Converts to Judaism

December 8, 2014
Who knew that Sammy Davis Jr. was a convert to Judaism who refused to perform on Yom Kippur, or that Ivanka Trump converted when she married Jared Kushner in 2009? Epstein provides a fascinating read about the various people who have converted to Judaism over centuries, and the circumstances of their conversions. Many of those converts faced extreme reactions: the family of Warder Cresson, for example, had him committed to a mental institution in 1848. Epstein organizes material into eight chapters, covering different historical periods, from converts mentioned in the Bible up to modern conversion in the United States and Israel. Each chapter contains anecdotes, reflections from rabbinical authorities of the period, and discussion of the clashing viewpoints on conversion among Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Jews. Concluding with a chapter on lessons from this history, Epstein admits he is strongly in favor of conversion. “This is especially crucial in a Jewish age marked by increased intermarriage and increased assimilation,” he writes. Superbly researched and insightful, Epstein’s work takes readers on an enlightening journey through Jewish history.

January 1, 2015
Epstein has long taught and written about conversion to Judaism. He points out that, from its beginning, Judaism was obliged to acquire adherents. After all, Adam and Eve weren't Jews, nor was anyone else before Abraham, converted by God and thereafter obliged to convert Sarah and others. The eight pithy chapters of this very compact overview trace the fortunes of conversion to Judaism to the present, when it has again become a mission for many Jews, after a long time in modernity during which it was commonly accepted that one couldn't be a Jew unless one's mother was a Jew. Epstein points out, however, that Jews are often uncomfortable with the word mission because of its strong association with a Christianity that coerced conversion to it. The later chapters on Jews in America and the state of Israel bog down narrative momentum in long-winded descriptions of Internet resources for potential converts and annotated lists of celebrity converts (e.g., Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor); both could have been put in appendixes. Still, a good primer on a little-known reality.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)