GER ? | Imamother

Crayon210

Tue, Jul 11 2006, 12:21 pm

Nomad, I didn't pasken. I said it was a shaila for a rav if for some reason it was relevant to someone's life.

The flippant, oh don't worry, it's fine, is not a responsible response.

Chani

Tue, Jul 11 2006, 12:35 pm

I have some familiarity with this topic Wink

A convert must "accept the yoke of Torah" fully at the time of conversion. That does NOT mean that the ger must forever more be perfect or that there may not be mitzvos that the ger might need to "grow into" more gradually, all the while accepting them as binding.

When I converted the first few weeks I was really paralyzed by the fear that I was constantly messing things up. I think I drove my rav crazy constantly calling worried that I had broken halacha this way or that way. Eventually he told me that I should relax. HKB''H doesn't expect geirim to leap from the mikveh as fully formed tzaddikim or malachim. He said it is like climbing a mountain: some points you have to reach before converting, e.g. kashrus, shabbos (okay, you do one melacha beforehand,but you get the picture), basic level of tznius, but you don't have to reach the summit before converting. Rather you have to commit to having the summit as your goal and know that although you may not be at a particular madrega now (or have the necessary knowledge now) to keep a particular mitzvah, you still accept that the whole of Torah is binding on you and you have to strive to grow to be able to keep that mitzvah.

BTW, as long as the intention was sincere at the conversion, a ger who goes off the derech afterwards is just like any other Jew who goes off the derech.

Crayon210

Tue, Jul 11 2006, 12:38 pm

Great explanation, Chani. Thanks.

chen

Tue, Jul 11 2006, 12:39 pm

well said, chani!

sarahd

Wed, Jul 12 2006, 5:25 am

Thank you for that explanation, Chani.

1stimer

Wed, Jul 12 2006, 5:43 am

Crayon210 wrote:

When a ger takes on being Jewish, s/he is taking on all 613--including hair covering. I would be SHOCKED if a Beis Din allowed someone to dunk knowing that she didn't intend to cover her hair, and if she didn't, there could be shailos about her geirus.

shock

for someone to become a ger they must believe in torah and mitzvos. Someone can become a ger whilst at the same time saying, I believe in torah and mitzvahs, yet at the moment covering my hair is too much and I cannot take it on. She would still be a valid jew.

healthymama

Wed, Jul 12 2006, 9:17 am

what if a ger takes on the yoke of torah, but says that I doubt that I will always be able to do veohavta lreacho or that I might be lax with LH at one point. Is her conversion invalid ?

Crayon210

Wed, Jul 12 2006, 12:50 pm

1stimer, do you know a case of that happening? That sounds interesting.

healthymama, everyone is unfortunately pretty sure they will sin at some point, but that doesn't mean that they don't plan to keep all 613 (or at least the 613 that apply).

chen

Wed, Jul 12 2006, 1:10 pm

as I once heard s/o say, you'll never get it 100% but you get Brownie points for trying.