Converts & Their Descendants — BT Gittin 57b — #139

At that moment, [Nebuzaradan] contemplated  repentance. He said [to himself]: If, for one soul, [the Jewish people are punished in] this [way], then that man [i.e., me], who has killed all those souls, all the more so [will I be punished]. He fled, sent a document to his house [explaining the disposition of his property], and converted [to Judaism]. It was taught in a baraita: Naaman was a ger toshav. Nebuzaradan was a convert. [Some of] Haman’s descendants studied Torah in B’nai B’rak. [Some of] Sisera’s descendants taught children in Jerusalem. [Some of] Sennacherib’s descendants taught Torah in public. Who are they? Shemaia and Avtalyon.

INTRODUCTION

As is clear from the opening words, we are entering amidst a complex and grisly story. The  backstory, recounted by R. Chiyya b. Avin, concerns Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia responsible for conquering Judea and destroying the first Temple in 586 B.C.E. Nebuzaradan razed the Temple and the walls of the city, set fire to Jerusalem, and deported thousands of Jews of Jerusalem and Judah into exile in Babylon. It is difficult to imagine someone the Rabbis reviled more. Leading up to this passage, the Rabbis recount that Nebuzaradan executed three million Jews. The river of blood from this massacre flowed over the very spot where Jews had murdered their own prophet, Zechariah, provoking Zechariah’s blood to come bubbling up from the ground. As he died, 2 Chronicles 24:22 recounts that he proclaimed, “May Adonai see and demand [retribution for my blood]!” Understanding the massacre he engineered as God’s means of punishing the Jewish people for having killed their own prophet, Nebuzaradan realized that God would punish him for massacring millions. In a frantic effort to appease Zechariah and mitigate God’s wrath toward him, Nebuzaradan murdered the members of the Sanhedrin, young people, and even schoolchildren in a vain attempt to avenge Zechariah, to no avail. Finally, he threatened the total annihilation of the Jewish people and the prophet’s blood ceased bubbling up from the ground.

COMMENTARY

Nebuzaradan realizes that God has used him to punish the Jewish people for having killed their own prophet. He reasons that if God requires this many lives in recompense for just one, his punishment will be far greater for his having massacred millions. This terrifying thought inspires him to repentance, which the Rabbis understand as conversion to Judaism. The notion that someone as wicked as Nebuzaradan became a Jew inspires the Rabbis to recount an earlier teaching (a baraita) that says Nebuzaradan was not the only reviled enemy of the Jewish people to convert to Judaism, and in five remarkable cases, the outcome for the Jewish people was a blessing. The first two cases are Naaman and Nebucharazan. Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram, fought against Israel (see 2 Kings 5). Although he did not convert, he becomes a get toshav, a foreign resident who accepts the Seven Mitzvot of the Children of Noah living peacefully among the Jewish people. Nebuzaradan fully converts: he becomes a Jew. 

The last three example are far more interesting and significant, because not only did three of Israel’s bitterest enemies—Haman, Sisera, and Sennacherib—convert to Judaism, but their descendants became teachers and scholars of Mishnah and Talmud. The line of Haman, the archvillain in the Book of Esther, who plotted the annihilation of the Jewish people, includes talmidei chakhamim (rabbinic scholars) in B’nei B’rak, a famous school founded by students of Rabban Yochanan b. Zakkai. During the time of Deborah, the Canaanite general Sisera battled Israel for two decades(Judges 4, 5). While he did not convert, some of his descendants did and taught Torah to children in Jerusalem. R. Akiba, whom the Rabbis considered a “second Moses,” was said to be a descendant of Sisera. Sennacherib was the king of Assyria who attacked dozens of cities in  Judah and unsuccessfully laid siege to Jerusalem in 701 B.C.E. Although Sennacherib did not convert, his descendants Shemaiah and Avtalyon—esteemed rabbinic leaders of their day and Hillel’s teacher—did.

The Bible holds that some of the greatest figures were converts, or descendants of converts, including: Ruth and her descendant,  King David, and the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, as well as many Sages of the Oral Tradition. Our passage affirms the blessing converts are to the Jewish people. In the historical landscape, and outside the issue of conversion, it reminds us that both as a people and in our personal lives, those who are today our enemies may some day be allies and friends. Therefore it is wise to never give up on people.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER AND DISCUSS

1. Talmud variously speaks of converts in glowing terms and expresses trepidation about them. Given Talmud's historical context, why do you think this was so?
2. According to the Rabbis, Nebuzaradan is motivated to convert by fear of punishment. This is not what inspires converts today. If you, or relatives, or friends converted to Judaism, what was the motivation?
3. Why do you think Midrash Tanchuma (below) makes the striking claim that converts are more precious to God than those who stood at Mount Sinai? What does this say about the power of teshuvah (repentance)? Today, is conversion an act of repentance or a choice of religious identity and spiritual values?

R. Shimon b. Lakish said: A proselyte is more precious to the Holy Blessed One than those who stood at Mount Sinai. Why? Had those who stood at Mount Sinai not experienced thunder, fire, lighting, the quaking of the mountain, and the sound of shofarot, they would not have accepted Torah. But proselytes do not experience any of these, yet are accepted by the Holy Blessed One, and take on the yoke of the kingdom of heaven. Is there anyone more precious than that? (Tanchuma, Lekh Lekha 6)