The Torah speaks of the naturalized members of the Jewish nation (am) 24 times. As unorthodox an idea as it might sound, the reality is that everyone not raised as a Jew is in some way, what the Torah calls, a ger. One might think that in an attempt to ensure that the Jewish people would not grow haughty, the Torah tells us that "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is Mine; for you stand as gerim v'toshavim with me." (Leviticus/Vayiqra 25.23) This passage, however, goes much deeper.
Why did the Torah say gerim v'toshavim and not even gerim tzadiqim, the term for "naturalized" proselytes? Because we read further that Joshua had to "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again." (Joshua 5.2) Why was this necessary? We read that "this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt - all the men of military age - had died in the desert on the way after leaving Egypt." (Joshua 5.4) Thus, those new B'nei Yisrael were treated no differently than gerim toshavim at that point, until undergoing the same rites of gerut as any other member of any other nation wishing to become a Jew.
No comments:
Post a Comment