Perhaps the most appropriate resolution of this issue may be found in Maimonides ’ responsum to R. Obadiah the Proselyte, which gives his appraisal of a sincere convert:
"A person who has left his parents and birthplace and the sovereignty of his people, who are ruling, who by his understanding heart has joined a people that is so abused and persecuted, because he learned to...recognize that their religion represents truth and righteousness and recognized all this and followed after the Lord and entered beneath the wings of the Divine Presence...desiring His commandments and lifting up his heart to draw near to God in the light of the living...God calls him the disciple of Abraham our father who left his parents and birthplace and turned to the Lord."*
Notes . Teshuvot HaRambam,(ed. Jehoshua Blau), Jerusalem , 1986, v. 2, no. 448. . b. Yevamot 24b. - Responsa HaRashbash, Livorno , 1742, no. 368. . Tosafot Yevamot 24b, s.v. lo bimei David. . b. Shabbat 31a. 6. b. Menahot 44a. - Bet Yosef, Yoreh Deah 268. Cf. Shabbtai Cohen, Siftei Cohen ad loc 12(23).
. b. Yevamot 109b. Modern commentators believe that this is psoriasis, which is not dangerous, but a very bothersome disease which is difficult to cure. See Encyclopedia Hebraica, Jerusalem,1974 , v. 26, col. 766-767.
9. b. Tosefot Yevamot 109b, s.v. ra’ah.