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Tag-MehirTzedek:
Just soo I see this post and not forget, I will post this on future ASK JTF show.

 Shalom Chaim,
   
 Do you believe that the current conversion process is too strict upon the converts and wrong? Or do you believe it should be done or even stricter? Please share your thoughts upon this important issue.

Also to everyone else, here is a video I am watching on this (in the middle of it) shedding some (I would guess for today would be the "lenient" opinion on this issue).
 (First Hebrew then in English, back and forth translation)

 I am not here to say which is correct or which is wrong right now, perhaps in some time I will post different opinions on this from Meza (who says to preach and convert) to Syrian community (who basically do not convert others today at all)

 

muman613:
Personally I think the current Orthodox method of conversion is satisfactory.

As we know we don't want everyone to convert to Judaism because as religious Jews we recognize that keeping commandments is a demanding lifestyle. To increase the number of Jews may seem like a good thing, but if these Jews are of low spiritual quality they may end up doing more damage than good.

I believe this is one of the lessons we learn from the Erev Rav. These were Egyptians who recognized Hashems 'hand' in the world, as expressed through the revelation of the Ten Plagues. These Egyptians realized that when Moshe told them that Hashem would unleash a plague on the land, that it was going to come true because Hashem is in control of nature and everything. So these Egyptians asked Moses to leave Egypt with us and Moses acquiesced. The Midrashim state that Hashem advised against taking these Erev Rav (The Mixed Multitude) out of Egypt because they only wanted to convert because they were impressed with the spectacular events of the plagues (Frogs, Fire/Ice Hail, Darkness, Death) and not because they desired to do the will of Hashem.

The Erev Rav did not join the Jews with the right intentions. When Moses was late coming back from Sinai with the Aseret HaDibroth (Ten Commandments) these Erev Rav insisted that the people build the Golden Calf. This sin virtually destroyed the Jewish people in the 'eyes' of Hashem. If not for Moses love the the people we would have been dust in the wind.

So Orthodox conversion requires the person to be turned away or told that being a Jew is not something to take lightly. They are told that if they do not keep the commandments they may bring punishment to themselves, and the Jewish people as a whole. With this in mind the convert has to really desire being a Jew, and being reminded that in the eyes of the nations we are loathed.

I agree with this because I agree with the idea that we need more high-level Jews, ones who truly desire to observe commandments. A true Jew wants to be given the chance to perform the mitzvot with love and reverance. And when we sin we regret, and go through a teshuva process, and in the time of the Temple we bring Korbanot. A convert may not truly understand these deeper concepts of what a Jew should yearn for.

The reformers may just want to have more people attend their synagogues. This is the way it is with reform or progressive synagogues. When I started my return I found a local synagogue which is progressive and they allow anyone to be counted in the minyan, and they Bar Mitzvah non-Jews too.

muman613:
Some information in support of my comparison to Erev Rav:


http://www.torah.org/learning/perceptions/5758/beshalach.html


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Who were the Erev Rav anyhow?

First of all, we have it on tradition that every time the Torah refers to ha'umm (the people; heh, ayin, mem), it is referring to the Erev Rav ("umm" itself refers to the Jewish people;ayin, mem). The first time we see this usage is back at the beginning of Parashas Shemos, Chapter 1, Verse 20:

G-d dealt well with the midwives, and the people (ha-umm) multiplied, and become very mighty.

According to the Arizal, the Erev Rav were Egyptian converts to "Judaism" (or at least what they saw of it through Ya'akov and his family). They lived in a community of their own, and did not act like the rest of the Egyptians around them. Paroah knew about them, but was less concerned about them than the real sons of Ya'akov and their descendants. According to the Arizal, Paroah felt that they would return back to Egyptian ways after the Jewish people had been "appropriately" dealt with.

In fact, according to the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh on the first verse of this week's parsha, the reference to ha-umm refers to the Erev Rav, who had been sent along with Moshe and the Jewish people-by Paroah. He had done this so that they could act as spies and to sow dissension among the Jews, to make sure they would want to return to Egypt after serving G-d in the desert for three days. They certainly acted their part (they were the ones to antagonize Moshe at the Red Sea and just about everywhere else)!

But why would any Egyptian, in advance of the plagues, want to convert to Judaism?

The answer to this question also comes from the Arizal, but it is a little beyond the scope of this parsha page to go into such (Kabballistic) detail. In short, the Erev Rav were Egyptians who possessed special souls that had been reincarnated several times, on their way to becoming fully rectified for something that had gone wrong during Adam HaRishon's lifetime. Moshe knew this, and this is why he had hoped to finish the process by bringing them along with the Jewish people.
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muman613:
More on the Erev Rav:

http://www.torah.org/learning/perceptions/5770/kisisa.html

Parshas Ki Sisa - Parah

G-d told Moshe, "Go down. Your people which you brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves." (Shemos 32:7)

Ah, the Erev Rav, where would the world have been without them? Where would the world be without them today? In Yemos HaMoshiach, that's where. All that went wrong for the Jewish people in the desert was instigated by the Mixed Multitude, just as G-d had forewarned Moshe Rabbeinu back in Egypt, on the way out.

And now, in this week's parshah, their coupe de grace: the golden calf. Had it not been for the Erev Rav, the Jewish people would have waited peacefully at the foot of the mountain in their camp below for Moshe Rabbeinu to return with the Word of G-d. Maybe they would have asked, "What's taking him so long?" and been a bit concerned.

