Why Convert to Judaism?

uh question of people that are converting, what incentive do they have to convert? Why convert? If you could achieve the same result if you're a righteous gentile like Job, Noah, Enoch, Adam. If you want to attain higher spirituality, who's to stop you? Why the need to go through all the process of conversion because you're going to be held responsible for your sins in Olam Haba, Jose, in Olam Haba, isn't it better to stay righteous gentile than to be a Jew? Uh you're almost guaranteed great rewards. It's hard being a righteous Jew. Uh think of it as being a righteous gentile and a heretic and a Okay, I get the point. All right. So, why would anybody convert? Now, of course, everybody has their own reasons of why they want to convert. And I'll tell you some things of as far as the reasons that I've heard through the many, many uh converts that I've dealt with over the years. And I'll also tell you of some of the things that some of the reasons they should convert even if they don't know. As far as the reasons of why people convert uh to Judaism is because they want more than just a uh a unorganized way of serving Hashem as a Noahide. Generally speaking, Noahides do not have an organized uh format of serving Hashem. So, when they pray, they pray from their own words. They don't pray from a siddur. Uh when they uh uh um are uh doing a uh eating something, there's no blessing. There's no holidays. There's no gatherings of the community. Even though there's a few places where there are Noahides, generally speaking, there's no real legitimate uh uh uh uh Noahide communities everywhere. So, really, when you're a Noahide, you're on your own. You're on your own, and it's very difficult to remain on your own uh you know, as far as growing that over time. Why? Because you may be okay being on your own cuz you've already lived life, saw the world, and decided that this is the right way. But your kids may want to go somewhere else. Your kids may want to go in a different direction. So your kids, you know, that are on the path with you in the beginning as a Noahide, one day they're going to grow up. They're going to want to, you know, go and date and get married with somebody and they may, you know, meet somebody that they could believe uh they could build a family with that's not only not a Noahide, but is actually a idol worshiper. So what are you going to tell them? No, you're not allowed to marry a Christian because you're a Noahide? Good luck with that one. So the longevity of a Noahide is very, very difficult to maintain. That's That's another reason. Uh the the third reason uh is that there's people want to be part of the chosen people. They want to be part of Klal Yisrael because they know Am Yisrael is special. Am Yisrael is the uh oldest nation in the world. It's the nation that outlived all of its enemies and Be'ezrat Hashem will continue to outlive all of its enemies. All of the people that tried to destroy us, Hashem destroyed them. All of the enemies of Am Yisrael, Hakadosh Baruchu removed from the world and protected us despite the whole process being very painful, we are here and they are not. Now, the Noahides don't have such a protection because there is no Noahide nation. There is no Noahide nation. So if, let's say, you're a Asian Noahide and uh people decide uh that uh you know, we're going to, you know, go to war with Asia. We're going to go to the war with China or some other India or something like that. There's no like unity among the Noahides in that country. You know, or even in the around the world. But a Jew a Jew doesn't matter if he lives in India or he lives in uh Pakistan. >> [laughter] >> He doesn't matter if he lives in Australia or America. It doesn't matter if he lives in a hole or a mansion. Once there's issues in the world, we unite. We simply unite. Why? Cuz we all know at the end of the day, they're uniting us even if we don't want to unite each other uh with each other. So, there is a unity and people want to be part of that unity. That unity is the oldest unity in the world. Uh so, that's another reason. Now, there are some other things that perhaps say a person uh doesn't understand uh whether they're a Noahide in the process of conversion or they're convert already or they're a Jew. And these are the things that they should know. Being a righteous Noahide is a lot more difficult than people think. That's why I always tell people, if you have the ability to convert and you don't, you are an idiot. Why? Because to convert to become a Jew gives you not only a uh a bigger burden of mitzvot if you will and so on, but in reality, it's a bigger opportunity to serve Hashem on a higher level. Uh but aside from that, it gives you a get-out-of-jail-free card that you don't have as a Noahide. What's that get-out-of-jail-free card? Teshuvah. Teshuvah is a special gift Hashem gave to Am Yisrael, meaning that although all people can technically repent and say I'm sorry to Hashem, if the person is a Jew and they repent at the highest level, they do teshuvah at the highest level, meaning not just from fear of punishment and Gehenna, but also even fear of the Almighty and his majesty and even loving him and so on, Hakadosh Baruch Hu turns all of the sins into mitzvot. They get rewarded for some of their mistakes in the past due to this teshuvah, but even if they don't go to the highest level of teshuvah, they still turn they lower their the the punishment because the intentional sins become accidental, the accidental sins become pretty much non-existent. The Noahide doesn't have such a thing. A Noahide says him sorry, Hashem says, "Okay, no problem. I accept it and I forgive you, but I still have to punish