and requires that the converts, like their children and their families, adopt a religious lifestyle”. The RCA finally yielded. In October 2007, “the agreement concluded between the RCA and Amar gives to the great Israeli rabbinate concrete control on the process of conversion to the the United States”, even if they are at least partially of Jewish origin. Much wants to convert, a position supported by the government, but slowed down by the very strict position of rabbinate. The problem relates to also the Falash walled , group of Ethiopian partially or completely of Jewish origin, of which much lives in Israel.
Many parties Israeli Zionists in the long term fear the crumbling of the Jewish majority, and the constitution of an important population partially Jewish but rejected by rabbinate, potentially in rupture with the State. “Into spite of several decisions of the Cabinet calling with the establishment of a fast process of conversion to accelerate integration in the Israeli company of immigrants not-Jews, only 2000 people are converted each year on average. Approximately 40% of the nonJewish immigrants expressed interest before they have immigrant, whereas, after one one year period in Israel, the number fell with less than 20%

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