http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
the unique perspective of the Bavli on conversion and the construction of Jewish identity
"In this volume, Moshe Lavee offers an account of crucial internal developments in the rabbinic corpus, and shows how the Babylonian Talmud dramatically challenged and extended the rabbinic model of conversion to Judaism. The history of conversion to Judaism has long fascinated Jews along a broad ideological continuum. This book demonstrates that the rabbis in Babylonia further reworked former traditions about conversion in an ever more stringent direction, shifting the focus of identity demarcation towards genealogy and bodily perspectives. By applying a reading-strategy that emphasizes late Babylonian literary developments, Lavee sheds critical light on a broader discourse regarding the nature and boundaries of Jewish identity.
Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction : methods and models -- "Like an Israelite in every respect" : the conversion procedure -- The babylonian "mini-tractate" of conversion -- The invention of the conversion court -- Immersion and circumcision -- Sinai as conversion : acceptance of the commandments -- "Like a scab" : negative attitudes toward converts and conversion -- "Like a scab" : a babylonian expression -- Converting missionary images -- Hillel and shammai revisited -- Hillel and shammai : comparison charts -- "Like a newborn" : the erasure of the convert's past -- Newborn : conversion and the severing of kinship -- The severing of maternal relations in palestinian sources -- A palestinian concept in a geonic text? -- Newborn : from forgiveness of sins to a new personality -- Contextualizing the talmud "against its will" -- Dominantization : the rabbinic conversion of judaism -- Legalization, rabbinization and the shift of authority -- Genealogical anxiety and the body : the Iranian context -- Conclusion : a newborn, an israelite, a scab : the babylonian convert -- The conversion mini-tractate : annotated texts -- The preceding narrative -- The first baraita : the requirement for both immersion and circumcision -- The second baraita : the case of circumcision without immersion -- The third baraita : witnessed conversion -- The fourth baraita : the conversion court -- The fifth baraita : the procedure of conversion -- The sixth baraita : a theological reflection on the suffering of converts -- The meimrot of Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba in the name of Rabbi Yohanan -- Conversion at night and the conversion court -- Bibliography -- Index of sources -- Index of names -- Index of subjects.
Includes bibliographical references (pages [285]-303) and indexes.
Ancient Judaism and early Christianity ; v. 99