Converts of Conviction: Faith and Scepticism in Nineteenth Century European Jewish Society

116 Pages·2017·1.3 MB·English

by  David B. Ruderman

Converts of Conviction
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Studies and Texts in Scepticism
Edited by
Giuseppe Veltri
in cooperation with
Rachel Aumiller
Editorial Board
Heidrun Eichner, Talya Fishman, Racheli Haliva, Henrik Lagerlund, Reimund Leicht,
Stephan Schmid, Carsten Wilke, Irene Zwiep
Volume 1
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Converts of Conviction
Faith and Scepticism in Nineteenth Century
European Jewish Society
Edited by
David B. Ruderman
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Contents
David B. Ruderman
Introduction 1
Agnieszka Jagodzińska
Reformers, Missionaries, and Converts: Interactions Between the London Society
and Jews in Warsaw in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century 9
Ellie R. Schainker
Jerusalem Letters: Vasily Levison’s Ruminations on Faith, Doubt, and Conversion
from Judaism to Russian Orthodoxy 27
David Ruderman
The Intellectual and Spiritual Journey of Stanislaus Hoga: From Judaism to
Christianity to Hebrew Christianity 41
Christian Wiese
The Divergent Path of Two Brothers: The Jewish Scholar David Cassel and the
Protestant Missionary Paulus Cassel 55
The Authors of this Volume 97
Bibliography 99
Index of Names and Places 107
Subject Index 109
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David B. Ruderman
Introduction
ThestudyofJewishconvertstoChristianityinthemodernerahadlongbeenmargi-
nalized in Jewish historiography. Labeled disparagingly in the Jewish tradition as
meshumadim [apostates], many earlier Jewish scholars treated these individuals in
a negative light or generally ignored them as not properly belonging any longer to
the community and its historical legacy.This situation has radically changed in re-
cent years with an outpouring of new studies on converts in variegated times and
places,especiallyinthemodernera,culminatingperhapsinthemostrecentsynthe-
sis by Todd Endelman in 2015.¹
Endelman’s important work has already been widely discussed in recent schol-
arly literature and might serve as the starting point or launching pad of this book
ofessays.²Endelman’sprimaryargumentisthatinthemoderneratheoverwhelming
majorityofJewswhoconvertedtoChristianitydidsoforsocialoreconomicreasons—
tomarrynon-Jewishpartners,enhancetheirsocialprestige,oradvancetheircareers
and economic well-being. In other words,when modern Jews, both in western and
eastern Europe,opted for conversion,they usuallydid so for strategic or pragmatic
reasons,to overcome an inferior and segregated status in a social and political en-
vironment generally hostile to Jews:
 SeeToddEndelman,LeavingtheJewishFold:ConversionandRadicalAssimilationinModernJewish
History(PrincetonandOxford:PrincetonUniversityPress,2015),andtheessaysinhisearlieredited
volume,JewishApostasyintheModernWorld(NewYorkandLondon:Holmes&Meier,1987).Onthe
earlierdisdainorindifferencetothestudyofthemodernconvertinJewishhistoriography,seeTodd
Endelman,“WelcomingEx-JewsintotheJewishHistoriographicalFold,”inhisBroadeningJewishHis-
tory:TowardsaSocialHistoryofOrdinaryJews(OxfordandPortland,Oregon:LittmanLibraryofJew-
ishCivilization,2011),82–92.
Asmallsamplingofotherrecentscholarshiponconvertsintheearlymodernandmoderneras
mightincludeEllieR.Schainker,ConfessionsoftheShtetl:ConvertsfromJudaisminImperialRussia,
1817–1906(Stanford,Ca.:StanfordUniversityPress,2016);ElishevaCarlebach,DividedSouls:Con-
vertsfromJudaisminGermany1500–1750(NewHavenandLondon:YaleUniversityPress,2001);De-
borahHertz,HowJewsBecameGermans:TheHistoryofConversionandAssimilationinBerlin(New
HavenandLondon:YaleUniversityPress,2007);andDavidB.Ruderman,ConnectingtheCovenants:
JudaismandtheSearchforChristianIdentityinEighteenth-CenturyEngland(Philadelphia:University
ofPennsylvaniaPress,2007),whichfocusesonthelifeofoneconvert.AgnieszkaJagodzińska’sre-
cently published volume is entitled: “Duszozbawcy”? Misje i literatura Londyńskiego Towarzystwa
KrzewieniaChrześcijaństwawśródŻydówwlatach1809–1939(MissionsandLiteratureoftheLondon
SocietyforthePropagationofChristianityamongtheJews,1809–1939)(Krakow-Budapest:Wydaw-
nictwoAusteria,2017).
