Trip to Israel [closed]

We're orthodox, my cousin is a child of a jewish father and non-jewish mother. My dad wants to send him to Israel. My cousin thinks he is jewish, and only those "orthodox" won't accept him. He's wanted to go his whole life.

What do you think? Should we send him? Any specific program?

Thanks for your question, Axemaniac.

The Gemoro relates that a Goy wanted to become a Yid on condition that he become Cohen Gadol. Beis Shammai threw him out but Beis Hillel taught him. When he learnt the Halacha that he couldnt, he didnt mind.

So why not let him join a Kiruv program, if he really gets into something he can always become a fully fledged convert!

This is a very unfortunate situation. Through no fault of his own, the young man has been thrust into limbo, with questions to his religious identity. The boy’s father made a very poor life choice to “marry out”, which by Jewish law resulted in his progeny being considered as non-Jewish. On the other hand, the boy’s misguided mentors, basing themselves on his patrilineal descent, have led him to believe that he is in fact Jewish.

With all the sympathy we feel for the plight of the young man, I opine that the recommendation that he to join a “kiruv program” is problematic.

It is well known that Judaism does not seek converts. In contrast to other religions, Judaism does not actively proselytize members of other religions. In fact, an applicant for conversion is generally discouraged by the rabbis from embarking on such a drastic move. Only if the potential convert is bent on becoming a Jew will the “beis din” relent and convert him (see Yevamos 47a).

From this perspective, why would we encourage a non-Jew to join a program which is effectively geared towards changing his religion?

Moreover, the Torah is Hashem’s gift uniquely intended for the Jewish nation, and non-Jews are discouraged from studying Torah (see Sanhedrin 59a). In fact, one who teaches Torah a non-Jew may be transgressing the biblical proscription of “placing a stumbling block before a blind person” (Tosafos, Chagiga 13a, s.v. Ein Mosrin; Iggros Moshe YD III, 89).

Based on this, it would seem clear that recommending a “kiruv program” to a non-Jew (who isn’t currently considering conversion) runs contrary to Jewish law, since this would be encouraging him to study Torah, when in fact he should actually be discouraged from doing so.

The story quoted by “Yehuda Hamaccabi” is found in the Talmud (Shabbos 31a) regarding Shammai and Hillel (not “Beis Shammi and Beis Hillel”).

Maharsha (ad loc.) discusses the question of how Hillel was allowed to teach Torah to the particular non-Jew. His answer is that since the non-Jew was considering conversion, he was therefore allowed to learn Torah.

Upon reflection, Maharsha’s explanation would effectively render this particular story in the Talmud as irrelevant to the discussion at hand. This is because that despite the fact that our young man has a strong identification with the Jewish people and the State of Israel, he still has absolutely no particular interest in converting to Torah Judaism. This is especially true, in light of the fact that he views himself as Jewish as anyone else, and doesn’t lack any conversion process. Therefore, Maharsha’s leniency of permitting a conversion candidate to study Torah can’t be invoked here.

[It is instructive to note that Maharsha’s leniency is the subject of great debate, and is beyond the scope of this discussion. For further reading, see Shut Rabbi Akiva Eiger (I, 41), who challenges Maharsha’s leniency, and Shut Iggros Moshe (YD III, 90) who defends it. See also Be’er Sheva (Be’er Mayim Chaim, 14) who decries the prevalent custom in his day of rabbis tutoring non-Jews in Torah studies. However, as previously explained, the Maharsha’s leniency is moot to the case at hand].

Finally, I also briefly call attention to the verse (Shemos 23:33), “They shall not dwell in your land, lest they cause you to sin against me”. [For a fuller discussion of the ramification of this verse, I refer the reader to “Torah Sh’leimah” (ad loc., note 379)]. I note, that due to political constraints, it’s generally understood that the full enforcement of this verse will only be in the Messianic era. However, I posit, based on this verse, on an individual basis, Jews should not encourage non-Jews to come to Israel, even for short periods.

Therefore, while we sympathize with the predicament at hand, in this case, my recommendation would be to divorce ourselves from the decision making process. The unfortunate reality is that the young man isn’t Jewish, and we don’t involve ourselves in trying to influence him to spend his life as Jew. Whatever he will decide to do with himself should be his own personal decision.

While the uncle may feel closeness to his nephew due to their DNA relationship, the uncle must also realize, that Jewish law supersedes emotions, and guides us how to navigate life’s dilemmas. In this case, Jewish law seems to point to maintaining a laisezz-faire attitude to the nephew’s decision.