Converts Are God’s Gift to the Jewish People

The Hollywood Museum will host a centennial celebration honoring Marilyn Monroe, who was one of the most famous Hollywood converts to Judaism, on Tuesday evening. This could not happen in Israel where more than 580,000 Israeli citizens today are not recognized as Jewish according to Halacha by the Chief Rabbinate, despite being part of Israeli society – serving in the army, speaking Hebrew, paying taxes, and tying their destiny to the Jewish state. For them, and for their relatives abroad, Israel offers citizenship but not full belonging. This is not merely a bureaucratic challenge. It is a crisis of identity.

Instead of addressing this challenge with courage, radicals on both the Right and the Left have turned conversion and aliyah into political weapons. On the Right, resistance to meaningful conversion reform has effectively closed the gates before those who seek to join the Jewish people in good faith. On the left conversion is treated as a threat rather than as an opportunity. The result is paralysis and alienation.

In America many people have lost faith in organized religion, yet according to recent data, they still love the Bible. As of September 2025, Bible sales were up 11% this year over 2024, part of a continuing boom in Bible sales.

All told, more than 18 million Bibles were sold this last year. “Bible sales have been steadily growing in the US since 2021 and have set unprecedented annual sales records since 2022,” Brenna Connor, an industry analyst at Circana BookScan. “2024 marked a 20-year high for Bible sales in the US, and 2025 surpassed these levels.”

I know of a person who said I wanted to convert to Reform Judaism for some years now. However, I heard that Reform Jewish converts will not be accepted by all denominations as “officially Jewish” unless they convert to Orthodox Judaism. Is this true?

The answer is No and Yes. No because the great majority of Jews are not Orthodox Jews. Yes because about 10-15% of Jews are Orthodox.

The 2022 PRRI survey of religion in America asked “Has there ever been a time when you thought about leaving your current religious tradition or denomination?” 24% of Mormons said yes, Protestants of color” and White Catholics, both` had 20% who said yes.

But only 11% of Black Protestants and 10% of Jews and members of non-Christian religions (e.g., Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism) said they had considered defecting.

In American religious history the cyclical rise and fall of religious affiliation and self proclaimed religious identity has frequently occurred. America is a free country and free people can and do choose their own religious identity.

The Biblical Book of Esther tells us to celebrate the defeat of Haman and his Jew hating followers: “…celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar as a time when Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy, and their mourning into a day of celebration.”

Mordecai also “Wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy; and giving presents of food to one another, and gifts to the poor. (Esther 9: 21-2)

To this day the Jewish Community joyously celebrates Purim; and many individual Jews do give gifts of food to each other and to the poor. But there is another group of Jews that are mentioned in the Book of Esther that most Jews seem to have forgotten.

“…these days were called Purim, from the word pur, because of everything written in this letter and because of what they (Jews) had seen and what had happened to them. So the Jews took it on themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who joined them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed. (Esther 9:26-7)

Who are these people described as “all who joined them”?

This refers to the thousands of non-Jews who when they heard of Haman’s permission for everyone in the Persian Empire to loot, plunder and kill Jews without fear of punishment; did not join those who were planning the attacks.

Instead they came to Jews with offers to hide Jews from the mobs. These non-Jews had been positively influenced by their friendships with Jews and their exposure to Judaism, especially the teachings of the Torah and Jewish views about the one God of all humanity.

These righteous Gentiles were more in awe of God then they were afraid of the mobs who had the backing of the powerful Haman.

The Book of Esther says, “In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear for the Jews had seized them.” (Esther 8:17)

These righteous Gentiles were at first motivated by feelings of compassion and fairness to help Jews. After the danger had passed they were inspired by the miracle of Jewish fortitude and survival.

Thousands of them must have converted to Judaism, or why would there be this special mention of them in the Book of Esther, and their descendants who are still among us are a very special gift from God to the Jewish people. Just as the tens of thousands of non-Jews who have become Jewish in the decades following the Shoah have been a blessing to us and to future generation of Jews.

That is why the Talmud (Sanhedrin 99b) condemns those who push potential converts away by relating that Isaac and Jacob pushed away Timna the sister of Lotan who wanted to become Jewish. She then married a son of Esau. One of her descendants was Amalek who attacked Israel shortly after they escaped from Egypt. If, instead of being pushed away, Timna had become Jewish, Amalek would have been on our side, and not one of our enemies. A more practical view is hard to imagine.

Indeed, several Talmudic Rabbis felt that discouraging converts in the past had brought troubles upon the Jewish People. Rabbi Johanan says the Jews were oppressed and enslaved in Egypt because Abraham didn’t try to influence some captives that he rescued to become Jewish. Even failing to encourage potential converts is wrong according to Rabbi Johanan.

Every rabbi who deals with converts and conversion should be guided by the general principle of Jeremiah’s description of the God of Israel:”Behold, I am a God who brings near’ says the Lord, “and not a God who pushes away”. (Jeremiah 23:23)

Although tradition says we should not mention who is a convert, this was only because of the danger of conversion to Judaism in the Dark Ages, and now a days to tell those Jews who think birth is more important than commitment to keep their mouth shut.

Rabbis today should welcome potential converts and not discourage them. We may not be saving souls, but we should not be making future enemies by rejecting people who want to be Jewish. The attempt by some Haredi Rabbis in Israel to retroactively dejudiaze thousands of Jews who were converted according to Orthodox Law Halakah is an shameful example of what not to do.

Three decades ago I met a recent Russian immigrant who had started an introduction to Judaism class in Boston. She had to leave the class to move to L.A. with her husband for his new job. She was six months pregnant and wanted to be Jewish before the baby was born, because she was the child of a mixed marriage in the Soviet Union, and she did not want her child to have a similar experience. She told me that at age 18 everyone in the USSR had to get an identity card. Since her father was Jewish, and her mother was Russian, the government official told her she could pick either one for her identity card, but she could not change it once it was issued.

She said she wanted her identity card to read: Jewish. The official, and then his boss, spent over a half an hour arguing with her that this was a very bad decision. She insisted and it was done. When I heard that story, I told her that in my eyes she had already become Jewish by that act alone. I was ready to convert her next month. I did. And I was at the circumcision of her son two months later. The family joined my congregation, and were members for several years, until they moved to another part of L.A.

As God says: “Behold, I am a God who brings near’ says the Lord, “and not a God who repels”.(Jeremiah 23:23) And as s Prophet Isaiah states: “And the foreigners (non-Jews) who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast to my covenant, these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” (Isaiah 56:6-7)

Dearer to God are the converts to Judaism who have come of their own accord, then all the crowds of Israel who stood at Mt Sinai. The Israelites witnessed special effects; thunder, lightning, quaking mountains and the sound of trumpets. But the converts to Judaism, who saw not one of these things, come to God to take on the yoke of heaven. Can anyone be dearer to God than these people? (Midrash Tankhuma Lekh Lekha 6)

As the Midrash teaches, “When a person wants to become part of the Jewish people, we must receive him or her with open hands so as to bring that person under the wings of the Divine Presence” (Leviticus Rabbah 2:9).