Transforming Identity: The Ritual Transition from Gentile to Jew - Structure and Meaning
Of all Judaic rituals, that of giyyur is arguably the most radical: it turns a Gentile into a Jew - once and for all and irrevocably. The very possibility of such a transformation is anomalous, according to Jewish tradition, which regards Jewishness as an ascriptive status entered through birth to a Jewish mother.\ What is the internal logic of the ritual of giyyur, that seems to enable a Gentile to acquire an ‘ascribed' identity? It is to this question, and others deriving from...
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Of all Judaic rituals, that of giyyur is arguably the most radical: it turns a Gentile into a Jew - once and for all and irrevocably. The very possibility of such a transformation is anomalous according to Jewish tradition, which regards Jewishness as an ascriptive status entered through birth to a Jewish mother.In our times, the meaning of Jewish identity is a core issue, directly affecting the public debate regarding the relative weight of religion, nationality and kinship in determining basic aspects of Jewish life throughout the world. This book constitutes a seminal contribution to this ongoing discussion: it enables access to a wealth of halakhic sources previously accessible only to rabbinic scholars, fleshes out their meanings and implications within the cultural history of halakhah, and in so doing situates halakhah at the nexus of contemporary cultural discourse.About the Author:Professor Avi Sagi is the founder and director of Bar-Ilan University's Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Hermeneutics and Cultural Studies, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, IsraelAbout the Author:Professor Zvi Zohar is Chauncey Stillman Professor of Sephardic Law and Ethics at Bar-Ilan University and a Senior Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, Israel
Introduction 1The proselyte's motivation as a factor in giyyur 5Introduction 7The proselyte's motivation in Talmudic sources 9The proselyte's motivation in post-Talmudic sources up to the sixteenth century 19The motivation for giyyur in modern halakhic sources: adaptivist positions 37The motivation for giyyur in modern halakhic sources: rejectionist and transformationist positions 74The giyyur ritual 105Introduction 107Giyyur as a voluntaristic normative commitment in Talmudic literature 108Giyyur as a bodily ritual in Talmudic literature 116The canonical formulation of the ritual of giyyur 141The Yevamot paradigm in mediaeval halakhah 158The ritual of giyyur: aspects of the Demai Paradigm in mediaeval halakhah 177The two paradigms of giyyur - from the Arba'ah Turim to the Shulhan Arukh 196The hermeneutical controversy regarding Rabbi Caro's position - and its significance 208The polyphonic meaning of acceptance of the commandments in halakhic literature 219Introduction 221Acceptance of the commandments as an objective act 223Acceptance of the commandments assubjective intent 233Ex post facto annulment of giyyur 252The meaning of giyyur 265Introduction 26715 Giyyur and Jewish identity 268Bibliography 297Index 307