you." Not permanent like it was before, but a but a Noahide will still have to be punished. Why? The teshuvah, the full teshuvah, the irrational teshuvah is only a special gift for the Jewish people. So, that's also when it comes to gehennam, the the the options are are much better for the Jew, to say the least, as far as avoiding punishment. The same thing goes with heaven. The heaven of a righteous Noahide is nothing in comparison to the heaven of a righteous Jew. Meaning, if you're already going to serve Hashem to the best of your ability and so on, you want to get the best, you know, the best price for for what you're doing, right? The highest level of heaven for a for a Noahide is nowhere near nowhere near standard heaven for a Jew. They're a lower They have a lower heaven. It's a completely different heaven. It's a completely different heaven. And it's much lower than a Jew's heaven, both because the Jew has to do a lot more in order to earn heaven, and also because there's a lot more on the line for the Jew to lose if they don't uh follow suit. So, the heaven, the reward for a Jew is a world apart or worlds apart than than the the Noahide. The It's There's nothing in comparison. Third, there isn't a special protection uh over the the the Noahide like there is on the Jew. You know, both spiritual and physical. Hashem did not promise the righteous Noahides that he'll uh feed them and bathe them and never eliminate them and so on and so forth. All those promises are only for Jews. All those promises are only for Jews, the special blessings for Jews. Now, of course, there are blessings for righteous Noahides, but uh let's not uh think for a moment it's the same thing. Even if they are righteous, they're not it's not the same thing. It's not the uh the same thing. Uh that's another thing. Uh also in regards to uh the uh the the the gentiles that have you know you're mentioning Noah, Job, Hanoch, uh Adam Harishon, and so on. They are not normal Noahides. Why they're not normal Noahides? Because there was no other option beforehand. Uh so, even though technically Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov technically are considered Noahides, if you will, they're not considered Noahides like a Noahide would be today. Why? Because the Torah wasn't They're only considered Noahides because the Torah was wasn't officially given to the entire people yet. They had it and they followed it, but it wasn't a nation yet. So, they were only in that class because there wasn't a Jew officially yet until Mount Sinai. Until Mount Sinai. So, a Noahide of today is not related to uh to Jacob. Not related to Isaac. Uh it's not necessarily related to to Abraham. You know, so so that's that's another it's completely two different animals. Uh everyone is related to Noah because the world restarted over again from Noah. Or the same thing with Adam. Same thing. Uh same also with Job. Job was lived at a time before Matan Torah, before the uh their acceptance of the Torah. So, uh so that's uh that's another thing. Uh so, it's not the same the same type of thing. The other thing is also, again, your your you can't really uh put the average person of today in the same caliber as the most righteous people that ever lived, too. You know, Job is one of the most righteous people that ever lived. Noah is one of the most righteous people that ever lived. Enoch turned into an angel. He became Malachi Maimonides. He's not even a human being anymore. Adam and Eve as far as intense and purposes also is not really a typical human being. So, it's not really the same apple to apple type of thing. And also the expectance that Hashem expectation that Hashem had from those people that you're mentioning is much higher than he does for a regular Noahide of today. Therefore, their reward was much higher. But also his tolerance for mistakes of your typical Noahide today is very different. So, that's another thing. The the the reward and the punishment and the chuva pretty much the whole spiritual aspect the whole spiritual world of the Jew is completely different than the Noahide. Completely different. And so, that's another thing. Longevity, like I said before, is almost non-existent in a Noahide world. And if a person can't convert, they should convert. But really the biggest thing would be is that if you a person truly loves Hashem, then they should want to serve him in the best possible way. You know, if you if a person truly loves their wife, they should express their love to their wife the best possible way and not just say, "Hey, listen." What's "eh"? What's "eh"? "Eh, you know, eh." Say it. Speak. Speak. Oh, you write her a text message. You know, "143." Speak! Say something. Why? You really love me. Say something. Say something. Say I love you. What are you, mute? Say something. You shy? You're not shy when you know Come on. So, it's the same thing. Person serving Hashem I love you Hashem, but they only want to serve him with a few mitzvot. It's a joke. So, more a person loves Hashem, the more they want to serve Hashem. They have to look at the mitzvot as opportunities to connect to Hashem, as opportunities to serve Hashem, as opportunities to to to love to show the expression of love to Hashem. That's what a person loves Hashem does. And you know, and just because they're serving him less doesn't mean that their punishment is less. That's a mistake. Because the punishment for a Noahide is much more severe in many cases than a Jew. Why? Because, for example, we have different punishments for different sins as Jews. If a person steals and he returns it on his own, then he's okay. If he steals and he gets caught, he has to pay double. Okay? A non-Jew steals, death