David B. Ruderman - Converts of Conviction: Faith and Scepticism in Nineteenth Century European Jewish Society

Converts of Conviction

Studies and Texts in Scepticism

Edited by

Giuseppe Veltri

in cooperation with

Rachel Aumiller

Editorial Board

Heidrun Eichner, Talya Fishman, Racheli Haliva, Henrik Lagerlund, Reimund Leicht, Stephan Schmid, Carsten Wilke, Irene Zwiep

Volume 1

The series Studies and Texts in Scepticism is published on behalf of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies

ISBN 978-3-11-048714-5

e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-053079-7

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Cover image: Staats- und Universittsbibliothek Hamburg, Ms Cod. Levy 115, fol. 158r: Maimonides, More Nevukhim, Beginn von Teil III.

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David B. Ruderman

The study of Jewish converts to Christianity in the modern era had long been marginalized in Jewish historiography. Labeled disparagingly in the Jewish tradition as meshumadim [apostates], many earlier Jewish scholars treated these individuals in a negative light or generally ignored them as not properly belonging any longer to the community and its historical legacy. This situation has radically changed in recent years with an outpouring of new studies on converts in variegated times and places, especially in the modern era, culminating perhaps in the most recent synthesis by Todd Endelman in 2015.

Endelmans important work has already been widely discussed in recent scholarly literature and might serve as the starting point or launching pad of this book of essays. Endelmans primary argument is that in the modern era the overwhelming majority of Jews who converted to Christianity did so for social or economic reasonsto marry non-Jewish partners, enhance their social prestige, or advance their careers and economic well-being. In other words, when modern Jews, both in western and eastern Europe, opted for conversion, they usually did so for strategic or pragmatic reasons, to overcome an inferior and segregated status in a social and political environment generally hostile to Jews:

Endelman further contends that most Jews who became Christians in the modern era were insincere and did not believe in the Christian faith or were at least indifferent to it whatever form it actually took: For them conversion was a strategic or practical move, much like changing a name or altering a nose.

Regarding these exceptional individuals, he makes two additional points. First, much of what has been written about them is not sufficiently scholarly but primarily hagiographic or conversionist in intent: Little of it seeks to understand the historical context that shaped their path from Judaism to Christianity. Second, by overemphasizing the spiritual dimension of these converts experience, there is a danger of disconnecting them from the majority of Jews who converted for non-spiritual reasons, or in his words:

Given that most human behavior is overdetermined, it is difficult to believe that the true believers were ignorant of the social and emotional advantages of abandoning Judaism. I do not want to argue that their conversions were inauthentic, but, rather that they were driven by a complex of motives, needs, and perceptions []. Moreover, even it were true that these conversions were spiritual transformations pure and simple, exceptional events removed from the common run of human experience, the language they used to describe their journey toward Christianity was rooted in the time-bound attitudes of the period. The invidious way in which they contrasted Judaism and Christianity, and the terms they used to disparage the one and exalt the other, emerged from the same negation of Jews and Judaism that motivated strategic conversion. Thus, conversions of convenience and conversions of conviction were not altogether dissimilar.

The authors of this volume certainly concur with the gist of Endelmans argument. Most modern converts left the Jewish fold for economic, social, or political reasons; those who chose to convert for ideological and spiritual motives were a considerably smaller group; and the distinction between those who converted for convenience and those who converted for conviction is never absolute. Indeed, Endelmans claim that the so-called converts of conviction have not been studied adequately nor properly in their historical context appears to us as a welcome invitation for further research. Accordingly, it is the purpose of this volume to consider more fully the latter group, perhaps the most interesting from the perspective of Jewish and Christian cultural and intellectual history: those who moved from Judaism to Christianity out of a conviction that they were choosing a superior religion, and out of doubt or lack of confidence in the religious principles and practices of their former religion. Their spiritual journeys often led them to suspect and challenge their newly adopted beliefs as well, and some even returned to Judaism or adopted a hybrid faith consisting of elements of both religions. Their intellectual itineraries between Judaism and Christianity offer a unique perspective on the formation of modern Jewish identities, Jewish-Christian relations, and the history of Jewish sceptical postures.

Endelmans cautionary words that even converts of conviction can be motivated by economic and social factors as well as by the cultural discourse in which they are framing their conversion narratives are well taken. But, of course, this might also allow us to consider that so-called converts of convenience need not always be indifferent or unaware of religious concerns and religious discourse. Their striving for social mobility and integration might have been accompanied, in some cases, by spiritual concerns as well. Given the complexity of human lives, and the still powerful hold of religious ideologies and institutions in the modern era, convenience and conviction should never be viewed as entirely inseparable. Religious ideology might indeed provide the necessary legitimation or justification of less noble social or economic aspirations. Moreover, while converts of conviction could easily be tainted by non-ideological factors in approaching the baptismal font or influenced by the hostile language against Judaism in the public forum, it would be unwise to reduce their spiritual and intellectual yearnings to socio-economic factors alone. Particularly when the convert leaves an impressive archival or printed record of the process of his/her transformation from Jew to Christian, it is incumbent upon the historian to take these articulations seriously, albeit with the care and scrutiny with which one should examine any ego-document.