Jewish-Christian Difference and Modern Jewish Identity by Shalom Goldman is definitely worth reading and a holds value in the scholarly contributions to Jewish Studies along with the studies of Gender and Sexuality in Judaism. One of the main reasons I feel this is because from my perspective one of the common narratives regarding conversion in and out of Judaism revolves around marriage. However, I feel that other types of conversion stories with other motivations are discussed less. This book provides a glimpse into the wide array of reasons that the seven people within this book converted. This book is also interesting because it is focused within the 20th century and particularly focuses on conversion stories that occurred after or around World War II. This creates an interesting aspect because these conversions were not motivated or in direct response to the war and the Holocaust. Because of this it is interesting to see how these individuals fit into the fold. The time period becomes a point of conflict in the conversion story of Cardinal Lustiger because many believed that he converted out of fear and in an attempt to abandon his Jewish heritage which is false. In the following review I discuss various aspects of the book that struct me.

A trend within the book, and one that Goldman himself discusses is that often the people in these chapters that convert are looking for greater religious understanding. This idea was very prevalent in the two conversion stories I ended up being most fascinated with. Those were the stories of Ruth Ben David and Jean-Marie Lustiger, the pair of converts from 20th century France. One of the biggest commonalities between these two was that they were seeking greater religious understanding and that they ended up with pretty high ambitions in the religions that they converted to. Both of these life stories begin with a younger individual who is not content with how they are being brought up religiously; they seek more. Ruth came from a Catholic family that was not really religious. Jean came from a Jewish family that was not really observant. This element of their conversion stories is important, and is important to many others. Jean and Ruth were not looking for escape or for a different life, they were looking for fulfillment. I think one of the main questions that gets raised when considering those that convert is why they do it.

While this book provided a glimpse into the lives and the conversion stories of seven unique individuals in and out of Judaism, it also left me wondering if I should have just read a book about one or two people. One of the key aspects of this book is Goldman’s artful pairing of conversion stories that go together in some way, have similarities, and create interesting juxtapositions. While this was definitely a useful tool and provides for the reader an interesting context and frame to read the book within it also left me struggling a little to draw connections across multiple conversion stories instead of just two. I found myself enthralled by the first two conversion stories I read, and dove deeper into Jean-Marie Lustiger via research into New York Times articles written about him. I struggled to jump around and read conversion stories as singular chapters and draw connections without being able to pair some of them together. In total I read five out of the seven conversion stories, along with the introduction and the chapter titled “who is a Jew?”

An aspect discussed in the first chapter of the book is that often for those that convert from Judaism to Catholicism individuals discover the true meaning of the Hebrew bible through reading the New Testament, and the New Testament provides for them something they were lacking. This seemed especially prevalent in the case of Jean-Marie Lustiger who unlocked his parent’s chest of books and read the Protestant bible in its entirety. This aspect of conversion is something I feel is discussed less. Lustiger made it a point multiple times throughout his life that his conversion to Catholicism and his time in the Catholic church provided for him a greater religious understanding and also a new way of being Jewish. Lustiger seems to have gained greater clarity. Lustiger’s story in particular highlights the complexities of conversion (Goldman, 2015).

An interesting finding in my research about Lustiger that is not brought up within the chapter is how often he was asked if he thought he would be named the next Pope. Lustiger found this question to be crazy, and thought it not at all possible. However, Lustiger was named as a possible successor. Such a nomination I think in some minds is unimaginable, but it was in fact possible. Lustiger described the nomination to Archbishop of Paris alone as “all of a sudden the crucifix began to wear the yellow star.” I found this quote to be striking, but it also highlights the reality of Lustiger’s life. While Lustiger viewed himself as still being Jew that was not the case in the eyes of the Jewish community and Lustiger also received criticisms from the Catholic community. Despite Lustiger’s successes there was definitely tensions that remained (New York Times).

The conversion of Ruth Ben David was interesting for many reasons, one of them being the implications it has when considering it within the conversation of gender and sexuality in Judaism. Ruth Ben David formerly known as Madeleine Feraille was always an independent and strong willed woman. She joined the ranks of the Resistance along with her father and served as a courier between Resistance groups and even helped guide refugees to safety. She utilized her appearance as young woman to help smuggle documents and people through occupied areas and across borders by convincing officers that she was traveling for innocent reasons. Prior to the outbreak of the war Madeleine had married a young man who had been drafted into the French Army. After he was called forward she realized she was pregnant. While her husband was away she gave birth to their son, and studied at the University of Toulouse. Her husband and her would eventually get a divorce after she reevaluated their marriage. After the war was over she continued her studies, worked in the insurance business, and continued to raise her son. All on her own (Goldman, 2015).

