In celebration of Jews by choice

Last week the Great Synagogue joined with communities around the world for “Shabbat Ve-Ahavtem”, organised by an Israeli organisation called Itim and inspired by the Torah’s command ‘ve-ahavtem et ha-ger’ that we are to love the stranger, and specifically we have to love the Ger Tzedek, the convert.

The Great Synagogue is fortunate to have been joined by many Jews by choice, those who have made the decision to join our people and share our mission. We have celebrated many conversions, weddings and births, and I am delighted that there are currently 17 students in my conversion class, made up of candidates and, where relevant, their partners.

What has been especially exciting is seeing how converts and their families have made such a contribution to this community. We have gained so much, as we have also acquired the reputation, which I prize, of being a warm and welcoming community for those who have adopted Judaism.

Jews do not seek converts. We are not a proselytising faith, not least because we do not believe that you need to be Jewish to be a good person, or have a relationship with God or go to heaven. And so we do not knock on doors and we do not seek to persuade. Quite the reverse. Traditionally we send away potential converts three times. And yet Judaism has always known that the tent must have a wide opening.

The tent of Abraham and Sarah was open on all four sides, so that whoever approached from any direction would be welcomed in and it worked. Because Abraham and Sarah made souls in Haran, they brought people to God and to the service of God in the world. They welcomed converts, and they are still the mother and father of all converts. I think we have to keep that opening as wide as it was in the days of Abraham and Sarah.

We still do not seek out converts, but the time for turning them away has passed, or at least it has for now. The most important imperative today is Jewish continuity, Jewish survival. God guarantees it, but we have to play our part, and that includes supporting would-be converts, because we will all be better off for it.