Vayikra

“Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: When a person from among you will bring an offering to Hashem; from the animals-from the cattle and from the flocks you shall bring your offering” (1;2).

The Gemara (Talmud Yerushalmi) learns out from this pasuk that converts are allowed to bring “korbanos” (sacrifice offerings). However, even non Jews are allowed to bring sacrifice offerings! Therefore, what need is there for a pasuk to teach us that converts are permitted to bring korbanos? If non-Jews are allowed to bring sacrifice offerings then obviously converts are also!?

Similarly, converts are obligated to observe all 613 mitzvot. Therefore, what possible reason could there be to think that converts wouldn’t be allowed to offer “korbanos” to Hashem if even non-Jews are allowed to?

Rabbi Yochanan Zweig explains that a “korban” (sacrifice offering) represents a person. Similarly, the Ramban states that when a person brings an animal as a “korban,” the fat of the animal is considered to be like our fat, the blood of the animal is considered to be like our blood, etc. Now, even after a person converts to Judaism they are still subject to certain different laws than people who were born Jewish. For example, a convert is permitted to marry a “mamzer” (a person born from a relationship prohibited in the Torah). We therefore see that even though a person becomes obligated to observe all 613 mitzvot after converting, their body nevertheless doesn’t have the same level of sanctification. The physical reality of a convert’s body doesn’t have the same level of spirituality of the body of a Jew from birth. We therefore could have thought that when a convert brings an animal as a “korban”, the animal is unable to represent his body as it doesn’t have the same degree of holiness as the body of a Jew. The Talmud Yerushalmi is therefore teaching us-not only is a convert able to bring a “korban” and be considered the real owner of it (in contrast to non-Jews who are simply considered to be giving a gift when bringing a korban) but a convert is also able to have his body attain a level of holiness good enough for the animal he brings as a “korban” to represent his own body.