Celebrating Jewish Peoplehood

Shabbat Bamidbar 5767

In a few days we will celebrate the Festival of Shavuot, which ostensibly commemorates the Giving of the Torah.

But is that all that happened?

In truth something of far greater import occurred at Sinai.

We became Jews - eternally bonded with each other, and eternally bonded to G-d. All Jews became part of one indivisible body with G-d as its Soul. This created the unprecedented sense of responsibility of one Jew to another; it also created an obligation upon all Jews individually, and the Jewish People as a whole, to be a shining example for all mankind. On the most basic level however, it created the Jewish People.

We may choose not to observe the Torah, but we can never forsake our Jewishness: "Although he sins, he is still a Jew," says the Talmud. "Either this way or that, they are my children". A Jew who converts to another religion is not called a Christian, a Muslim or a Budhist. He is called a "Yisrael Mumar" - a converted Jew. And he is called this not only by Jews, but by non-Jews as well - as evidenced during the Spanish Inquisition and the Nazi Holocaust.

When a person converts to Judaism the Beth Din usually expects him or her to be well versed in the prayers and rituals of Judaism. And of course the proposed convert has to undergo immersion in a Mikvah, and if a male, Brit Milah.

However conversion to Judaism is not simply a ceremony and an exam that must be passed. And it is certainly not merely the topping on a comfortable, pre-existing identity. Conversion to Judaism is in every sense a rebirth - the recreation of a new identity. The convert is not an Australian, American or German who follows the Jewish faith. The convert becomes part of the Jewish People and now fully shares its history and its destiny.

Every proper conversion to Judaism repeats for the individual what occurred to the Jewish People as whole. Just as the Jewish People became bonded with each other at Sinai, the new convert becomes indelibly bonded to the Jewish People during conversion. As Ruth famously said to her mother-in-law Naomi at the time of her conversion, "Your People are my People, your G-d is my G-d".

As we prepare for Shavuot, it behoves us to remember that on this day some three thousand, three hundred and nineteen years ago we became a very special people with an intense kinship with each other. We also became a people with a unique history and destiny - a lighthouse for all mankind.

We should most certainly try to be as observant of the Torah as we possibly can. But observant or not, Shavuot is the time to celebrate our membership of the eternal Jewish People.

With best wishes for a Good Shabbos, and Chag Sameach,

Rabbi Benzion and Henya Milecki