Embracing Converts
R. Eliezer says: This was said to Moses by God: “I, I who said the word by which the world came into being, I am One who welcomes, not One who repels.” As it is said: Behold, I am a god that brings near, says the Lord, and not a God that repels” (Jeremiah 23:23). “I am He that brought Jethro near, not keeping him at a distance. So also you, when a…
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Related Guide
Real and Imagined "Others" in Ancient Jewish Literature
4th Century BCE–6th Century CE
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An Ammonite Convert
On that day Judah, an Ammonite convert, came and stood before them in the house of study. He said to them, “May I enter the assembly [i.e., marry an Israelite woman]?” Rabban Gamliel said to him, “You…
The Talmud on Conversion
Our rabbis taught: If someone approaches now to be a proselyte, they ask him, “Why have you come to be a proselyte? Don’t you know that Israel is currently persecuted and oppressed, hated, harassed…