|
Women Make Jewish Souls
By Allen S Maller
Everyone
knows that in Jewish Law: if the mother is Jewish, the children are
Jewish; if only the father is Jewish, the children are not Jewish.
Why is it that Jewish women can make Jews and Jewish men can't?
The
answer might go back to the first two Jews; Abram/Abraham and
Sarai/Sarah. Genesis 12:5 states, “Abram took his wife
Sarai, his nephew Lot, all their accumulated property, and
the souls they had made in Haran and they left to go to
the land of Canaan.” Since it is impossible for any human
to make a soul, this verse must refer to the people that Abram and
Sarai influenced to join them in their religious quest. (Midrash
Genesis Rabbah 39:14)
The Zohar says that all these converts formed
a large caravan whose merits protected Abram and Sarai as they
traveled from city to city. Ever since that time the merits of
converts to Judaism have added to the strength of the Jewish people
and thus helped protect us on our long journey. If this is true why
do many Jews fail to encourage non-Jews to worship the One G-d?
Sometimes they fear a negative reaction on the part of the non-Jew or
on the part of the larger non-Jewish society.
The
Midrash correctly indicates that Abraham and Sarah both influenced
non-Jews to worship the One G-d but it doesn’t explain why
Sarai made more converts than Abraham. He should have influenced more
non-Jews to become Jewish than Sarah since he traveled around more
and had greater opportunities to meet people. Unfortunately, Abraham
sometimes rebuffed non-Jews. Rabbi Yohanan claimed that Abraham
“barred people from entering under the wings of the Shekinah”
(worship the One G-d) and that is why his descendants were
enslaved in Egypt. (Talmud Nedarim 32a)
Abraham is specifically
criticized for discouraging Timna the sister of Lotan (Genesis 36:12)
who the Rabbis determined wanted to convert to Judaism. Because she
was rebuffed she married a pagan. Her son Amalek passed on her
resentment to his descendants who became the tribe that attacked the
Jewish people when they were on the way to Mount Sinai. (Talmud
Sanhedrin 99b) Thus our sages taught that a negative attitude toward
non-Jews who are interested in becoming Jewish can lead to
anti-Semitism in later generations.
How do we know that Sarah was more successful in encouraging non-Jews to
convert to Judaism? Years later when God tells Abraham, “Abide
by everything that Sarah tells you” (Genesis 21:12) the Midrash
explains, “You should listen to Sarah since in prophecy she is
on a higher level than you.” How could Sarah be on a higher
spiritual level than Abraham? Because she influenced more non-Jews to
become Jewish than Abraham did. This is why the Zohar claims Genesis
12:15 “He was good to Abram because of her” means that
God (not Pharaoh) was good to Abram because of Sarai. Why? Because
Sarai had influenced so many non-Jews to worship the One G-d. So
when Jewish women influence non-Jews to become Jewish even their
husbands benefit from the process.
Sarah’s enthusiastic encouragement of non-Jews to woship G-d set a good
example for her daughters and granddaughters. Indeed, her great
granddaughter Dinah influenced one of the most righteous men in all
history to convert to Judaism when she married him. His name was
Job.(Midrash Genesis Rabbah 76) Even today there are grandmothers who
influence the non-Jews that their grandchildren marry to become
Jewish.
The Author's web site is
rabimaller.com
~~~~~~~
from the November 2011 Edition of the Jewish Magazine
|
