Fate & Faith: Jewish Conversion and Covenantal Implications

Abstract

On Israel’s Independence Day in 1956, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik delivered a public address at Yeshiva University entitled: Kol Dodi Dofek (The Voice of My Beloved Knocks), in which he described how the relationship between the Jewish people and God was established through two covenants: the Covenant of Fate, established through the Israelite slavery in Egypt, and the Covenant of Destiny, established during the revelation at Mount Sinai. According to Soloveitchik’s conceptual understanding of Jewish law, every convert to Judaism must commit themselves to these two covenants of national fate and religious destiny. Through a rigorous study of numerous rabbinic texts, including Soloveitchik’s own teachings, this thesis explores the boundaries and interplay between these two individual covenants through apostasy and the different elements of conversion law. This theological understanding will shed light on and provide a framing device for the contemporary debates concerning conversion, which are highly relevant for various immigrant groups, particularly from the former Soviet Union, in the Modern State of Israel.