 ThreethoughtfulreviewsofthebookincludethatofTobiasBrinkmannintheAmericanHistorical
Review121.5(2016):1612–14; MarshaL. RozenblitintheAssociationfor JewishStudiesReview40.1
(2016):188–90;andHillelKievalinJewishHistory30.3(2016):303–06.Inaddition,seemydiscus-
sionofEllieSchainker’sreviewbelow.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110530797-001
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2 DavidB.Ruderman
Drivenbyhungerorambition,insearchoffameorstatus,peaceofmindorevenaroofovertheir
heads,theysoughtreliefinradicalassimilation,thatis,theyceasedtoidentifythemselvesas
JewsandcuttheirtiestoJudaismandtheJewishcommunity.Themostcommonformofescape
wasconversiontoChristianity,buttherewereotherformsofradicalassimilationaswell.[…]
Commontoallthesestrategies,howeverdifferentfromeachother,wasthedesiretoshedthe
stigma of Jewishness, to be free, once and for all, of a highly charged, troublesome label.³
EndelmanfurthercontendsthatmostJewswhobecameChristiansinthemodern
erawereinsincereanddidnotbelieveintheChristianfaithorwereatleastindiffer-
enttoitwhateverformitactuallytook:“Forthemconversionwasastrategicorprac-
ticalmove,muchlikechanginganameor alteringanose.”⁴ButEndelmanisquick
toacknowledgethattherewereexceptionstothisgeneraltendency.Therewereindi-
vidualswhoseconversionwasareligiousexperienceandwhobecamepious,church-
going Christians: “Some of them merged into their newly adopted communities, at-
tracting no further attention, while others became missionaries, controversialists,
theologians, and church dignitaries, and, by virtue of their Jewish background, at-
tracted a disproportion amount of attention.”⁵
Regardingthese exceptional individuals, he makes two additional points. First,
muchofwhathasbeenwrittenaboutthemisnotsufficientlyscholarlybutprimarily
hagiographicorconversionistinintent:“Littleofitseekstounderstandthehistorical
contextthatshapedtheirpathfromJudaismtoChristianity.”⁶Second,byoverempha-
sizingthespiritualdimensionoftheseconverts’experience,thereisadangerofdis-
connectingthemfromthemajorityofJewswhoconvertedfornon-spiritualreasons,
or in his words:
Giventhatmosthumanbehaviorisoverdetermined,itisdifficulttobelievethatthe‘truebeliev-
ers’wereignorantofthesocialandemotionaladvantagesofabandoningJudaism.Idonotwant
toarguethattheirconversionswereinauthentic,but,ratherthattheyweredrivenbyacomplex
ofmotives,needs,andperceptions[…].Moreover,evenitweretruethattheseconversionswere
spiritualtransformationspureandsimple,exceptionaleventsremovedfromthecommonrunof
human experience,the language they used to describe their journey toward Christianity was
rootedinthetime-boundattitudesoftheperiod.TheinvidiouswayinwhichtheycontrastedJu-
daism and Christianity, and the terms they used to disparage the one and exalt the other,
emerged from the same negation of Jews and Judaism that motivated strategic conversion.
Thus,conversionsof ‘convenience’andconversionsof ‘conviction’werenotaltogetherdissim-
ilar.⁷
The authors of this volume certainly concur with the gist of Endelman’s argu-
ment.MostmodernconvertslefttheJewishfoldforeconomic,social,orpoliticalrea-
sons;thosewhochosetoconvertforideologicalandspiritualmotiveswereaconsid-
 Endelman,LeavingtheJewishFold,5–6.
 Endelman,LeavingtheJewishFold,11.
 Endelman,LeavingtheJewishFold,11.
 Endelman,LeavingtheJewishFold,11.
 Endelman,LeavingtheJewishFold,11.
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Introduction 3
erablysmallergroup;andthedistinctionbetweenthosewhoconvertedfor“conven-
ience” and those who converted for “conviction” is never absolute. Indeed, Endel-
man’s claim that the so-called “converts of conviction” have not been studied ade-
quately nor properly in their historical context appears to us as a welcome
invitation for further research. Accordingly, it is the purpose of this volume to con-
sider more fully the latter group,perhaps the most interesting from the perspective
of Jewish and Christian cultural and intellectual history:those who moved fromJu-
daismtoChristianityoutofaconvictionthattheywerechoosingasuperiorreligion,
and out of doubt or lack of confidence in the religious principles and practices of
theirformerreligion.Theirspiritualjourneysoftenledthemtosuspectandchallenge
theirnewlyadoptedbeliefsaswell,andsomeevenreturnedtoJudaismoradopteda
hybridfaithconsistingofelementsofbothreligions.Theirintellectualitinerariesbe-
tweenJudaismandChristianityofferauniqueperspectiveontheformationofmod-
ern Jewish identities,Jewish-Christian relations, and the history of Jewish sceptical
postures.
