By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal
SAN DIEGO — On Shabbat we begin reading the book of B’midbar, Numbers in English. At the conclusion of Shabbat we celebrate Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. According to rabbinic tradition, the Children of Israel received the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Torah from God on Shavuot, exactly fifty days after they left Egypt.
The book of B’midbar begins with a census of the Israelites, followed by a very elaborate description of their encampment as they traveled through the desert. Each tribe had its own leader, its own position in the camp, and even its own banner. As you read the account, the Israelites appear a well organized and unified people.
It was not always this way.
The Torah records that when the Israelites left Egypt they were not alone. Rather, “a mixed multitude went up with them.” (Ex. 12:38)
Mixed in with the Israelites were a number of other nations who used the Exodus as a way to escape Egyptian cruelty themselves.
We may well imagine how difficult it was for these newly liberated peoples to work together. Although the Israelites were the clear majority, they still had to govern, manage, and integrate those who had escaped with them.
Fortunately, seven weeks after they fled Egypt, they all shared a common experience which forged them into one people: the Revelation at Mt. Sinai. The “mixed multitude” that accompanied the Israelites experienced God’s supernatural Presence at the mountain and the Torah was also revealed to them as well as to the Israelites.
Their experience at the foot of mountain was overwhelmingly powerful and helped forge them and the Israelites into one united people.
A few days ago I traveled to the Rabbinical Assembly mikvah in Los Angeles with six adults and three children, and returned with nine new Jews! As they stood before the Holy Ark and received their Hebrew names, I read a passage from the Book of Ruth, which will be chanted in the synagogue on Monday morning during Shavuot services.
Ruth is one of the most celebrated Jews by Choice in Jewish history and her words reflect the sentiment that all converts to Judaism feel as they become members of Klal Yisrael:
“Do not urge me to leave you, to turn back and not follow you. For wherever you go I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus and more may the Lord do to me if anything but death parts me from you.” (Ruth 1:16-17)
From Ruth we can see that conversion to Judaism has two essential elements. The first is, “your people shall be my people.” That is, a Jew by Choice adopts a Jewish national, ethnic, and cultural identity. And secondly, “your God will be my God.” That is, a Jews by Choice accepts the God of Israel as their personal God, and God’s mitzvot as their own.
Just as a mutual experiencing of the divine united the Israelites and those who left with them into one people, so do a shared faith and mission unite those of us who are already Jews with those who wish to join Am Yisrael.
I wish Mazal Tov to these newly “minted” Jews, and know that we will be blessed and enriched by their presence in our synagogue and community.
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Rabbi Rosenthal is spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego. He may be contacted at leonard.rosenthal@sdjewishworld.com