History question: When did Judaism START allowing conversion for one to be considered a Jew?

Question

PLEASE GIVE LINKS!

I have had someone tell me that gentiles weren't allowed to convert to Judaism and be accepted as a Jew until modern times. Is this true?

Also where in the Torah does it say gentiles can be considered a Jew through conversion?

Like I said please provide some evidence in your comment. Links, books or something!

Thanks

Answer 1

Good question, I can't back up my feeling that this is correct by anything other than not being able to recall any specific scripture that talks about it. On the other hand they were allowed to "assimilate" females after specific battles. I suspect that the religion did not initially consider converts as most religions didn't until the first convert came along.

Edit:
Religion, like everything else, evolves through time.

Answer 2

Conversions were always permitted in Judaism and there were famous Biblical converts that other posters have already mentioned.

There is a grain of truth in what "someone" told you, but the restrictions did not come from Judaism. In the Diaspora, most host countries, both Christian and Islamic, made it a capital crime to convert to Judaism (it still is a capital crime in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran). Simultaneously, to avoid persecution on the basis of false claims that Jews wanted to "Judaice" the native populations, most Jewish communities did not accept converts. These restrictions did persist in many places until the modern times -- that is, until host countries stopped persecuting people for apostasy.

Karaite Jews had a long-standing ban on conversions that was lifted only a few years ago. However, the Karaites are a tiny sect and do not represent the Jewry at large.

Answer 3

"History question: When did Judaism START allowing conversion for one to be considered a Jew?"

Well, if you count Abraham as a Jew (a valid stance since, even though he lived before Judah, whence comes the word "Jew" itself, he founded the religion that would later be known as "Judaism"), well, he and his wife were the first Jews, and they would be considered converts. Even if you don't hold that he was a "Jew" per se, the Torah does refer to him as a "Hebrew," and those terms have been used synonymously through much of history. Nowadays, "Hebrew" is only normally used in reference to the original Jewish language.

Abraham and Sarah in turn gathered many converts to their way of life. But, if you want to be a stickler about it and only count post-Judean Israelites, then you should know that our commentaries tell us that a great number of the Jews who left Egypt in the Exodus were actually converts who joined the Israelites.

"PLEASE GIVE LINKS!"

Okay...

http://www.jewfaq.org
http://www.beingjewish.com
http://www.simpletoremember.com
http://www.torahcurrents.org/index.php/article/halachic_and_social_challenges/

Search any of those sites for information on conversion and you're bound to find some useful info.

"I have had someone tell me that gentiles weren't allowed to convert to Judaism and be accepted as a Jew until modern times. Is this true?"

No. As I said, the first Jew was himself a convert (how could he be of Jewish descent if he was the first?) - Not only that, but a lot of key figures in our history were converts or the descendants of converts. The Torah sage Onkelos was a Greek convert. Ruth, of Biblical fame, was a convert, and she was the great grandmother of King David. Since the Messiah will ultimately come from David's line, it follows that the Messiah, the greatest Jew that ever will be, will be the direct descendant of a convert! So no, conversion to Judaism is not a modern invention. Conversion to "Judaism" without acceptance of the Torah and all its commandments is a modern innovation - one that Torah-observant Jews do not accept.

"Also where in the Torah does it say gentiles can be considered a Jew through conversion?"

Lots of places. In Hebrew, a Jew-by-choice is called a "ger tzedek" ("righteous convert") or simply a "ger" - try not to get confused though, as "ger" can also mean "stranger".

See Exodus 23:9, and Leviticus 16:23 - be sure to get a good Jewish translation. Often a Christian one will lack the proper cultural context. Ideal is a Chumash with the original Hebrew, and commentaries. You can even get them now with Hebrew and English side by side, and Rashi's commentary (essential to understanding the simple reading of the text from a Jewish perspective - religious Jews almost never study the Pentateuch without Rashi) in translation as well.

I hope this helps answer your question, and if you have any further questions, or need anything clarified, please feel free to contact me directly.

