CONVERSION OF A YOUNG CHILD Walter Jacob

QUESTION: What should be done for a four year old who was baptized as a Catholic and born to a Roman Catholic mother? The mother has now married a Jew who has legally adopted her son. Both have agreed that the child should be converted to Judaism and raised as a Jew. He is surgically circumcised. What procedure should this conversion follow?(O.R., Pittsburgh , PA )*

ANSWER: We should begin by reviewing the traditional requirements for conversion. They are clear(Yev. 46, 47; Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh Deah 268; Yad Hil. Issurei Biah 15); a court of three is necessary. Prospective converts must be warned that they are joining a persecuted community and that many new obligations will be incumbent upon them. They were then to bring a sacrifice(in the days when the Temple stood), take a ritual bath, and in the case of males, be circumcised. To this day the requirements of a

bet din, tevilah, and the berit remain for traditional Jews . The sources are clear on the requirements, but considerable discussion about them exists in the Talmud . For example, R. Eliezer stated that if a prospective male convert was circumcised, or took a ritual bath, he was considered a proselyte. R. Joshua insisted on both, and his point of view was adopted(Yev. 46b). Hillel and Shammai

disagreed about a prospective male convert who was already circumcised. Bet Shammai insisted that blood must be drawn from him, while Bet Hillel stated that one simply accept that circumcision without drawing blood(Shab. 135a). The rabbinic authorities decided in favor of Bet Shammai(Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh Deah 268.1; Yad Hil. Issurei Biah 14.5). Clearly, there were differences of opinion about steps necessary for the ritual of conversion in