Tefillah - 110 Spiritual Dangers of Kiruv

Converts: Souls Who Joined The Jewish People, Taught By Avraham Avinu

In the blessing of על הצדיקים  we ask Hashem, ועל גירי הצדק יהמו נא רחמיך   “And on Your righteous converts, please show Your compassion.” We ask Hashem to specially protect the righteous and the elders, as well as the converts.

There are three categories of people in the world. The Jewish people are on one side and the 70 nations of the world on the other side. In between the two sides are the geirim, the righteous converts, who cross over from 70 nations of the world and become part of the Jewish people. Any of the nations can convert into the Jewish people, except for Amalek [according to most opinions].

We have a tradition from Chazal that all souls who converted into the Jewish people are really reincarnations of the souls which Avraham Avinu and Sarah Imeinu taught about belief in Hashem in Charan. These souls would become the future converts that would enter the Jewish people. Even more so, the Sages state that the soul of every convert was present at Har Sinai and heard the Torah.[1]

Thus, it is clear that a convert does not “happen” to convert to the Jewish people; rather, every convert’s soul was really a part of the Jewish people all along which is apparent from the fact that all converts were present at Har Sinai.

The Purpose of Exile: Gaining From Converts

The Sages also state[2] however, that “converts are difficult upon the Jewish people as a sore on the skin”. Rashi explains that when a convert isn’t careful in carrying out the mitzvos properly, a Jew who sees this will become lax in his own observance. Tosafos explains that since we were exiled in order to “gather” converts of other nations, a Jew might leave the Land of Israel and become negatively influenced them, thereby endangering their spirituality.

Our Sages state that we have to endure exile so that converts can get annexed onto us.[3] We have to endure four exiles, and the purpose of all of these exiles, according to our Sages, is so we can gain converts. What is the deeper meaning of this? Chazal were not coming to stereotype all converts. In every exile, we are always surrounded by other nations. When we are in exile, we have the opportunity to take the good from our surroundings and thus gain from what the nations have to offer.

As we know good and well, there is far more evil amongst then nations than the good that we can learn from them. In spite of this fact, the Sages still said that the purpose of our exile was so that we can gain from converts – that we should gain some good from the other nations. There are ways to gain from their clothing and language. This fulfills the purpose of exile, which is to gain the good that the world has to offer during our stay in exile. As an example, there were Sages who had names of gentiles. One of the Sages praised the Greek language for being beautiful. The Sages were able to take the good from other nations and sift it out from the evil.

The nations of the world are a mixture of good and evil, and the Sages knew how to sift out the good from the evil and thus gain from whatever good points that other nations did have to offer.

Converts That Cause Difficulty: Converts From “Erev Rav”

But, although Chazal said that we need to gain converts when we are in exile and thereby gain the good from our surroundings, there is one group of converts whom we do not gain from. These are the souls of Egyptian converts who left Egypt together with the Jewish people, the “Erev Rav” (Mixed Multitude). They can never be returned to good, and thus even when they came into the Jewish people to convert, they did not bring in any good with them.[4]

When the Jewish people left Egypt, they left together with the “Erev Rav”. These were converts who left Egypt together with the Jewish people, but they were not real converts. They did not become part of the good in the Jewish people. They did not come to bring good into the Jewish people and to leave behind their evil ways. [They may have “Jewish” bodies, but their soul is still “Egyptian” and their descendants exist today].

 A complete convert is an earnest one, and he leaves his past behind and only brings good with him when he enters the Jewish people. It was this kind of convert that Chazal say it is worth it for us to endure exile and we will be inspired by these converts and gain from them.

But souls of the Erev Rav who converted only caused confusion amongst the Jewish people by bringing in a mixture of good and evil. And when a member of “Erev Rav” entered the Jewish people via the means of conversion, he only brings evil with him. It is written, “And the Erev Rav also came with them” – in other words, the Erev Rav always remains as the Erev Rav, even after they converted [at that time.]

The evil power of the “Erev Rav” manifests itself in mixing together “daas tov v’ra”, “good and evil knowledge”, together, in a way that causes great confusion. Whatever “good” that they do have is mixed with so much evil that all it does is mix up a person who gets influenced by it which is the subtlety of their evil.

