Conversion to and from Judaism across Medieval Europe: New Perspectives

Session Submission Type: Panel Session

Abstract

Claims about medieval and early modern Jewish conversion have long been central to key narratives in Jewish historiography. Focusing on violent forced conversions of Jews to Christianity, they have served in particular to illustrate an alleged cultural contrast between Sepharad and Ashkenaz and to advance arguments about the nature of Jewish-Christian relations in these two contexts. By bringing together scholars who study the history of Jewish conversion in diverse and innovative ways, this panel offers a fresh and methodologically wide-ranging framework for the discussion of the history of Jewish conversion. In particular, it seeks to bridge the ingrained historiographic divide between Ashkenaz and Sepharad, the realms of intellectual and social history, and the phenomena of forced and voluntary conversion. In addition, drawing on a great variety of Jewish and Christian sources, it explores the interplay and disjunction between actual experiences of conversion to and from Judaism, on the one hand, and the ways these were perceived and portrayed by both Christians and Jews, on the other.

Sub Unit

• Medieval and Early Modern Jewish History, Literature, and Culture

Chair

• Ephraim Kanarfogel, Yeshiva University

Individual Presentations

• CONVERSUS EGO SUM? Confusion and Ambiguity surrounding Coerced Conversions of Jews during the High Middle Ages - Irven M. Resnick, University of Tennessee

• Conversion, Circumcision, and Ritual Murder in the Thirteenth Century - Paola Tartakoff, Rutgers University

• Making Converts in Summer 1391: Jews, Christians, and soon-to-be Christians in the aftermath of the Tortosa Riots - Benjamin R. Gampel, The Jewish Theological Seminary

Respondent

• Ephraim Kanarfogel, Yeshiva University