Some say it is preferable not to appoint a convert as a chazzan for the High Holidays, because the chazzan for the Days of Awe should, in the first place, have righteous parents (Responsa Mishkenot Yaakov by Rabbi Yaakov Baruchin, O.C. 69). As the Talmud says (Yevamot 64a) “the prayers of a Tzadik, the son of a rasha (wicked person), are not the same as those of a tzadik, the son of a tzadik.” (See also Rashi on Gen. 25:21.) (See Rama on O.C. 581:1 that we try to find a most appropriate Chazzan for the High Holidays.)
[Although the convert’s parents may be fine people, they are not considered to be of the same spiritual stature as their son.]
Others disagree and say that a convert may serve as a chazzan on the High Holidays even in the first place. (Birur Halacha by Rabbi Yechiel Silver, Mahadurah Tinyana, O.C. 53.)
Several reasons are given for this opinion:
- Some disagree with the premise that the prayers of a person whose parents are wicked are inferior (Taz O.C. 53:3). They say that, quite the contrary, the prayers of a tzadik, the son of a wicked person, are preferred as he will pray in a humbler manner.
- Spiritually speaking, the convert’s parents are no longer his parents, for when a person converts, he is considered to be like a newborn child (see Yevamot 22a and in many places).
- Every convert has very righteous parents since, spiritually speaking, his father is our patriarch Avraham and his mother, our matriarch Sarah. As the Shulchan Aruch HaRav writes (53:22), “Converts can also say ‘the G-d of our ancestors,’ as implied by the phrase [addressed to Avraham], ‘I have made you the father of a multitude of nations’ — that is to say, ‘From now on, you (Avraham) are the father of all gentiles who will convert.” See also the introduction to Mamar Eim Kol Chai by Rabbi Menachem Azariah of Pano [1548 - 1620 of Italy] that Sarah is the mother of converts.
