PRIVACY OF A CONVERT Walter Jacob
QUESTION: The congregation keeps a public register in its library of all the life cycle events such as birth, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, confirmations, marriages, and deaths. All conversions are also included. Does such a public register of conversions invade the privacy of the convert? Is it appropriate to maintain it in the congregational library?(Rabbi J. Edelstein, Monroeville, PA )*
ANSWER: Conversion in Judaism is a public rite conducted before a court of three(Yev. 47b; Yad Hil. Issurei Biah 13.14, Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh Deah 268, 269). Such requirements obviously makes it initially a public act and assures proper status in the community for the convert. We, however, are concerned with the sensitivity of converts at a later time. Two discussions provide some insight into this question. All converts receive a Hebrew name. Although nothing is said about this in the major codes, it has become a
general custom. New male converts are generally named"the son of Abraham "; Abraham is considered the father of all proselytes (Tanhuma Lekh Lekha 32, ed. Buber ). Although this custom 1s frequently followed(Shulhan Arukh, Even Haezer 129.20; Felder, Nahalat Tzevi 1.31, 124), it is not mandatory, nor is anything said
about naming female proselytes, although we often name them"the daughter of Ruth," the most famous Biblical female proselyte. As such names are publicly used particularly in the Torah service, they are a public reminder of conversion.
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