The Convert’s Sins Are Forgiven
עוונותיו של הגר נמחלים
The Sages said (Yevamot 48b): “A convert who has converted is like a newborn child.” One of the meanings of this principle is that his sins are forgiven. Likewise, the Sages said that when a Torah scholar is appointed to be a rabbi, his rise to greatness atones for his sins. They learned this from the convert: “Just as the convert is forgiven for all his sins, so too a scholar who has been appointed is forgiven for all his sins.” That is, when a person rises to greatness, the responsibility placed upon him by virtue of his public role turns him into a new person of sorts, and presumably he is also aroused to repentance so that he may succeed in his new role; therefore his sins are forgiven. The same applies to one who is appointed nasi, and to a groom on his wedding day (Yerushalmi Bikkurim 3:3). All the more so are the convert’s sins forgiven, for there is no deeper or greater repentance than the choice to join God’s people and accept the Torah and the mitzvot, in order to bring blessing and redemption to the world. Similarly, the Sages said that after Israel entered into the covenant at Mount Sinai, they were “washed clean of sins” (Shir Ha-shirim Rabba 4:4).
This means that the convert does not need to repent specifically for transgressions he committed while he was a gentile. Nevertheless, the Sages said that sometimes, as a result of transgressions the convert committed before his conversion, or because he delayed converting, suffering comes upon him. However, this is not suffering as punishment but as refinement, for even though his sins have been atoned for, sometimes an impression of them remains in his soul that hinders him from ascending to higher levels. Yet the refinement need not come through suffering; he can be refined through diligent study of Torah and musar.¹
The sins that are forgiven for the convert are sins between man and God, but conversion does not cancel obligations the convert owed to other people, whether Jews or non-Jews. Any loans he took he must repay, and any damages he caused he must pay for. And if he was sentenced to a penalty by a court of his former people, he must pay his penalty. Just as a Jew who was liable to death or lashes is not exempted from them when he repents of his sin (Peninei Halakha: Yamim Nora’im 6:7), so conversion does not exempt the convert from his prior obligations toward his fellows or from penalties imposed upon him in a court of law.²
Notes (2)
- Yevamot 48b: “It was taught: R. Ḥanania the son of Rabban Gamliel says: Why are converts in this time oppressed, and why does suffering come upon them? Because they did not observe the seven Noahide commandments. R. Yosi says: A convert who has converted is like a newborn child (and therefore is not punished for what he sinned while still a gentile). Rather, why are they oppressed? Because they are not as expert in the fine details of the mitzvot as Israel (and they are punished for what they fail to observe after conversion). Abba Ḥanan says in the name of R. Elazar: Because they do not act out of love but out of fear. Others say: Because they delayed entering under the wings of the Divine Presence.” As is known, in matters of faith the understanding that “these and those are the words of the living God” stands out more. Therefore, on the one hand, the main view is that of R. Yosi, that a convert who converts is like one born anew, and consequently his sins are forgiven, as explained in the Yerushalmi (Bikkurim 3:3). Accordingly, if he suffers, this is suffering for transgressions he committed after conversion, similar to what the Sages said (Yevamot 47b): “Converts are as difficult for Israel as a skin affliction,” because they are not careful in observing the mitzvot; or because he does not observe the mitzvot properly out of love of God, but out of fear of punishment. At the same time, there is truth also in the other opinions, that sometimes the suffering comes for transgressions he committed as a gentile, as explained above; but this suffering is suffering of love, intended to refine the convert from the impression that remains from transgressions he committed as a gentile, so that he may ascend to high levels. This is similar to what the Sages said, that sometimes the righteous suffer afflictions of love in order to increase their reward (Berakhot 5a, Rashi s.v. “yissurin”; see Peninei Halakha: Yamim Nora’im 6:8). Shu”t Laḥmei Toda 5 (by R. Y. Bassan) writes that just as a minor is not punished by Heaven until the age of twenty (Bavli Shabbat 89b; Yerushalmi Bikkurim 2:1), so a convert who has converted, being like a newborn child, is not punished by Heaven during the first twenty years after his conversion. And so it seems, that the convert’s obligation comes gradually, for the study required to internalize the foundations of faith and the mitzvot takes time, and only afterward can he bear full responsibility for observing the mitzvot.
