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-> Interesting Discussions
Motek
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Tue, Jul 18 2006, 6:43 pm
Have you ever heard/read about Arab converts?
I was told that sefarim discuss why we have no geirim from Arabs-Moslems.
It's quite fascinating since the Gemara (Pesachim 87b) says that the reason Hashem put us through the galus - exile - is so that there may be geirim - proselytes, converts - joining the Jewish people.
And Jews spent loooong period of time in Arab lands yet no Arab converts!
If you'll say that Arabs couldn't convert on pain of death, well, there are plenty of Christian converts! Probably not too many in the Middle Ages but thousands nowadays.
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shalhevet
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Tue, Jul 18 2006, 7:15 pm
There certainly are Arab converts. They keep a low profile for obvious reasons in Israel. My dh has met one.
I once heard one tell his life story on the radio - he was absolutely amazing; these people risk their lives by converting; and he was a total ger tzedek.
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Ruchel
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Tue, Jul 18 2006, 7:32 pm
There are Arab geirim, especially those from a North African Jewish father and an Arab mother.
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Motek
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Tue, Jul 18 2006, 7:38 pm
Ruchel wrote: | There are Arab geirim, especially those from a North African Jewish father and an Arab mother. |
That's different, I think, since there is "Jewish blood" there.
So perhaps the statement should be modified to say that there are hardly any Arab converts, that they're quite a rarity, to the point that the sefarim can say as a generality that there aren't Arab converts.
Anybody know statistics - like how many geirei tzedek are living amongst us at the present time? Thousands, I think.
And out of that number, how many are Arabs? I would guess a teeny-tiny amount. Anybody have any information?
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Secbeb
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Tue, Jul 18 2006, 10:31 pm
There was an article on shmais a couple years back about an arab palestinian convert who was learning in Russia. . .anyone remember that?
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challi
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Tue, Jul 18 2006, 11:47 pm
I think more geirim tend to come from places with religious vacumes, at least more recently. Arab countries tend to be more traditional in general, and Muslims have a lot of daily rituals and such. Just like among Sfardim who are generally more traditional (even when not frum) and have assimilated less than Ashkenazi Jews I think it goes the other way too for the non jews in those areas.
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HatLady
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Wed, Jul 19 2006, 12:24 am
I think more geirim tend to come from places with religious vacumes, at least more recently.
In our shul, there are literally dozens of geirim. Regarding one close friend of DH's, he has [gentile]-ish yichus (if there can be such a thing), coming from a LONG line of preachers. Many in his family still won't talk to him. His wife too is from a strong (gentile) religious background. Both converted, BTW. They didn't feel a religious void in their lives but a yearning for emmes. They were told not to question things that didn't make sense. Interestingly enough, in the beginning of their search, they found an "Ask the Rabbi" site on the internet where they could ask questions and they got answers that satisfied them.
This reminds me of another friend of DH's from shul, I'll call him Al. He too is a fairly recent geir. He once told us a story about when a Jew for J showed up on his doorstep. Well, Al went to X-ian religious school most of his life, including college. So, when the proselytizer started pitching his shpeel, Al was able to refute, quoting X-ian verses, everything the J for J man said. Hearing Al tell the story was too funny. That poor proselytizer was extremely impressed with the Jew's (Al's) knowledge of X-ian scripture! Al told him he was just an ordinary Jew.
Do you guys get door-to-door salesmen (of religion) up in New York where there is such a dense population of Jews? Just curious.
Kol tuv,
The HatLady
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chen
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Wed, Jul 19 2006, 1:55 pm
DH knows at least 2 Arab Geirim. They were both Christian Arabs, though, not Moslems.
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supermom
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Tue, Jul 25 2006, 5:04 pm
My mother in law knows one arab lady that converted and she has kids that became big scholors.
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Ruchel
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Tue, Sep 05 2006, 11:10 pm
Another Arab ger: Daniel Hamidou, known under the name Dany Boon.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dany_Boon
He is a comedian/humorist.
He converted to Judaism, married Jewish actress Judith Godrèche, had a son Noé (Noach), divorced, married Jewish actress Yaël Harris, had son Eytan.
His first child Mehdi was probably born before his conversion, I dunno who the mother is.
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Ruchel
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Tue, Sep 05 2006, 11:12 pm
Oops sorry, Mehdi is from Judith too. I wonder what his Hebrew name is, and if the dad was already Jewish...
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Piper
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Sat, Oct 07 2006, 11:07 pm
just want to say, this is a great thread.
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busymom
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Wed, Oct 11 2006, 12:05 pm
challi wrote: | I think more geirim tend to come from places with religious vacumes, at least more recently. |
I think this is true for BTs rather than geirim. Many times, BT's raised w/o much Judasim feel this vaccum and have a shorter/easier road "home" than those raised with some Jewishness, who think they know all Judaism has to offer and s/t first go searching elsewhere. Most converts I read/heard about, on the other hand, WERE religious to begin with, many quite devout, but they had questions and in their search for answers became convinced that Judaism WAS the answer.
As far as Christian/Arab geirim, I think b/c Christians want to "save" Jews, they have a certain openess and even curiosity about us, so it isn't so surprising that those searching for truth eventually join us. Arabs, though, are usually raised to hate and despise us. This is ingrained in them from their earliest days, and so it is very rare that one of them should ever know enough about Judaism or Jews (other than the propaganda they are fed) to ever get an interest or desire to convert. Although I can't back this up with proof, I believe that most Arab converts have some Jewish blood: Jewish father, etc.
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