I was invited to a Shabbat lunch today -- always a cause for celebration, but it was especially nice because it was a nice lively bunch of people (and the food was delicious).
There are probably not too many places in the world where a bunch of people get together for a Shabbat meal and a half of them are converts/Jews by Choice, but that happens more than not in Tzfat. For some reason Tzfat attracts converts like bees to clover and a significant percentage of our population are New Jews.
I have a friend (who's husband, incidently, converted) who has an interesting theory. She said that, in the 1500s, many of the Jews who had been forcibly converted by the Inquisition and managed to escape Spanish and Portuguese rule tried to return to Judaism but were initially refused by the rabbis of that era who felt that they had committed blasphemy by allowing themselves to convert -- even under duress -- and thus, could not return.
Quite a few of these Jews made their way to Safed (the Ari Ashkanazi synagogue of Safed was originally started by such Jews...it had been named the Girigoros synagogue because it was established by Spanish Jews who converted and then fled to the Greek island of Girigoros and then came to Safed). Several Safed rabbis, among them Rabbi Beirav and Rabbi Alsheich, advocated for these Jews and were ultimately successful in convincing the Jewish leaders of that era to re-accept the forcibly converted Jews back into the Jewish community.
My friend posits that Safed has a history of acceptance and that's the reason that converts (along with other "seekers") feel so comfortable here.
Whatever the reason, it makes for a diverse community. It's also a good reminder to those of us who are Jews-by-birth that we shouldn't Judaism for granted.
There are probably not too many places in the world where a bunch of people get together for a Shabbat meal and a half of them are converts/Jews by Choice, but that happens more than not in Tzfat. For some reason Tzfat attracts converts like bees to clover and a significant percentage of our population are New Jews.
I have a friend (who's husband, incidently, converted) who has an interesting theory. She said that, in the 1500s, many of the Jews who had been forcibly converted by the Inquisition and managed to escape Spanish and Portuguese rule tried to return to Judaism but were initially refused by the rabbis of that era who felt that they had committed blasphemy by allowing themselves to convert -- even under duress -- and thus, could not return.
Quite a few of these Jews made their way to Safed (the Ari Ashkanazi synagogue of Safed was originally started by such Jews...it had been named the Girigoros synagogue because it was established by Spanish Jews who converted and then fled to the Greek island of Girigoros and then came to Safed). Several Safed rabbis, among them Rabbi Beirav and Rabbi Alsheich, advocated for these Jews and were ultimately successful in convincing the Jewish leaders of that era to re-accept the forcibly converted Jews back into the Jewish community.
My friend posits that Safed has a history of acceptance and that's the reason that converts (along with other "seekers") feel so comfortable here.
Whatever the reason, it makes for a diverse community. It's also a good reminder to those of us who are Jews-by-birth that we shouldn't Judaism for granted.
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