- In Sanhedrin 71b the Gemara discusses in which cases the convert is punished for transgressions he committed as a gentile. Its conclusion is that when the punishment remains the same under the laws of Israel, or when under the laws of Israel his punishment is lighter, the convert is judged for a sin he committed while still a gentile; but when the punishment is more severe under the laws of Israel, he is not judged. So writes Rambam, Melakhim 10:4. This is difficult, for we learned in Yevamot 48b that the convert is considered like one newly born and his sins are forgiven. Tosafot explain (Sanhedrin ibid., s.v. “ben”) that through his conversion he is exempted from punishments by the laws of Heaven, but he remains liable under human law. The Aḥaronim explain that just as repentance does not exempt a Jew from a punishment imposed on him by a beit din – for that would open the door for criminals to sin and claim that they had repented – so conversion does not exempt the convert from punishment, even though it is considered for him as repentance that atones for his sins (Ḥavot Ya’ir 79; Yad Sha’ul, YD 241:4; Mishnat Avraham on Sefer Ḥasidim 215). However, even under human law, the courts of Israel judge him only for sins he committed against Israel while still a gentile, and not for sins he committed against his fellows or against Heaven. This is as explained in the Gemara in Sanhedrin there, and as Rambam writes (Melakhim 10:4): “A Noahide who blasphemed the Name, or who worshipped idolatry, or who had relations with his fellow’s wife, or who killed his fellow, and then converted – he is exempt. If he killed a Jew or had relations with a Jew’s wife and then converted – he is liable.” It may be explained that what he sinned against Heaven, such as idolatry, is forgiven him through his conversion, but what he sinned in transgressions between man and his fellow is not forgiven (Radbaz there). However, for transgressions he committed against his gentile fellows, the Jewish court does not judge him, because the rules of a gentile court and a Jewish court differ, and now that he is considered a Jew, a Jewish court is not able to judge him for matters that, before the conversion, concerned only gentiles. One may add that even if, according to the rules of law, it were possible to judge him, a Jewish court does not have the ability to receive witnesses and investigate what he did among his former people, and therefore it does not intervene in this. However, a debt he owed he is obligated to repay, as Sefer Ḥasidim writes (§691): “Even though they said, ‘A convert who has converted is like a newborn child,’ nevertheless he pays what he is obligated to pay. And if he killed a person, he requires atonement.” This is cited as halakha in Shiyarei Knesset Ha-gedola 268, Hagahot Ha-Tur 1. And if the court of his former people had already sentenced him to a penalty, according to R. Algazi in Gufei Halakhot on Rambam there, it is possible that through his conversion he is like one born anew and is exempt from it. According to R. Eliyahu Shama Ha-Levi in Korban Isha, the penalty remains upon him. It seems that as long as the court of his former people is known to be proper, its rulings apply to the gentile, for one of the seven Noahide commandments is to establish courts of law, and his conversion does not cancel them. Shu”t Ḥavot Ya’ir 79 writes that a gentile who found a Jew’s lost object and then converted – since while still a gentile he was not required to return the lost object, after conversion too he remains exempt from doing so; but if he robbed a Jew and then converted, he must return the stolen item. According to R. Meir Arik (cited in Shu”t Maharsham 5:81:8), the convert need not return the stolen item, because there was “ye’ush and change of domain”: presumably the Jew despaired of the stolen item, and the conversion is considered a “change of domain” (see Yad Eliyahu 40; Beit Ya’akov 3; and on the other hand, Birkei Yosef, ḤM 34:28, 24; Shevut Ya’akov I, ḤM 177).