Becoming One of Us

Rashi’s commentary to the Torah is a virtual treasury of rabbinic thought and method. In his comments on any given verse, one can glimpse the mindset through which the tradition derived Jewish practice from the words of the Torah. In Parshat Naso, the Torah teaches regarding the penalty for theft:

The Lord spoke to Moshe, saying: When a man or a woman commits any wrong towards his fellow man, thus breaking faith with the Lord, and that person realizes his guilt, he shall confess the wrong that he has done. He shall make restitution in the principal amount and add one-fifth to it, giving it to him who was wronged… (Numbers 5:5–10)

Regarding this seemingly straightforward law, Rashi comments:

Here you see that Scripture repeats the law dealing with one who robs another by violence and swears falsely concerning it. A similar law was already stated in Parshat Vayikra: “If a soul sin, and commits a trespass against Hashem, and deny unto his neighbor…” (Leviticus 5:21). The reason it is repeated here,[according to Rashi], is because it contains two new points. First, it states here, “and if they confess,” teaching that one is liable for the additional fifth and for the guilt offering only when he himself confesses the matter, but not when convicted through the testimony of witnesses. Second, it introduces the law regarding something stolen from a ger — a convert, is that it must be given to the priests [if the convert is no longer living]. (See Sifre Bemidbar 2, Kahana ed., p. 9; and 4, p. 14)

From Rashi we learn that a nearly identical law had already appeared in Leviticus, making this repetition seem redundant. For the rabbinic sages, however, redundancy in the Torah was inconceivable. The apparent repetition therefore had to serve another purpose: to teach additional laws. Two such laws are derived here. The first is that the obligation to pay the additional penalty applies only when the offender voluntarily confesses the wrongdoing. The second expands the category of those recognized as protected victims under the law.

It is worthwhile to remember that in biblical times the later legal category of the ger — the convert — did not yet fully exist. While the tribal structure still endured, foreigners were generally absorbed into the broader tribal framework. Since much of the Torah’s legislation was originally framed around members of Israelite tribal society, new legal questions arose only after the return from the Babylonian exile, when the category of the ger, the convert, someone without tribal lineage, became more clearly defined. The sages of the Mishnah understood this verse as extending legal protection to such individuals, ensuring that they too stood fully within the protection of Torah law.

A much later midrash uses this earlier rabbinic teaching as a jumping-off point for a paean to those who are righteous and virtuous despite lacking lineage, applying this especially to gerim — converts:
“A man or woman…” – this is what is written: “The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord protects gerim” (Psalms 146:8–9). This is what the Holy One, blessed be He, said: “I love those who love Me” (Proverbs 8:17); similarly, He says: “For I will honor those who honor Me” (I Samuel 2:30) — they love Me, and I too love them. Why does the Holy One, blessed be He, love the righteous? It is because righteousness is neither an inheritance nor a matter of family… However, if a person seeks to become righteous, even if he is a gentile, he can do so, for it is not dependent upon lineage… Rather, they came of their own initiative, volunteering themselves out of love for the Holy One, blessed be He. That is why the Holy One, blessed be He, loves them. Therefore, it is stated: “The Lord loves the righteous…”

So too must we appreciate the ger, who forsook his family, his father’s house, his nation, and all the nations of the world, and came to join us. That is why God increased their protection, cautioning Israel not to wrong them, as it says: “You shall love the ger” (Deuteronomy 10:19), and “You shall not mistreat a ger, nor oppress him” (Exodus 22:20). Just as the Torah obligated one who robbed another to make monetary restitution and bring a ram as a guilt offering, so too it obligated one who robbed a ger to repay him and to bring a ram offering, as it is written: “Speak to the children of Israel: A man or woman…” — and this section speaks of one who robs a ger. As it is written: “The Lord protects proselytes” (Psalms 146:9). (Adapted from Bemidbar Rabbah 8:2)

The movement from the biblical text, through the rabbinic tradition, to the later midrash is striking. What begins as a seemingly technical discussion concerning restitution for theft becomes, in the hands of the sages, a profound meditation on the dignity of the ger. The rabbis read the Torah’s repetition not merely as a legal redundancy but as an opportunity to widen the circle of those fully protected by the law. The later midrash deepens this insight still further, portraying the ger not as marginal, but as especially beloved by God precisely because righteousness is attained through choice rather than inheritance. In this way, the rabbinic tradition transforms a law about theft and restitution into a larger religious vision: a society faithful to Torah is measured not only by ritual devotion or legal precision, but by the care it extends to those who stand without lineage or power.