Onkelos

What do we know about the conversion of Onkelos? The Talmud tells us in Masechet Gittin (56b-57a) that on the return of Titus to Rome from Yerushalayim, where he had defiled and destroyed the Holy Temple, God wanted to drown him with a huge wave. Titus said, “The God of the Jews has power only on water, where he defeated Pharaoh…come and do battle with me on land.” God said, “O wicked son and grandson of wicked men…I have a certain small creature; go onto land and do battle with it.” When Titus reached land, a flea entered his nose, went into his brain where it proceeded to grow immensely, causing Titus indescribable pain. On his deathbed, he told his servants, “After I die, cremate me and scatter my ashes over the Seven Seas, so that the G-d of the Jews will not be able to find me and bring me to Justice.”

At this time in history, Rome was a persecutor of Israel, but at the same time, many thousands of Romans, impressed with the religion of the Jews, and with their fierce devotion to it, were converting to Judaism. In the same Gemara, we find, “Onkelos, son of Kalonykos, was the son of Titus’ sister, and he wished to convert to Judaism. He raised by witchcraft the spirit of Titus from the dead. He asked his uncle, ‘Who is on top in the World-to-Come?’ Titus answered, ‘Israel.’ Onkelos asked further, ‘I am thinking of converting to Judaism. What is your opinion of that?’ The spirit answered, ‘The Jews have to fulfill too many Laws – you will not be able to do it all. Instead, persecute Israel, and you will be on top, at least while you are alive.’ Onkelos asked him, ‘What is your punishment?’ He answered, ‘What I decreed upon myself. Every day I have to find wood, which is used to burn me, and my ashes are scattered over the Seven Seas.’” Despite the advice of his uncle, Onkelos did convert to Judaism, and studied Torah under the greatest Sages of the Jewish People. So great and holy was his translation of the Torah into Aramaic, the language of the People at that time and the language of the Talmud, that we find in Berachot (8a-8b), “Rav Huna bar Yehuda (alt: Rabbi Ami) said, “A person should always finish the Torah with the Community by reciting the text twice and the Targum once, and even for place-names like Atros and Divon (where the Targum seems not to add much by the mere repetition of the names). For anyone who does so will have his lifetime increased.”