<b>And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel (Gen. 14:1).</b> May it please our master to teach us when a proselyte who has been converted on the eve of the Passover is permitted to partake of the paschal lamb. Thus did our masters instruct us: The School of Shammai maintained: Let him undergo ritual immersion and then he may partake of the paschal lamb offering in the evening. The School of Hillel taught: One who is circumcised is like one who leaves a burial site.<sup class="footnote-marker">8</sup><i class="footnote">He must wash his hands, like one who returns from the cemetery, and then he may eat. Pesahim 92a, Buber Tanhuma 5.</i>
R. Simeon the son of Lakish declared: A proselyte is more precious in the sight of the Holy One, blessed be He, than those who stood at the foot of Sinai. Why is this so? If those who stood at the foot of Mount Sinai had not experienced the thunder, the flames, the lightning, the quaking of the mountain, and the sound of the shofarot, they would not have accepted the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven upon themselves, whereas the proselyte, who witnessed none of these things, makes himself acceptable to the Holy One, blessed be He, and receives upon himself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. Is there anyone more precious than this?!
It is related that the convert Onkelos<sup class="footnote-marker">9</sup><i class="footnote">Onkelos the proselyte translated the Bible into Aramaic.</i> asked one of the elders: How can the proselyte be so precious to the Holy One, blessed be He if, in return for his devotion, it is written merely: <i>And He loveth a stranger in giving him food and raiment</i> (Deut. 10:18)? He replied: Even our patriarch Jacob sought no more than that from the Holy One, blessed be He: <i>If God will but give me food to eat and raiment to wear</i> (Gen. 28:20). Our sages stated: The proselyte is so dearly beloved that the Holy One, blessed be He, emphasized his importance through the words of the prophet, as it is said: <i>Why shouldst thou be as a stranger in the land?</i> (Jer. 14:8). The Holy One, blessed be He, declared: I love the proselyte, and these wicked men are conspiring to attack Abraham, the father of all proselytes. Woe unto them, for they are doomed to succumb before him, as it is written in Scripture: <i>And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel.</i> Why was he called Amraphel? Because he ordered Abraham: “Fall into the fiery furnace.”<sup class="footnote-marker">10</sup><i class="footnote">Amraphel is identified with Nimrod in many sources.</i>