Conversion to Judaism as Reflected in the Rabbinic Writings and Culture of Medieval Ashkenaz: Between Germany and Northern France,

Abstract

More than a half century ago, Jacob Katz briefly sketched the attitudes that the Tosafists of northern France and Germany— and other related rabbinic decisors— displayed toward converts to Judaism. In doing so, he identified several key Talmudic interpretations and halakhic constructs as the axes around which the rabbinic positions could be charted. At the same time, Ben Zion Wacholder published a study on conversion to Judaism in Tosafist literature. Rami Reiner has supplemented these earlier efforts by focusing on the status of converts in the rabbinic thought of medieval Ashkenaz.