EDIT: Just to address the issue raised by some of these other answers, about groups forbidding conversion... It is my understanding that some groups (for example, certain Chasidic sects) will not perform conversions. But that's not to say that they don't recognize them - if one became a Jew through a conversion carried out in accordance with halakha (Torah law), for anyone to deny their Jewishness is actually a violation of said halakha. Similarly, certain groups of Jews (I think many members of the Syrian Jewish community) strongly discourage "inter-marriage" between themselves and Jews of other ethnic groups - while I respect each groups desire to preserve its own minhagim (customs), I personally am against this, and even they cannot bring a support to prohibiting "intermarriage" among Jews of different backgrounds from halakha, because there is no such prohibition. At that point, it's a matter of custom, not law. So too with groups that won't perform conversions. I might be biased here because I myself am looking for a nice sephardi girl, but I'm still pretty sure I'm right.

Answer 4

Right from the start. But the most commonly cited example is Ruth in the Book of Ruth. It is also the place from which the Talmud derives the details of the conversion process. The Talmud discusses the details of conversion in Masechta Yevamos and Rambam discusses the details of conversion in Mishneh Torah in Hilchos Nashim.

Specific statements from the Torah about converts include:
"You must understand the feelings of the convert." Shmot (Exodus) 23:9
"You shall love the convert" Devarim (Deuteronomy) 10:19

edit: Despite what Rosends says below I know of no Orthodox communities that outright forbid conversion. Orthodox does not recognise Reform and Conservative conversions since they don't adhere to halachic guidelines- but all Orthodox communities I know perform conversions.

Answer 5

Anyone willing to accept G-d and live their life according to the Torah is suitable to become a convert to Judaism. However, there are many "tests" of your willingness and strength and you must study for several years with a Rabbi. Ruth was the first "official" convert to Judaism. In the Torah (Book of Ruth) it states "Thy people shall be my people and thy G-d, my G-d." Hope this provided some insight! Baruch HaShem!

Answer 6

No--conversion was acceptable over three thousand years ago, as told by the Book of Ruth in the Bible.

Some links
http://www.jewishmag.com/10MAG/DT/dt.htm
http://www.jrf.org/showdt&rid=450
http://www.jewfaq.org/gentiles.htm#Conversion

Peace

And to say something else--there are no Jewish communities that I know of that forbid conversion. I've heard rumors that some Syrian Jewish sect doesn't, but I don't know much about that. All the branches I know of allow conversion--after all, it is in the Torah.

Answer 7

Well, we know that Abraham and Sarah went and sought converts, but the more concrete textual reference that we have (suplementing the Hebrew word "Ger" used in the text to mean "stranger" but often a stranger who chooses to be a Jew, and the notion that a slave in your employ is converted when he leaves your household) is the story of Ruth in which Ruth follows the pattern of conversion.

What is interested is that, in fact in modern times, certain communities have forbidden conversion. This is a change in attitude from the time honored historical tradition of alowing.

Answer 8

Some famous converts to Judaism, going back to ancient times:

Jethro: Midianite priest, consul to Pharaoh and father-in-law to Moses via his daughter Tzipporah. He is credited with founding the Jewish judicial system.

Ruth: Moabite princess who married a Jew. After he died, Ruth told his mother Naomi, “Your people are my people”. She later married Boaz and became the great-grandmother of King David. Her story is told in the biblical Book of Ruth.

Rabbi Meir, 'the miracle worker': reputedly a descendant of the Roman Emperor Nero, he lived in Asia Minor in the 2nd century, converted to Judaism and helped compile the Mishnah (Oral Law). Meir is credited with rebuilding Jewish life after the abortive Bar Kochba Rebellion. His wife, Beruriah, was a great sage in her own right.

Onkelos: another Roman aristocrat, he became a Jew and was said to have written the famous Babylonian Targum (translation of the Tanach into Aramaic) with glosses and commentaries.

Valentine Potocki: 18th century Polish count who converted in Holland. He was burnt at the stake for apostasy in Vilna and his grave became a Jewish shrine.

Warder Cresson: first American consul to Jerusalem. His Christian family tried him for insanity after he changed his faith. In 1851, he was declared sane, then divorced his wife, settled in Palestine and married a Sephardi woman.

Reuel Abraham: born as Karl Heinz Schneider, he served in the German Luftwaffe, but was horrified at Nazi mistreatment of Jews. He immigrated to Israel after the war, worked on a kibbutz, and was accepted as Jewish 20 years later.

Answer 9

Good question. This was one of the reasons that Christianity was started. Christianity allowed anyone to convert, while Judaism wouldn't.