Torah from HACD
Learning from Jews by Choice, Parashat Naso, June 14, 2024
The medieval midrashic collection Bemidbar Rabbah on Parashat Naso, which we read this week, includes many of classical Judaism’s most interesting thoughts about Jews by choice. Numbers 5 addresses the case of providing restitution to someone who has been harmed, but is apparently no longer alive. The Torah assumes that in this case, restitution is paid to a family member, called a גואל, goel/redeemer. Then the Torah raises a potential problem with this idea that one can provide post-mortem restitution to a family member. .
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If that person [is deceased and] has no kin/redeemer to whom restitution can be made, the amount repaid shall go to the Lord for the priest |
וְאִם אֵין לָאִישׁ גֹּאֵל לְהָשִׁיב הָאָשָׁם אֵלָיו הָאָשָׁם הַמּוּשָׁב לַיהוָה לַכֹּהֵן |
The early midrash Sifrei Bemidbar asks what seems to be an obvious question:
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“If that person has no kin/redeemer…” R. Yishmael said: Is there anyone in Israel who has no kin?! So what is the Torah saying when it says “If that person has no kin”? Scripture is coming to teach you about the case of someone who has stolen from a convert who then dies. |
וְאִם אֵין לָאִישׁ גֹּאֵל ר’ יִשְׁמָעֵאל אָמַר וְכִי יֵשׁ לְךָ אָדָם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁאֵין לוֹ גּוֹאֵל?! וּמָה תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר וְאִם אֵין לָאִישׁ גֹּאֵל? בָּא הַכָּתוּב וְלִמֵּד עַל הַגּוֹזֵל הַגֵּר וְנִשְׁבַּע לוֹ וָמֵת |
Who is the only person in Israel who has no relatives? According to R. Yishmael, that would be the Jew by choice, who is considered a newborn upon conversion to Judaism. Reading that scenario back into the text of the Torah, in the case of a Jew by choice who dies, the role of kin is played by the kohen.
This connection in the early midrash between Parashat Naso and the person who chooses to become Jewish becomes the basis for the later medieval midrash, Bemidbar Rabbah to deeply explore the experience of the Jew by choice.[1] The midrash is deep and robust and I encourage people to explore the relevant passage thoroughly on their own. I will focus on one small passage, Bemidbar Rabbah 8:9. Another passage in our parashah is the Priestly blessing, Birkat Kohanim. Our midrash associates that passage, which begins “May the Lord bless you” with the only other time in the TaNaKh where that phrase appears, Psalms 128:5. Our midrash begins by quoting Psalms 128:5-6::
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[“May the Lord bless you from Zion. May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life” (Psalms 128:5)] “May you see the children of your children. Peace upon Israel” (Psalms 128:6) – is it because the convert will see grandchildren that peace will come upon Israel? Rather, the verse is speaking of a righteous convert, whose daughter marries a kohen, and then her sons, his grandsons, will stand as priests who bless Israel and say: “[The Lord] shall bless you.… the Lord shall shine.… the Lord shall lift…[and grant you peace]” (Numbers 6:24–26). |
[(תהלים קכח, ה): יְבָרֶכְךָ ה’ מִצִּיּוֹן וגו’ וּרְאֵה בְּטוּב יְרוּשָׁלָיִם כֹּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ,] (תהלים קכח, ו): וּרְאֵה בָנִים לְבָנֶיךָ שָׁלוֹם עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְכִי בִּשְׁבִיל שֶׁיִּרְאֶה הַגֵּר בָּנִים לְבָנָיו יָבוֹא שָׁלוֹם עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל, אֶלָּא בְּגֵר צֶדֶק הַכָּתוּב מְדַבֵּר, שֶׁזּוֹכֶה שֶׁמַּשִֹּׂיא בִּתּוֹ לְכֹהֵן וְזוֹכֶה וְעוֹמְדִים מִבָּנֶיהָ, שֶׁהֵם בְּנֵי בָנָיו, כֹּהֲנִים שֶׁמְבָרְכִין אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאוֹמְרִים (במדבר ו, כד כו): יְבָרֶכְךָ וגו’, יָאֵר ה’ וגו’, יִשָֹּׂא ה’ וגו’, לְכָךְ נֶאֱמַר: שָׁלוֹם עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל.
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Perhaps because the extended midrash repeatedly comes back to the theme of the Jew by choice, the convert to Judaism, this passage from the Psalms is also associated with the convert, and it asks what seems to be a rather strange rhetorical question. Why should the convert who lives to see grandchildren bring a special blessing of peace on Israel? But rather, the midrash claims, the convert’s daughter can marry a kohen, and then she can have children who will also be kohanim and who bless Israel with the priestly blessing.
The rhetorical move using the grandchild of the convert to connect these two passages is brilliant. But it also gets to one of the true challenges faced by the Jew by choice. Judaism is a family, and someone who joins that family may wonder when they will authentically become a real part of the family. The midrash makes the claim that in only two generations, not only can the convert be integrated into the people, but the convert’s descendants can be the most honored of Israel.
Throughout this article, I’ve been using the term convert and Jew by choice interchangeably. But the newer term, Jew by choice, means a lot more to me. I’ve spent a lot of time studying and teaching about conversion as well as working with people who have chosen Judaism. I chose to study conversion because I think the term Jew by choice describes the process of conversion better than the term convert. I also choose to focus on that term because it points to the truth that we all, in modern times, are Jews by choice. Theologically, many of us feel that we are compelled and committed externally to God and to Israel. But sociologically, we are all Jews by choice. Any of us could choose to leave. Fortunately, the people who are reading this article, choose to stay.
Like the convert, many of us have concerns about our authenticity, our connections with our tradition, our sense of commandedness and commitment. But over the past couple of weeks, we see grandparents (and other special visitors) coming to HACD. We see how they take joy in the learning that their grandchildren are engaging in. We see students receiving their siddurim and becoming part of a community of pray-ers. Nothing affirms our place in the people of Israel like seeing the old and the young learn together.
I want to thank all of the staff and faculty who have made all of these events possible and beautiful.
I also want to challenge us all to think of how and why we make the Jewish choices that we do. For some, being a Jew by choice is a single choice; once I acknowledge that I’m Jewish, my decisions of how to be Jewish are defined by my community and my rabbi. For many of us, how we are Jewish is an ongoing process of juxtaposing values and making creative and thoughtful choices.
This article was written before Shavuot, but by the time it comes out, we will have stood again at Sinai, choosing to be accept Torah. May our children follow our example and learn to choose Judaism actively, with love and commitment and passion. I know that this is the educational goal that I see every day in the classrooms of HACD. May we all be blessed to make that same commitment and those same choices.
This will be my last column of Torah from HACD. It has been a great privilege to work with this fine faculty, to get to know the many lay volunteers, and to learn from many community leaders, including the former head of school, about what HACD means to this community. As a Jew, all of our lives are shaped by the Jewish choices we make. I made a choice to come to Albany (every week!) to help this school. I appreciate the opportunity, and I express, on behalf of my faculty and myself, our deepest gratitude for entrusting your children to us and letting us express our creativity and commitments in helping them become citizens of the Jewish world and Jewish citizens of the world.
I wish HACD all the best as its new leadership, both professional and lay, its faculty, and its students grow from strength to strength.
Shabbat Shalom, and I look forward to seeing you at graduation,
[1] The fact that Parashat Naso usually falls right after Shavuot when we have another focus on the Jew by choice, that is, the reading of the story of Ruth who is seen as the prototypical Jew by choice may also have influenced the editor of Bemidbar Rabbah to include these materials about converts and conversion.