The Converso Dilemma

Halakhic Responsa and the Status of Forced Converts

By: Juan Marcos Bejarano Gutierrez

Narrated by: S D Cousins

Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

The year was 1391. Spring was about to turn into summer. By the end of the summer, 80 Jewish communities in Castile and Aragon were torn by violence. A third of the Jewish community had been murdered. Perhaps another third of the Jewish community had converted. Only a third of the Jewish population remained intact.

While their conversions had initially been met with a grand celebration by their Christian neighbors, those Jews who had yielded to baptism to rescue their lives and those of their families eventually proved a thorn in the side of the church. Could they be trusted? Were they indeed faithful Catholics? Did they seek to undermine the boundaries which had once been so clear between Jews and Christians? Those are fascinating questions in their own right. Our concern, however, is the status of the individuals who converted under duress. Suspected by Christians, what was their status in Jewish law? How did the Jewish community view these individuals? What are the implications of these opinions in the present day?

This work seeks to answer those questions at least partly by reviewing the world of rabbinic responsa.

The first chapter of this present work is titled "Definitions". It provides a summary of the terms commonly used to designate Jews who converted to Christianity in the Iberian Peninsula and their descendants during the centuries we are reviewing. The goal of this chapter is to provide some historical context for the perception of Jews and Christians toward forced converts.

The second chapter is titled "Rabbinic Responsa: A Limited Lens to the Past". The goal of this chapter is to explore some of the challenges that reading rabbinic responsa presents and understand their fascinating yet complicated window to the past. It also includes an example of the situations we are going to encounter.

The third chapter, titled "Rabbi Isaac bar Sheshet and the Laws of Kashrut", discusses the topic of forced converts and the Jewish dietary laws. It addresses questions regarding the ability of forced converts to offer kosher food and wine.

The fourth chapter, "Conversos, Jews, and the Issue of Marriage", discusses the validity of marriages contracted by Conversos in the Iberian Peninsula as well as divorces.

The fifth chapter, titled the "Obligation of Levirate Marriage", discusses the subject of yibum--i.e., levirate marriage among Conversos.

Chapter six is titled "Changing Views?" and discusses whether rabbinic authorities altered the views on the Jewish status of Conversos.

The seventh chapter, "The Uncircumcised Converso", investigates the status of the descendants of forced converts that had not undergone circumcision. The last chapter, titled "Priestly Lineage and Conver-sos", reviews the claims of the descendants of forced converts who claimed or were told they were Kohanim--i.e., priests.

©2020 Juan Marcos Gutierez (P)2022 Juan Marcos Guterrez

Good history

This book is a good overview of how the Jewish community dealt with forced conversions.