Description: Of all Judaic rituals, that of giyyur is arguably the most radical: it turns a Gentile into a Jew - once and for all and irrevocably. The very possibility of such a transformation is anomalous, according to Jewish tradition, which regards Jewishness as an ascriptive status entered through birth to a Jewish mother. This book provides a close reading of primary halakhic texts as a key to the explication of meaning within the Judaic tradition.
Review Quotes: 'This book is a tour de force, a rare combination of comprehensive scholarship, insight, fresh thinking and wisdom...This is by far, the best book on this topic in the English language. It is at once a rich survey of the rabbinic dialogue on giyyur through the generations and a sophisticated deconstruction of the paradigms underlying the various and changing halachic rulings in history. It is also tacitly a polemic with the ideological rejection of conversion which has grown apace in the past century. This book is not to be missed!'
Rabbi Irving Yitz Greenberg