This is the meaning behind the statement in the Sages that “converts are difficult upon the Jewish people”. It is referring specifically to converts from the “Erev Rav” [not to all other converts, who are righteous], because anyone with a soul from “Erev Rav” who converted into the Jewish people will undoubtedly mix up another Jew because they always remain as a mixture of good and evil [that cannot be sifted out and cleansed].

Eretz Yisrael Today: A Giant Melting Pot of Many Nations

All of the previous exiles [Egypt, Babylonia, Persia-Media, Yavan/Greece, and Rome/Esav, which we are currently in] contained a mixture of good and evil, and the Sages knew how to sift out the good from the evil and thus gain from the good that the nations had. This we can see from the fact that the Sages would sometimes adapt gentile names or the style of dress from these places; they knew how to take these things and sanctify them for good uses. 

But right now, in our times, we are at the end of the exile of Esav, [where Erev Rav begins to rule over us, as the Vilna Gaon has explained][5], and we are amongst a mixture of the Erev Rav that is unprecedented. Much good has entered, and much evil has entered as well, and now there is a huge mixture, of good and evil, mixed together.

In the last few years, Jews have returned to Israel. However, this is not the kind of redemption that our Sages prayed for. When we merit the complete redemption, all Jews will return at once, with the Clouds of Glory. But when we don’t merit it, the return to Eretz Yisrael is infiltrated by the Erev Rav. Of course, everything is Divine Providence, Hashem’s plan. But we can see that the whole return is permeated with the Erev Rav.

Some people feel, “What’s the big deal! What is the difference if nations of the world come here with holy intentions or with unholy intentions? What difference does it make if this influx of Jews is due to Erev Rav or not? The main thing is that Jews are returning to Eretz Yisrael”.

But since the entire return of these nations to Eretz Yisrael is happening due to the “Erev Rav”, a tremendous mixture of good and evil has come with them - they have brought with them all of the impurity from every nation in the world, into Eretz Yisrael! 

We have an avodah to sift out what is good and what is evil in everything we come across in Eretz Yisrael, since there is a great mixture that is resulting from “Erev Rav”. That is one part of our avodah – to be aware that there is much evil here. And even if we come across any good that comes from “Erev Rav” [the mixture of all these nations], that ‘good’ itself is mixed with evil.

This is a subtle matter, but these are the facts, this is the reality now. Eretz Yisrael is still holy, of course, but we are being ruled by “Erev Rav”, and therefore, they have created an enormous mixture here of all kinds of evil influences. The impurity of all the nations of the world has arrived here, due to the arrival of members of the Erev Rav.

If someone doesn’t feel this impurity, then it can only be because his feelings for holiness have become deadened [or he is a member of the Erev Rav].

…

The Requirement For Engaging In Kiruv

In this blessing of Shemoneh Esrei, we ask Hashem specially to protect the converts. We mention this in the blessing of  על הצדיקים  in connection with our request that Hashem should guard the righteous, and this implies that it is only the truly righteous who are able to connect with the converts and guide them.  Therefore, if someone is not of the truly righteous, he will get influenced by the convert in the process of trying to draw him closer to Judaism.

Therefore, only someone who has a burning desire for truth and holiness is someone who can engage in Kiruv. If someone doesn’t have this quality – if he is lax in his own keeping of Halachah and he is not afraid that he is susceptible to influences – then he does not possess the quality of searching for the truth, and therefore he is endangering his spirituality when he attempts Kiruv with others who are not observant.

Only a tzaddik has special protection from Hashem not to get influenced from evil. Thus, entering Kiruv with the non-observant is like entering a spiritual minefield, unless the person doing Kiruv is someone who is very careful in his own observance and he possesses fear of Heaven, and feels a burning desire for truth.

In Conclusion

These words are relevant to anyone who is involved in Kiruv - whether they are involved in Kiruv as a parnassah (livelihood); whether they feel a true need in their soul to engage in Kiruv; or whether it is none of above, and a person is doing Kiruv because he heard that there is an “obligation on the tzibbur (general public) to do kiruv” [which is not so simple]. Anyone who goes out into the world of Kiruv is in endangering his spirituality.

Hashem wants that all Jews return to holiness, but if we ourselves don’t burn for truth as we draw others closer to Judaism, then we aren’t able to do it. Hashem wants everyone to return to holiness, but He wants it to be done according to His will.

Thus, when we ask Hashem to protect the converts, we should so out of a request that they convert in a holy manner, and not in a way that brings in any evil influences.