Conflicting Attitudes to Conversion in Judaism, Past and Present

by Isaac Sassoon

Overview

Evidence suggests that conversion originated during the Babylonian Exile. Around the same time, biological genealogy was gaining popularity, especially among priests whose legitimacy was becoming increasingly defined by 'pure' pedigree. When the biological, or ethnic, criterion is extended to the definition of Jewishness, as it seems to have been by Ezra, the possibility of conversion is all but precluded. The Rabbis did not reject the primacy of genealogy, yet were also heirs to a strong pro-conversion tradition. In this book, Isaac Sassoon confronts the tensions and paradoxes apparent in rabbinic discussions of conversion, and argues that they resulted from irresolution between the two conflicting traditions. He also contends that attitudes to conversion can impact not only one's conception of Judaism but also on one's faith, as seems to be demonstrated by authors cited in the book whose espousal of a narrowly ethnic view of Judaism allows for a nepotistic theology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108245227
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/30/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Isaac Sassoon is Senior Lecturer (emeritus) in the Bible and Talmud at the Institute of Traditional Judaism. He is the author of several books on aspects of Judaism, most recently The Status of Women in Jewish Tradition (Cambridge, 2011).

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Hillel and Shammai; 2. Philologizing 'ger'; 3. Metaphoric blood; 4. Ethnicity's apotheosis; 5. A hackneyed myth; 6. David's sons; 7. Priesthood; 8. A post-exilic passover; 9. Priesthoods under the microscope; 10. Moses the first-born; 11. Were converts a caste apart?; 12. Holiness and haughtiness; 13. Seed of doubt; 14. Rites of passage; 15. A quirky blockbuster; 16. Maimonides; 17. Warder Cresson; 18. Canaanites redux; 19. Epilogue.