Conversion in Practice

Just as the Israelites made a covenant with God at the Exodus from Egypt, and became His people when they received the Torah at the Revelation at Mount Sinai, so too the convert who enters Israel must undergo before the beit din a personal conversion process of making a covenant, which expresses his own Exodus from Egypt and his own Revelation at Mount Sinai. As it is stated (Bamidbar 15:15): “As you are, so shall the convert be before the Lord.” “‘As you are’ – like your forefathers: just as your forefathers entered the covenant only through circumcision, immersion, and the sprinkling of blood (of a sacrifice), so too they (the converts) shall enter the covenant only through circumcision, immersion, and the sprinkling of blood” (Keritot 9a).

At the Exodus from Egypt the Israelites underwent circumcision, as it is stated (Yehoshua 5:5): “For all the people who came out were circumcised,” and regarding the circumcision they underwent when they left Egypt it is stated (Yeḥezkel 16:6): “And I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, and I said to you: In your blood, live; and I said to you: In your blood, live.” Through circumcision Israel was set apart from the other nations to be God’s people, to bring His blessing to all the families of the earth, and to perfect the world under the sovereignty of the Almighty. This covenant is also a covenant of blood, which expresses Israel’s readiness to give their lives for their identity and destiny, as has become clear throughout the long history of the Jewish people, in which preserving Jewish identity has entailed self-sacrifice.

Before the giving of the Torah, God sent Moshe to Israel to ask them whether they wished to accept the Torah and the mitzvot. As it is stated (Shemot 24:3–8): “And Moshe came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances,” and the Sages explained that he reviewed before them the mitzvot they had already been commanded up to that time – the seven Noahide laws, Shabbat, honoring parents, the red heifer, and the laws between man and his fellow (Rashi). Afterwards he asked them whether they wished to accept the Torah and the mitzvot, “and all the people answered with one voice and said: All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” Then Moshe wrote in a book the things that God had said to Israel up to that time. “And he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said: All that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will hear (na’aseh ve-nishma).” Similarly in all generations, when a convert comes to convert, he must be taught some of the mitzvot before the conversion, so that he can decide whether he wishes to take upon himself the entire Torah and mitzvot.

In preparation for the Revelation at Mount Sinai, all of Israel immersed in water, as it is stated (Shemot 19:10): “And sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments.” The Sages learned that the instruction was that they should sanctify themselves through immersion in preparation for the covenant they would make with God over all the words of the Torah, when the blood of the sacrifices would be sprinkled on them (Mekhilta there; Yevamot 46b; Keritot 9a). Through immersion in water, Israel was as though reborn in preparation for its great destiny: to be God’s people, to receive His Torah, and to bring His blessing to the world.

In addition, in preparation for the Revelation at Mount Sinai, Israel offered a sacrifice, and Moshe Rabbeinu sprinkled its blood upon them to express their devotion to God and His Torah. Similarly, when the Temple stood, the convert had a mitzva to offer a sacrifice (below, section 14).

Thus we see that, like Israel, when the convert wishes to convert he must decide to leave Egypt; to shake off the wicked pagan conceptions that justify power at the expense of morality; to choose to prefer values and ideals over everyday needs and over natural family and social ties; and to decide to join the Jewish people and accept the Torah and mitzvot in order to add life and blessing to the world. For men, the exodus from Egypt is expressed in circumcision, and the entry into the Jewish people and the acceptance of the Torah in immersion, which is like being born anew. For women, everything is done through immersion.