If Hashem had recently appeared and provided you with a life mission, an expression of your only course towards self-fulfillment, how quickly would it take for you to find your own path? How quickly would you run away from this revelation? If you are like me, you are probably doubting the very nature of the question. How could I turn my back on such an experience? Yet, the Torah tells us that the “Nation” did just that in reaction to Moshe’s seeming tardiness.

 

In reality, Chazal have taught us that every time the Torah says “the Nation” it refers, not to the Jewish People as a whole, but to the eruv rav. This group, brought upon Moshe’s insistence (see Midrash Rabbah) and over Hashem’s initial opposition, was “a mixture of nations of strangers who converted” (Rashi, Shemos 12:38). It would seem that, perhaps we would have been better without the eruv rav. The Zohar (Ki Sisa 32:1) points out that they were the weak link.

 

The Golden Calf and all the woes which resulted from it are blamed on them. They were consistently the rabble-rousers and the troublemakers (Rashi, Shemos 34:1). In fact, after the Golden Calf episode, they were segregated and no longer allowed to reside within the ananey hakavod, the Clouds of Glory, nor did they receive manna, unless by way of handout from a Jew. They were further restricted from participation in the Mishkan and we are taught that the sinners among the Jews in every generation have been descendants of this group (Zohar, Ki Sisa 32:1).

 

With all of these woes and degradations, one must wonder why Moshe would have insisted on allowing the eruv rav to join us and, even more importantly, why Hashem conceded to his request. Even more troubling is the fact that at most, twenty percent of all Jews survived the exile in Egypt. According to one opinion, as few as one in five hundred Jews survived the plague of choshech (darkness), and stood at Har Sinai to receive the Torah. Why should so many Jews fail to merit exodus, yet the 240,000 members of the eruv rav (Targum Yonasan, Shemos 12:38) should?

 

In all fairness we must first begin our understanding of the eruv rav by pointing out that they were the “pure ones of Mitzrayim,” (Midrash Rabbah 18:10) and that the purpose of the makos (plagues), at least initially, was to educate the Egyptians themselves (Ibn Ezra Shemos 7:5). Furthermore, the eruv rav were the intellectual and religious elite, the intelligentsia, of Mitzrayim. Although they had initially opposed Moshe, with each maka they learned about and understood the greatness of Hashem (Parasha Illuminations, Rabbi Baruch Adler). It would seem reasonable to argue that, at the time of the Exodus, the eruv rav were indeed righteous converts. The strains of subsistence in the midbar, wilderness, was simply too much for them to handle. In fact, the “debate” between Moshe and Hashem regarding this large group mirrors the same discussion between Hashem and His angels regarding the life of Yishmael.

 

After being forced to leave Avraham’s home due to his recalcitrance, Yishmael and Hagar wandered, avoiding a return trip to their homeland of Mitzrayim. However, Yishmael fell sick and Hagar left him to die. Yishmael did teshuvah, repented, and cried out to Hashem. Before Hashem could respond and save Yishamel, the angels protested. Yishmael’s descendants would later antagonize, torture and kill Jews. How could he be saved?

 

The Midrash relates that Hashem’s response was that he must be judged on his current spiritual position, not the future misdeeds and failings that may come. “Ba’asher hu sham,” he must be judged, “Where he is now.” There is, however, a far deeper theological need for the eruv rav and all righteous converts that would follow throughout history. Besides their removal of the evil done by their predecessors and the nations they come from on some level (Maharsha, Chidushey Aggados, Sanhedrin 96b), they are the fulfillment of the bracha issued to Avraham in Bereishis 12:3. The Talmud understands the blessing as “I have two boughs to graft onto you: Rus the Moabite and Na’amah the Amonite.”

 

In order for Avraham, and his nation, to fulfill their mission, they must receive the particular qualities of each nation of the world. The Jewish People are not merely one of the nations of the world, but rather a representative of a universal truth that seeks to encompass the whole of humanity (Maharal, Zevachim 116a). The nations of the world opted out of Hashem’s singular purpose for humanity, but individuals may still opt in (Derech Hashem). In fact the ger, while bringing much good into the nation, potentially carries tremendous baggage. This baggage may sometimes be too difficult to unload upon crossing the threshold into Jewish identity (see Bava Metzia 59b and Rashi to Horayos 13a). This perhaps gives us greater understanding in the need to love the ger (which appears seven times in the Torah). We must shower them with understanding and welcoming overtures to help lessen their burden, a burden we do not relate to but one we must feel sympathy for.

 

It would seem, by extension, that this argument must flow forward, not only to the ger in our midst, but also to the baal teshuvahh. He/she comes to the Torah with a life experience foreign and, sometimes, antithetical to Torah values. For those of us who were fortunate to be raised in a Torah environment, we must never underestimate the sacrifice of the baal teshuvah or the ger.

 

Shabbat Shalom.