D. Nahil writes:
“Although I was referred to in a blog as a sheygetz in a kind, jovial manner, I’m actually a middle-aged goy who follows the Torah and is thinking of a halakhically Orthodox conversion. What word would be used, more correctly, to describe me (again, in a jovial manner)?”
If Mr. Nahil’s letter is any indication, he’s ready for a conversion already. First of all, he has a sense of humor about being Jewish, which is always a sign that a convert feels at home with his new faith and people. Secondly, he knows enough to know that sheygetz, although not necessarily a derogatory word and one quite capable of expressing teasing affection or even admiration, is generally used in Yiddish and Yinglish for non-Jewish youths (or Jewish ones having qualities associated with non-Jews) and would not normally be applied to a man his age. In short, he’s no rank beginner.
But what Jewish or Yiddish words would one use to jovially tease a middle-aged man who wants to be Jewish?
Here’s an old joke for Mr. Nahil. A Jew sits down on the subway and notices that an African American next to him is reading a Yiddish newspaper. He keeps looking at him out of the corner of his eye, embarrassed to ask the question that he is dying to ask. Finally, he can’t control himself any longer. Tapping the man on the shoulder, he says:
“Mister, zayt ir moykhl, ober ikh darf epes fregn,” i.e., “Excuse me, mister, but there’s something I have to ask.”
“Nu, fregt shoyn,” says the man.
“Ir zayt a yid?” the Jew asks. “Are you Jewish?”
To which the man answers:
“Vos for a shayle iz dos? Aza a meshugener goy bin ikh nit!”
That is:
“What kind of a question is that? That crazy a goy I’m not!”
Perhaps, then, Mr. Nahil should be jovially called a meshugener goy.
Seriously speaking, however, Jewish tradition holds that one does not make jokes or remarks that may hurt the feelings of converts. The Talmud, in the tractate of Sanhedrin, puts this in an extreme form in the Aramaic saying, Giyora, ad asara darey lo t’vazeh aramai kamey, “Do not speak ill of gentiles even before the tenth-generation descendant of a convert.” The Yiddish version of this goes, Far a ger tor men kayn goy nit sheltn, “Never badmouth a gentile in front of a convert.”
The Hebrew word for a convert, ger, comes from the verb gar, to reside or dwell, and referred in biblical times to non-Israelites who chose to dwell among Israelites and adopt their customs, there having been no formal process of religious conversion prior to the rabbinic period. Although in biblical Hebrew ger can also refer to Israelites living among non-Israelites, as when the book of Exodus calls the children of Israel “gerim in the land of Egypt,” in rabbinic Hebrew it always means a convert or proselyte – and always one to Judaism, never from it or to other religions, for which there are other words.
By medieval times, the definition of a ger had grown quite strict: He or she was someone who had joined the Jewish people by the approval of a court of three rabbis; t’vila, immersion in the water of a mikva; and circumcision in the case of a male. One either was a ger (or giyoret, if a woman) or one wasn’t.
Yet, in early rabbinic times the definition was looser and gerim were classified on a sliding scale. Thus, there was the ger tzedek, the “just” or full ger, who willingly lived as a Jew in every respect and observed all the commandments; the ger toshav, the “resident ger,” who lived among Jews and, although not fully observant, renounced idolatry and other pagan practices; the ger arayot or “lions’ ger,” who accepted Judaism out of superstition rather than informed conviction (the term is based on the story in the second book of Kings about how the Samaritans, the people brought to Samaria after the exile of its Israelite inhabitants by the Assyrians, began to worship the Israelite god, because they thought he was the reason for the lions that kept attacking them); the ger Ester u’Mordekhai, the “Esther-and-Mordecai ger,” who converted in fear of Jewish violence or persecution (based on the last chapter in the book of Esther); the ger to’eh or “errant ger,” who practiced Judaism on his own and incorrectly; the ger garur, the “[self]-attached ger,” who considered himself a Jew because he associated with Jews, even though they themselves did not think of him as such, etc.
