reference to the ger, as to his rights and his privileges and the treatment due him. If, then, in spite of the full Biblical discussion of the ger, there is no mention at all of initiatory rites, the silence is eloquent indeed and would certainly tend strongly to prove that actually there were no such rites required. Of course, it was necessary for the Conference Report to explain away the trick which Simeon and Levi played on Shechem and his son Hamor. The action was denounced by Jacob in his blessing. Besides, it was before the giving of the Torah , and, in addition, we do not derive laws from stories or incidents. Next, the statement in Exodus 12:45 must be explained, which says that the ger must circumcise all the males of his household before participating in the paschal lamb,"for no uncircumcised may eat of it." This verse does not prove that any initiatory rites were required for the ger himself. It means that when the ger becomes a Jew, he has the Jewish duty of having his household circumcised. This is proved by the fact that the close of the sentence,"no uncircumcised shall eat of it," means"no uncircumcised Jew shall eat of it." See the clear statement in
Targum Jonathan and Rashi’s commentary to the verse. We see, then, that the Torah , which speaks in such detail of the ger, never clearly mentions any requirement of initiatory rites when he becomes a Jew.
As for the statement in the report that there is not clear law in the Mishnah requiring initiatory rites for gerim, there are two passages in the Mishnah that need to be explained away. In Eduyot 5:2, Bet Hillel says, with regard to a ger, that to be rid of the foreskin is like escaping from the grave. This is not taken as law, but is just a moral opinion, one which is mentioned only incidentally with regard to other matters.(But, of course, in Pesachim 8:8 it is mentioned by Bet Hillel more clearly; and it is taken for granted that circumcision is required.) The author of the Mishnah , says definitely in a baraita, in Ker. 9a, that with regard to circumcision gerim are like Jews and have this initiatory rite; but
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