Was the Possibility of Conversion to Judaism Denied in the Second Temple Period?
A scholarly view that relies heavily on 4Q174 and Jubilees maintains that during the Second Temple period, one Jewish school of thought denied non-Jews the option to become Jews. Other Qumran scrolls, however, acknowledge the existence of proselytes, while the Temple Scroll accords them Temple acces...
| Publicado en: | Jewish Quarterly Review Vol. 115; no. 4; pp. 567 - 593 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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University of Pennsylvania Press
Fall2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=189828619&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 189828619 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00216682 2HA jtl: Jewish Quarterly Review issn: 00216682 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Fall2025 vid: 115 iid: 4 pid: 4636 pub: University of Pennsylvania Press artinfo: ui: 189828619 10.1353/jqr.2025.a974763 ppf: 567 ppct: 26 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 726KB tig: atl: Was the Possibility of Conversion to Judaism Denied in the Second Temple Period? aug: au: Orian, Matan su: Judaism Conversion (Religion) Jewish converts Jewish identity Sectarianism Biblical criticism sug: subj: Judaism Conversion (Religion) Jewish converts Jewish identity Sectarianism Biblical criticism keyword: 4Q174 4QFlorilegium Agrippa I biblical interpretation conversion Deuteronomy exclusion from the temple Ezekiel gentiles Herod Josephus Jubilees non-Jews politics and halakhah proselytes Qumran rabbinic literature resident aliens Second Temple period Temple Scroll ab: A scholarly view that relies heavily on 4Q174 and Jubilees maintains that during the Second Temple period, one Jewish school of thought denied non-Jews the option to become Jews. Other Qumran scrolls, however, acknowledge the existence of proselytes, while the Temple Scroll accords them Temple access. This essay suggests that rather than articulating contrasting views, these sources can be read as presenting a coherent view on the generations-long process of becoming Jews.To be specific, 4Q174, the Temple Scroll, and Jubilees negate any Jewishness of a male convert to Judaism, owing to the deviation from the command of circumcision on the eighth day, in Genesis 17.14. However, following Ezekiel 47.22, these texts do not deny Jewishness to that convert's male descendants who are circumcised on the eighth day. Thereafter, following Deuteronomy 23.2–9, the Temple Scroll and 4Q174 admit these descendants into the Temple. At first, according to the Temple Scroll, they are considered only partially Jews, but after several generations they become "full Jews."References in Josephus and rabbinic literature to Herod and Agrippa I, the descendants of an Idumean convert to Judaism, suggest that this was not a sectarian view alone. Furthermore, Herod may have played an active role in mitigating the pertinent law to be able to reign as king of Judea, in accordance with Deut 17.15. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Jewish Quarterly Review is the property of University of Pennsylvania Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Jewish Quarterly Review holder: University of Pennsylvania Press dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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