Converts and Souls
I think most of us have heard the idea that those who converted to Judaism always had Jewish souls. Izgad has a post on converts where he mentions the opposite concept, one which I have never heard before - Jewish apostates who converted to other religions had non-Jewish souls. This on the surface seems contrary to what I've always heard, which is no matter what happens, a Jew always retains a spark of the Jewish soul inside, a 'pintele Yid'
posted by e-kvetcher at 2:10 PM
1 Comments:
The idea that there's "a Jewish soul" or a non-Jewish one hits way too close to the Nazi ideas, rather unfortunately, but it's more of the same fuzzy feeling logic that there are "sorts" who are predestined for something or other. People aren't born with one sort of soul or another. They are what they are by choices, even if they don't understand them.
For instance, if my theological agreement goes as far as the Conservative movement but not Modern Orthodoxy, does that mean I have a Jewish soul, a partly Jewish soul, or a non-Jewish soul.
Depends on who you ask, doesn't it?
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