One is reminded of our own age, wherein, after long centuries in which every Jew knew exactly who was a Jew and who wasn’t, different notions of Jewishness have replaced a single, authoritative one and there are again numerous categories of full Jews, partial Jews, and fellow-traveling Jews. Mr. Nahil, it would appear, is aiming to be a ger tzedek. All in all, that’s better than sheygetz or meshugener goy.
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The anonymous writer regurgitates a superficial impression of the term geir based on modern rabbinic assumptions that are incompatible with the historical Biblical definition elucidated in Talmud. The writer is advised to read the undisputed authority in Jewish-gentile relations in the first century C.E., Louis H. Feldman, The Omnipresence of the G*o*d-Fearers, Biblical Archeology Review, 86.09-10, pp. 58-69 and his book, Jew And Gentile In The Ancient World. It is no accident or negligence that descriptions of geirim in Talmud run the gamut from first-day interest in Torah to ready-to-convert candidates because geir, almost always synonymous with geir toshav, referred to candidates in various stages of study TO CONVERT. There was only one type of permanent geir: the person who was determined to follow Torah (non-selectively, like other Jews) but whose spouse did not wish to convert. Because conversion would result in intermarriage, such a candidate could not convert and, being disqualified, could only follow Torah as a permanent geir tzedeq. There were never any permanent geirim authorized to keep only part of Torah or any condoning of keeping parts of Torah selectively. See further details, see our History Museum (click in left panel) of www.netzarim.co.il; particularly click on the geir link for a full glossary definition with background. Paqid Yirmeyahu Paqid 16, The Netzarim Israeli Orthodox Jew (Teimani Baladi Dardai) Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews www.netzarim.co.il
Paqid Yirmeyahu wrote: "the historical Biblical definition elucidated in Talmud." You seem confused.
Strange how Yirmeyahu b. David —if that is his name— cites the Teimani Baladi Dardaim when his conception of Jesus as moshiakh is clearly contrary to RaMBaM.
When I was a kid, we had a ger in the Kolker shul on the lower east side on Rivington St. He was there Friday night and Saturday. He was there during the yomim naroyim. No one talked to him and he talked to nobody. He observed all the ceremonies. He came alone and left alone.
me zogt "aza meshugener" un nisht "aza a meshugener" ; aza iz shoyn di farkirtsung fun "azoy a".
When pronouncing your name, Philologos, do you stress the 2nd syllable (as in philology) or the 1st and 3rd syllables (philo-logos)?
“Can read II” slanders פקיד ירמיהו (Paqid Yirmeyahu) for believing in להבדיל J*esus. as lehavdil Mashiakh. This is a lie and it is slander. The Christian J*esus (Yesh’’u) is anti-תורה (anti-Torah) and anti-הלכה (anti-Halakhah). The research of world-recognized authorities in this area implies that Ribi Yehoshua was a Pharisee (a Torah-practising Jewish group - who according to 4Q MMT practised both written and oral Torah). As the earliest church historians, most eminent modern university historians, our web site (www.netzarim.co.il) and our Khavruta (Distance Learning) texts confirm, the original teachings of Ribi Yehoshua were not only accepted by most of the Pharisaic Jewish community, he had hoards of Jewish students. Logic dictates that we differentiate from two diametrically different concepts. I recommend you this logic course: http://www.cs.odu.edu/~toida/nerzic/content/web_course.html So that you get this basic principle. The burden of proof is on you to prove that ריבי יהושע is the same person as להבדיל (to differentiate J*esus. Until you prove that your accusations consider לשון הרע (lashon hara; slander). It constitutes evil – by the definition of תורה - hate-mongering! ha-Sheim – the Creator of the universe - is certainly not proud of your evil hate-mongering. /Anders Branderud Geir Toshav, Netzarim in Ra’anana in Israel (www.netzarim.co.il)
Anders visited my blog with the same troll-writing. My rebuttal is here.
Hm. Apparently comments cannot include "href" code. The rebuttal is at http://davidvs.blogspot.com/2009/01/messianic-jewish-vision.html Sorry for the double-post!
And what label would you give the patriach Abraham...I'm laughing...we are all converts!