A people is born! Tens of thousands of slaves are called to demonstrate: to slaughter a lamb, to smear its blood on the doorway of their home, and to roast it whole. This action is also an expression of their readiness to leave their familiar home and set off for the unknown in the wilderness.
The birth of a people requires boundaries: who is outside and who is within? At the time of the Exodus, a mixed multitude left with them. There were no admissions committees, no conversion process. For the annual Passover observance, the expectation was clear: “And should a sojourner sojourn with you and make the Passover offering to YHWH, he must circumcise every male of his, then may he draw near to do it … One law shall there be for the native and for the sojourner who sojourns in your midst” (Ex. 12:48, 49) — a painful test for the sojourner joining the Children of Israel, but the same one that a native-born Israelite must undergo. And the women? Until Ezra and Nehemia, the very fact of marrying an Israelite man was considered conversion.
The Jewish people need an infusion of new blood now more than ever. The danger of assimilation must be transformed into a blessing: the conversion of non-Jewish life partners of Jews would add quantity and quality to Jewish life! Welcome within our gates!
