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Tanya: Chapter 2 - Part 1
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Latest Comments:
For reasons best know to the Almighty, this soul was incarnated into this particular set of circumstances...this is the mission and the test of this soul....".
I was adopted by a Catholic family when I was born. Since I can remember I have felt Jewish. I married a Christian, but we raised our only son Jewish (ie circumsion, Jewish Day School Education & Bar Mitzvah). I have wanted to make Alliyah for sometime.. I looked into a DNA test to see if I was born Jewish since that bond has always been so strong inside of me. I have now been told it is not acceptable because "Jewish is a religion" so the blood proves nothing leaving conversion as my only recourse. I felt uncomfortable since there is a stigma among Jews about a convert not really being a Jew. Now that is gone ... there is a Divine spark buried deep down inside of me that sparked the journey....thank you for making my dream a reality.
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Dear Gershon,
The proper way to learn Torah is to realize that the Torah reveals one aspect here while another aspect of the equation elsewhere and it's only when you put all the pieces together that you get the whole picture. The Torah states clearly that conversion is not a formality but a total metamorphasis. The Halakha states clearly that a convert is like a newborn child to the extent that legally a brother and sister that convert, Biblically, are allowed to marry each other!
A conversion is a metamorphosis, a Divine event where you become organically fused with the Jewish people. It's an impossible and a miraculous event which explains why we are the only people in the world who despite our being so few in numbers actively discourage any would be convert.
Which begs the question, how could there be any conversion at all. Just like you can't convert an apple to an orange how could someone convert to the family of Abraham?
Chassidus answers that the Rabbis refer to a convert as a convert who converted and not as a gentile who converts to teach us that the convert certainly had a Jewish spark that was buried deep down and trapped in a non Jewish body. This explains why the convert who may come from left field, have no alterior motive and despite the obstacle course that's placed before him, keeps on insisting that he must jojn the Jewish people that the seven Noahide laws are simply not enough for him. Only because deep down there's a Jewish spark that's lurking there.
In conclusion both parts of the equation are true. The conversion is not a formality it's a divine miraculous process where the gentile is completely transformed into a new being almost as if there's been a DNA change. On the other hand on some hidden level there was a Divine spark buried deep down that sparked the journey.
Dear Gershon, may you continue to be an inspiration to all of us.
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There is a side conversation that takes place in this video between 43 and 45 minutes into it concerning conversion. It is stated that a convert "acquires a Jewish soul." Please compare this to the view in the Welcome Home video - here on chabad.org - where reference is made to the Rebbe's thoughts on conversion. Referring to the convert and conversion, it is said there that: "...you should know that this was a soul that always was Jewish, nothing got converted, nothing got changed. For reasons best know to the Almighty, this soul was incarnated into this particular set of circumstances of a non-Jewish mother, and this is the mission and the test of this soul". Notice - "always was Jewish, nothing got converted, nothing got changed."
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