WITHOUT MILAH AND TEVILAH

governed bodily intake, Shabbat focused on the use of the body in space. The focus was constantly on the body of each Jew and its borders; it assured that all Jews were a single body.

Conversion in Judaism is physical and demands milah and tevilah. Maimonides restated the tradition beautifully(the laws of gerut are codified beginning in Isurei Biah 13:1, their presence in that section indicates their physical nature):"Israel entered the covenant through three things: milah, tevilah and offerings." He continued that whenever an"idolater desires to enter the covenant and to seek shelter under the wings of the Shekhinah and receive the yoke of the Torah, " he must do the same. The experience of the body of Israel becomes the experience of the bodies of all those who wish to enter the body of Israel .

Conversion by its very nature also raises for us as liberal Jews the issue of pluralism in halakhah. Pluralism means that we are serious when we say that differences are legitimate and that we accept the obligation to speak to several distinct audiences at once. What we say must be addressed not only to members of our own movement, but also to all other Jews , religious and secular, and to all persons. The matters with which we deal must be correctly presented in an intellectually acceptable way. Our halakhah must speak in a responsible language in a pluralistic society.

The Philadelphia Conference was the first American Reform Conference. David Einhorn and Samuel Adler , who had attended the European Conferences, summoned their colleagues. Like the great posqim of the past, they assumed authority to restate the Torah . As one reads Maimonides ’ introductions, especially to Mishneh Torah , one comes away with respect for the power of the posqim to act independently. It confirmed the power of the learned