But, they certainly would not have responded with idol worship and licentious behavior. Only the Erev Rav, as intelligent as some of them may have been at the time, could do something so dumb at Mt. Sinai. It is always amazing how a bad trait can lay waste to intelligence, even use it to engineer one's own destruction. We're watching the very same thing happen today as well.

Interestingly enough, another name for the Erev Rav was "HaAm," or "the people," as noted above. In fact, Chazal say that every time the Torah refers only to HaAm, which, on a simple level, can apply to the Jewish people as well, it is really a direct reference to the Erev Rav themselves. Hence, when the verse says:

After Pharaoh sent the people away. G-d did not lead them through the land of the Philistines . (Shemos 13:17)

the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh says that it refers to the Erev Rav, whom Pharaoh sent along with the Jewish people to cause precisely the kind of trouble they cause in this week's parshah.

muman613:
One more on the Erev Rav:

http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/parsha/dimension/archives/kisisa60.htm

"And Hashem said to Moshe: Go, descend, for your nation that you brought up from Egypt has corrupted their ways." (Shmos 32:7)

"It does not say 'the nation has become corrupted', but, rather, 'your nation' - the Erev Rav that you accepted on your own, and converted, without consulting Me...." (Rashi, ad. loc.)

As Chazal explain, while the B'nai Yisrael did not prevent its occurrence, it was only the mixed multitude that actually worshipped the Egel.

What was their motive?

"We see, that you, Israel, you have everything dear and precious in the world, while we are pushed aside. With you - 'V'Hashem Holech Lifneihem' - we also want 'Elohim Asher Yelchu L'Faneinu' - just as G-d walks before you." (Zohar)

To all appearances, Moshe Rabbeinu is gone. The man who brings the nation and its followers under the canopy of G-d, taking them across a bare and barren desert and teaching the D'var Hashem will no longer lead us to the promised land. What are we to do?

The Chet HaEgel is this: when Moshe Rabbeinu, the agent of G-d, is no longer here to guide us, we will create a substitute of our own.

They fail to realize that only one man can bring G-d down to earth, there are no surrogates for Moshe Rabbeinu. It is the Torah that he brings down to earth that directs our life, and in its absence, nothing else will do.

Though the B'nai Yisrael merely watch with amusement the raucous laughter of the Erev Rav, something undetected rubs off, and the Jewish people are tainted forever with a foreign idea. After the death of Moshe Rabbeinu, when his voice can no longer be heard, the descendants of the Dor HaMidbar are destined to wander in strange pastures. Adopting varied guises, the impure sound of the Egel echoes still: we can find our way to G-d without Moshe Rabbeinu.

3
"The clouds of glory that traveled in the Midbar surrounded only the B'nai Yisrael, and the Erev Rav traveled outside the camp....and they said: 'either we will all be one nation, and we will join together with you, or, we should also have someone to walk before before us, as G-d who walks before you."

"Said Aharon: G-d forbid that these people should join together with the Am Kadosh. Rather, it's best to separate them from the Am Kadosh until Moshe returns. And Aharon meant well..." (Zohar)

The Erev Rav is not truly Klal Yisrael. Though they are taken out of Egypt, escaping the wrath of G-d, they are unable to accept the Luchos, the tablets that bind G-d and His people.

Moshe descends from the mountain, and as Aharon surmised, the sin of the Egel destroys this connection between man and his creator. Unfortunately, Klal Yisrael themselves fall prey to the insidious rebellion, and Moshe must ascend once again to bring down Luchos of a different sort.

After breaking the tablets, Moshe was pained by his actions:

"...Hashem said to him: Do not feel bad over the first tablets, which contained only Aseres HaDibros, the second tablets which I will give you have Halachos, Midrash, and Aggados..." (Shmos Rabbah 46:1)

Why were the Luchos destroyed if the same commandments were destined to be replaced in any case? Is there a difference between the first and second tablets?

The Midrash is saying this: In the first tablets, all the Torah existed as one; both the written and oral components of G-d's word were perceived as one self-contained whole.

In the second tablets, the Torah SheBa'al Peh exists as an independent entity, one that needs to be accepted in its own way, on its own terms.

The written Torah is presented by G-d as a fait accompli - a pure, uncorrupted vision of the world as it is meant to be.

When Klal Yisrael is shown to be undeserving of this gift, Moshe breaks the Luchos, for they cannot be erased, and returns with a Torah of a different sort, accessible only to those who strive to be worthy of its demands.

Unlike the Torah SheB'Ksav, the Oral Law is acquired only through toil and strife, hours upon hours of unceasing struggle.

The sin of the Egel separates the men from the boys, those who look for a free ride to utopia, from those who recognize that Torah is not acquired automatically.

The Erev Rav has left their mark on Klal Yisrael. In one family, from the same parents, one son may choose the path of Moshe Rabbeinu, while his sibling chooses to dance with the Egel.

The Egel is a rejection of Kabbalas HaTorah, the inability to commit one's life to one all-encompassing task, and the unwillingness to focus his efforts and energy and decipher the hidden will of Hashem.

This golden calf brings suffering and despair to each generation, but, ironically, it provides a silver lining - casting off those who don't belong.

The Torah is ours for the taking - but, only for those willing to stay the course.

"Lech Rade, Ki Shecheis Amcha Asher He'elisa MeiEretz Mitzraim"

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