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religion.

Some cultural Jews may not be very religious even if they attend High Holy Day services. However, they grew up with Jewish foods, Jewish customs, Jewish traditions a Jewish "experience." While most religious Jews are within the culture, particularly converts might be more affiliated with the religious practices and beliefs than with the cultural customs the convert usually comes to Judaism through religion and theology, rather than through culture and custom. Thus, converts often don't have the "Jewish experience" in the same sense as born Jews. Still: all of the people in both Venn circles, including converts, are "the Jewish people."

Some might disagree about converts, even those who have lived among Jews for a long time, stating that only those born Jewish are the "people." However, throughout Torah, outsiders come into the Covenant and become part of the people whether it is Abraham and Sarah, who were not Jews until the covenant, and all of their family and household and followers, or Leah and Rachel (whose father had idols in his house, so they must not have been Jews before marrying Jacob and going back to his homeland), or Ruth (the prototypical convert), to name just a few prominent examples.

The conflict over acceptance of the Ger also begins early in Torah, though. Miriam and Aaron rise up against Moses after he marries a Cushite woman (presumably not an Israelite, thus not a Jew). Ha'Shem punishes Miriam and Aaron for daring to claim the status of Ha'Shem's propheta sort of hubris in that they reject Ha'Shem's own choice of Moses.

While not a traditional reading of this story, one modern midrash could also be about accepting erstwhile outsiders into the Jewish people, rather than rejecting the Ger as "tainting" the Message (or messenger) of Ha'Shem. To love the stranger, after all, is the most often repeated commandment in Torah. For we were strangers in Egypt.

Learn more about this author, Michael Deqel.
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