In 1953 Madeleine took part in the conversion ceremony along with her ten year old son. Her son then known as Claude would now be known as Uriel. Madeleine would become known as Ruth Ben David. This type of conversion was rare in post-war Europe. The importance of Ruth’s independent nature played a role throughout her conversion story because it did not stop at her initial conversion into Reform Judaism. Ruth found the ceremonies to be “church like” and overall considered it to be “weak and watered down.” Ruth wanted more. She wanted to reject in absolute totality the essential beliefs of Catholicism (Goldman, 2015).

Ruth was drawn to Orthodox Judaism and began to attend lectures at one of the synagogues. The Rabbi who’s lectures she was attending fell in love with her and wanted to marry her. Ruth did not reciprocate these feelings. The congregation reacted negatively to the concept of a rabbi marrying a convert. While in the midst of her graduate studies and her explorations of Judaism her partner in the import-export attempted to defraud the French government. Since Ruth was the managing partner she was held responsible. Ruth spent two months in a Paris prison. She became ill and she also attempted to keep Kosher. After this incident she began studying for closely within the Orthodox community of Paris. After the two years of rabbinical supervision she participated in a second conversion. Ruth fulfilled all of the religious obligations. Ruth made many trips to Israel where her son was now attending a school to prepare for his Bar Mitzvah. Ruth would eventually reject Zionism, but not Orthodox Jewish life in Israel which put her into an interesting situation. Her conversion thus far along with her later turn to ultra-Orthodoxy was a rejection of modern Europe. She moved to Israel in 1960 (Goldman, 2015).

Once Ruth had adopted the ideas and practices of the ultra-Orthodox opponents of Zionism she felt that she arrived at the final part of her religious journey. However, Ruth was faced with a dilemma. Prior to her wish to be a part of the ultra-Orthodox community Ruth had a been a very independent woman. She now sought to join a community where women have very little agency. Her teacher asked her to be a part of a conspiracy, and because of this she was immediately brought into the community’s highest levels of power and authority, and was treated like a man. Ruth was tasked with smuggling Yossele Schumacher out of Israel and save him from the secular lifestyle his parents wanted on behalf of his Orthodox grandparents. Ruth disguised Yossele as a girl and took him to Switzerland were he was enrolled in a yeshiva. She then brought him to Brussels then Paris. Finally she brought him to Williamsburg, Brooklyn and hid him with a family. Ruth managed to assist in the smuggling and keep the boy hidden for three years. However, this experience made her feel isolated and condemned (Goldman, 2015).

After this she found acceptance into the community difficult. She was a woman who had attending university and spoke many languages. She was convert. She was different. There was admiration for her but also gossip and misunderstanding. I find Ruth’s story up to this point very interesting because of how unique it is. For her entire life Ruth strived to maintain her independence and agency. She strived to achieve what she wanted both in and not in a religious sense. Ruth did not take no for an answer. This seemed unique to me and demonstrated the importance of gender and sexuality in conversion As discussed before Cardinal Lustiger faced criticism and troubles but never on the account of being a man. Ruth wanted to achieve the absolute amount of Jewish religious understanding that she wanted without her gender interfering at all (Goldman, 2015).  

A critique I have of the book , coupled with some advice is to allow yourself to focus on a particular individual. Shalom Goldman himself said that he could of written an entire book about every single person that comes up within the book. This is fairly evident when reading the book. Each chapter gives a glimpse into the life and the conversion story of the seven key figures Goldman chose to discuss. But, at the same time Goldman leaves you wanting to know more. Give into that impulse. While this book provides a vast picture of conversions in and out of Judaism in the 20th century it also functions as a mere introduction. Utilize this book as a jumping off point to then delve deeper into the complex fascinating lives these people lead. This is why I chose to read more about the life of Cardinal Lustiger.

References

Goldman, Shalom. Jewish-Christian Difference and Modern Jewish Identity. Lexington Books, 2017.