penalty. Okay? Whether he steals $1 or he steals $100 billion, it's death penalty. Death penalty by the Torah. Okay? Everything for the non-Jew is death penalty. There is no like, oh, slap him on the wrist, whip him a little bit, say I'm sorry. No, everything is death penalty for the Noahide. So, it's not exactly the ideal situation for someone that can do more. For someone that can serve Hashem better, because again, although there are more mitzvot, there is lesser punishment for your mess up, there is more ways to rectify, there's more a to to fix certain things and there's more mercy. Uh This In so many words, it's a bigger deal, but it's a better deal. Whereas the Noahide thinks that he's saving himself with some time and some obligations, but it's not necessarily the case. If he messes up in anything, which he will, he is earning himself a punishment that is is severe. That's it. It's it's just a reality of things. So, that's why I tell people, "Don't think that just because you have less mitzvot, you have a better deal. It's not a better deal. It's a lesser reward. It's in many cases a bigger punishment. And it's a There's many many more ways to mess up than people imagine. Uh many more ways to to mess up people imagine. And I think personally, for you know, a person that has a family and as being one of the my most you know, important things in my life, but also one of the things that I've talked to people about more than more than most things, I think that anybody that's in this world that's not a teenager, you know, someone that's already married and and and and thinking about you know, the future and so on, wants longevity. Wants their kids to continue doing what they're doing. This It's almost impossible to do that as a Noahide. It's almost impossible to do that as a Noahide. Pretty much, it's very likely that you're the Noahide's children will either go to and become a different religion of of idolatry. Sometimes they'll become Jews. But many times they'll become you know, atheists and or you know, or or or agnostic they call but really just another form of atheism. Cuz they just live in the world like an animal and listen to nothing and no one. So, uh it's a It's not It's not such a great great bargain like people think Uh and as soon as a person has the ability to convert they should convert immediately because the Gamorah says that anyone that delays their own conversion not because the bad being converts delays it or financial difficulties delay it or things like that but they themselves delayed because they you know want to have good time they want to make some more sins for a longer that's not really a sin for them anymore. They'll actually get punished for that once they become a Jew Hashem will actually rebuke them for not converting sooner because that they already knew the truth and they delayed serving him to full potential the Gamorah says that Hashem will punish them for it. So it's it's a the ideal situation for a person is to serve Hashem at the highest possible capacity. So many words you wake up in the morning only because Hashem allowed you to wake up and your old job of the day is to serve Hashem and and connect Hashem to everything you do in your life. Even if you're working and you're cleaning bathrooms or you're selling cars or you're building houses or whatever you but you have to connect Hashem to everything that you do. That's what a person is supposed to live like from morning until sleep Hashem is part of their life is part of their thoughts all day and you know every day and and really try to emulate our forefathers that literally thought about Hashem 24 hours a day 7 days a week to the point where they were able to manipulate nature because they really didn't belong among the commoners of the world because they were so holy. So when a person is a Noachide it's not it's it's not necessarily as easy to do that because you're also surrounded by people that are more most likely not in the same direction as you whereas in the Jewish world there are Jewish communities where you'll have you know, some really good people that you can you know have support back and forth with and and and and build something together with and be part of a community. You don't really have that in the Noahide world. So that community can mean a lot to somebody. Now again, a person can become holy as a righteous Noahide. There's no question about it. Eliyahu Hanavi says in Tanna D'vei Eliyahu that whether Jew or Gentile, whether male or female, whether you know, a rich person or a maidservant, you know, everyone can get to a point of having Ruach Hakodesh, you know, as far as you know, having a extraordinary spiritual power that's beyond our comprehension if they're holy enough, not because they woke up on the right side of the bed, but if they holy, you know, they sanctify themselves, they can get to a point of Ruach Hakodesh. But that's going to be a lot more difficult to do if you're surrounded by you know, a bunch of idol worshipers, which is very common in the vast majority of the world. And you're going to say, "No, no, I'll go to I'll live in a religious Jewish community." So if you're going to live in a religious Jewish community with the kollel next door and a synagogue next door, why don't you just become a Jew? What? You think you're saving yourself any punishment or any responsibility because of it? You're not. You're actually you're actually taking a very very big risk. Very very big risk, much bigger risk than you can imagine because if you do mess up, your your way back home is much more difficult. Much more difficult. So if a person can convert, they should. And they should do it as soon as they possibly can. >> [music] >> Oh.