When we left Egypt there were many non-Jews who left with us. And by the time the Camp of the Israelites is described in the Book of Numbers – really “The Book of the Wilderness” – the erev rav, the mixed multitude who left Egypt with us were integrated into our People.
From the start our nation has been shaped by incredible sojourners and converts. Read my piece in “The Wisdom Daily,” an international blog from Clal where I am a fellow this year.
The expanded version discusses how dedicated we ought to be to making Liberal mikvahs and building curricula for Jewish Literacy that includes Hebrew for prayer and getting around Israel, Jewish history and a study of Jewish artists and the arts.
To practice our pluralism, operate with an ethic of inclusion and welcome converts we ought to invest in expanding our camp, remaining a people who restores our collective soul by embracing those souls who say, like Ruth, “Your God is my God, Your People is my People, Your Land, let me have a share in it.” Yes, an expanded and poetic translation of what the great ancestor of King David said to her mother-in-law Naomi in the Scroll of Ruth.
Were it not for letting the Moabite mother of our future king into Am Yisrael we would never have established our kingdom on Earth. Thank God they let all kinds of souls into the camp.
The Daily Wisdom – It’s Worth Taking the Risk
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Bolton