Endelman’scautionarywordsthatevenconvertsof “conviction”canbemotivat-
edbyeconomicandsocialfactorsaswellasbytheculturaldiscourseinwhichthey
areframingtheirconversionnarrativesarewelltaken.But,ofcourse,thismightalso
allowustoconsiderthatso-calledconvertsof “convenience”neednotalwaysbein-
differentorunawareofreligiousconcerns andreligious discourse.Theirstrivingfor
socialmobilityandintegrationmighthavebeenaccompanied,insomecases,byspi-
ritual concerns as well.Given the complexityof human lives, andthe still powerful
holdofreligiousideologiesandinstitutionsinthemodernera,convenienceandcon-
victionshouldneverbeviewedasentirelyinseparable.Religiousideologymightin-
deed provide the necessary legitimation or justification of less noble social or eco-
nomic aspirations. Moreover,while converts of “conviction” could easily be tainted
by non-ideological factors in approaching the baptismal font or influenced by the
hostilelanguageagainstJudaism inthe public forum,itwouldbe unwisetoreduce
theirspiritualandintellectualyearningstosocio-economicfactorsalone.Particular-
lywhentheconvertleavesanimpressivearchivalorprintedrecordoftheprocessof
his/her transformation from Jew to Christian, it is incumbent upon the historian to
take these articulations seriously, albeit with the care and scrutiny with which one
should examine anyego-document.
ItmightbeusefultoreferaswelltothethoughtfulcommentsofEllieSchainker,
one of the participants in this volume, regarding Todd Endelman’s book. She calls
the aforementioned approach of Endelman as structuralist, pegging all forms of
abandonment as strategic and instrumental. For her,the limitation of this perspec-
tive is a loss of specificity, missing the nuanced and unique lives of actual people,
communities, and living Christian cultures that pulled Jews towards them. When
oneexaminestheparticularsofeachandeverycaseofconversion,whereampleevi-
dence is available, one notes considerably more ambivalence and messiness in the
process; the break from Jews and Judaism was not always so radical and extreme.
Endelman’ssecularhistoryofJewishconvertswhereconversion“isprimarilyreduced
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4 DavidB.Ruderman
toasocio-economicstrategyratherthananexpressionoffaithorcommunalreorien-
tation” seems particularly unsuited to the study of converts in Russia who lived in
religiously grounded societies. Schainker argues that Endelman well explains why
Jews radically assimilated but not necessarily how they did so,taking into account
theirrelationshipwithChristianclericsandothers,howtheyfunctionedascultural
ambassadors, and how they specifically perceived and navigated the porous reli-
giousandculturalboundariesbetweenthetworeligions.“Ratherthanstudyingrad-
ical assimilation as a one-way street away from Jewishness,” she concludes (and
whichshe demonstratesin her aforementioned bookon Jewish converts in Russia),
“it is also a rich lens through which to study the social and cultural encounters
among Jews,converts, and avarietyof Christian communities.”⁸
The approach of this modest volume is in line with her general approach.Ulti-
matelyconversion isahighlyidiosyncraticlifechoice,determinedprimarilybyper-
sonal factors which cannot easily be reduced to an overarching explanation based
solelyonbroadsocial,economic,religious,orpoliticaldeterminants.Thebookcon-
sciouslyavoidsbroadgeneralizationsabout the modern convert in favorofdetailed
casestudiesofspecificconvertsalldrawntotheChristianfaithinfourdistinctlocal-
ities:Germany,Russia,Poland,andEngland,andalllivinginthenineteenthcentury.
In so doing, it underscores the individuality of each convert’s life experience and
self-reflection and the need to examine more intensely this relatively neglected di-
mension of Jewish and Christian cultural and intellectual history.
AgnieszkaJagodzińska’schapteropensthevolumewiththefocusontworabbin-
ical students, Hirsch Izraelski and Abraham Hauptmann, who were converted by
missionaries of the London Society for the Promotion of Christianity amongst the
Jews in Warsaw in 1837.While she lacks either a written account by the converts
themselves of their entrance into evangelical Protestantism or any detailed reports
of others, she is still able to locate skillfully the incident within the context of the
debatesoverJewishidentityinPolandinthefirstdecadesofthenineteenthcentury.
She discusses the efforts of the government to reform Jewish society through the
foundation of a “Jewish committee” in 1825 and the so-called Rabbinical School
basedonenlightenmentprinciplesestablishedinthefollowingyear.TheRabbinical
School,asshepointsout,wasmorelikealycéethanayeshivah,offeringapromising
tool for reform and welcomed by governmental authorities and liberal Jews alike.
By1815,theLondonSocietyhadgainedtherighttooperatewithintheconfines
of Congress Poland and the government passively tolerated them.Their contacts in
the school, their distribution of newly printed Bibles and other materials, and
theirlinguisticskillsinEnglishappearedattractivetocertainliberalJewswhosought
social and cultural integration into civil Christian society and were open tointerac-
tions with educated Europeans from the West.They sought to become part of civil
 EllieR.Schainker,ReviewofToddEndelman’sLeavingtheJewishFoldinJournalofJewishStudies
68(2017):214–16.
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