“You shall love the convert for you were strangers in the land of Egypt”
(Devarim 10:19)
“No sojourner ever slept outside; I opened my doors to the street”
(Iyov 31:32)
Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said, “The convert is more beloved to Hashem than the nation that stood at Har Sinai. Why? If that people had not seen the thunder and lightning and heard the noise upon the mountains and the shofar, they would not have accepted upon themselves the yoke of Heaven. The convert did not experience any of this, yet took upon himself the yoke of Heaven. Is there anyone more beloved than this? (Midrash Tanchuma, Parashat Lech Lecha 6).
Avraham Avinu is credited with teaching our nation the religion of truth and the oneness of Hashem. He kicked at idolatry and denied its worship. He brought many people under the wings of the Shechinah and taught them, as well as his entire household, to preserve the way of Hashem, as the pasuk states (Bereishit 18:19), “For I have loved him, because he commands his children and his household after him that they keep the way of Hashem…”
Therefore, throughout the generations, until the end of time, whoever converts and serves Hashem properly is considered a disciple and a descendant of Avraham Avinu. Just as Avraham brought the people of his generation close to Hashem through teaching them about His ways, so did he bring back all future generations of converts by commanding his family after him to walk in Hashem’s ways.
Avraham Avinu is the father to all his righteous progeny who follow in his footsteps. He is the patriarch of his disciples and all righteous converts.
Let the convert’s lineage never be light in his eyes. If Jews trace their lineage to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, the convert traces his lineage to Hashem Himself (Shut of the Rambam, Response to Ovadiah the Convert, 448).
Some commentaries explain that “converts are as difficult to our people as psoriasis,” for Hashem has warned us, in twenty-four places, not to antagonize them.
Some commentators are of the opinion that Bnei Yisrael suffer extended years in exile on account of the converts. This view is supported by the Gemara (Pesachim 87b), “Why are Bnei Yisrael spread out among the gentiles, more than any other nation? It is so that converts should be attracted to them.”
Rabbi Avraham the Convert explains that converts are scrupulous in mitzvah observance. They thereby indict the Jews, who sin and do not always do Hashem’s will (Tosafot, Kiddushin 70b).
“The Torah that Moshe commanded us is the heritage of the Congregation of Jacob” (Devarim 33:4). Our Sages expound (Midrash Tehillim 1): The pasuk does not say “the heritage of the House of Jacob” or “the heritage of the seed of Jacob.” The term “the Congregation of Jacob” implies all who join the family of Jacob. These are the converts, who unite with our people in serving Hashem (Ramban, Devarim 33:4).
There are thirty-six places where the Torah warns us to love the convert and not cheat him, verbally or financially. Converts are more cherished by Hashem than those who were born Jews. This can be compared to two people. One loves the king, while the other is beloved to the king. Who is greater? The one whom the king loves. Am Yisrael love Hashem, but Hashem loves the convert. Therefore, we, too, are enjoined to love the convert (Sefer Chassidim 16).
