Rambam concludes his enumeration of various categories of heretics in the third chapter of Hilchot Teshuva by instructing us that
“If such a person repents from his wicked deeds and dies as a Baal-Teshuvah, he will merit the world to come, for nothing can stand in the way of Teshuvah. Even if he denies God's existence throughout his life and repents in his final moments, he merits a portion in the world to come…”
Yet in his Hilchot Avoda Zara (2:5) we find a very different attitude:
“Jewish minim are not considered to be Jews with regard to any matter. Their repentance should never be accepted…It is forbidden to talk to them or to reply to them at all…”
Responding in a letter to a questioner, Rambam clarified that a person who undertakes genuine repentance is always accepted before God and can therefore receive a portion in the World to Come. The Jewish community, on the other hand, is to remain eternally suspicious of such a person and their motives despite their apparent show of repentance.
Rambam’s hostile attitude to the returning apostate is surprising given some of his other better-known rulings which appear to encourage a more tolerant approach. First concerning Jews born into Karaite communities he considered that:
The children of these errant people and their grandchildren whose parents led them away and they were born among these Karaites and raised according to their conception, they are considered as a children captured and raised by them. Such a child may not be eager to follow the path of mitzvot, for it is as if he was compelled not to…Therefore it is appropriate to motivate them to repent and draw them to the power of the Torah with words of peace. [Hilchot Mamrim 3:3]
He also penned a heart-warming letter to Ovadia – a recent convert from Christianity – reassuring him that
“Know that our fathers, when they came out of Egypt, were mostly idolators; they had mingled with the pagans in Egypt and imitated their way of life, until the Holy One, may He be blessed, sent Moshe our Teacher, the master of all prophets, who separated us from the nations and brought us under the wings of the Divine Presence, us and all proselytes, and gave to all of us one Law. Do not consider your origin as inferior. While we are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you derive from Him through whose word the world was created.”
Putting these sources together, it would seem that Rambam’s suspicion and unwillingness to accept repentance is limited specifically to a previously believing and observant Jew who actively chose to break rank and leave the Jewish faith. This suggestion can draw support from the Kessef Mishneh commentary who identifies Rambam’s sources as Talmudic passages concerning “Acher” – the Tannaitic sage who is notorious for his public descent into heresy.
This all got me wondering about Rambam’s position and how it contrasts with the more prevalent attitude today in many circles to Jews who have abandoned their faith. Was the strong reaction to apostasism solely on account of the community’s dismay at the person’s theological realignment or was there perhaps an additional historical context?
For many persecuted Jewish communities struggling through the brutal medieval period, leaving the faith meant betraying their friends, family and nation, and crossing the lines to join the ranks of our oppressors. Many of our greatest antagonists in these centuries were apostates trying to prove their loyalty to their newfound gentile groups. Might this have contributed to the notion that Jews who have left the faith have opted for a path of no return?
It is interesting to note that how recent generations have seen a perceptible shift; we as a community became very cautious to judge those who lived through the Holocaust and its turbulent aftermath. My elderly great uncle recently recounted to me how his grandfather, who arrived in England from Russia, set shiva for a grandchild who married out and left the faith. In more recent generations, by contrast, my family has been far more tolerant and accepting of those who have pursued this path.
Is this because we live in a more accepting non-Jewish society and no longer see inter-marriage or leaving the faith as such a community betrayal? When viewed from the perspective of a high assimilation rate, this warmer attitude certainly leads to more pleasant family and community interactions – but does it ultimately harm Jewish continuity and by failing to discourage those sitting on the fence from contemplating making the jump out of the fold?
First posted to Facebook 18 September 2023, herehere.
