Converts of Conviction: Faith and Scepticism in Nineteenth Century European Jewish Society PDF
Preview Converts of Conviction: Faith and Scepticism in Nineteenth Century European Jewish Society
Converts of Conviction Unauthenticated Download Date | 12/15/17 7:26 PM 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 Unauthenticated Download Date | 12/15/17 7:26 PM Converts of Conviction Faith and Scepticism in Nineteenth Century European Jewish Society Edited by David B. Ruderman Unauthenticated Download Date | 12/15/17 7:26 PM The series Studies and Texts in Scepticism is published on behalf of the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies ISBN 978-3-11-048714-5 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-053079-7 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-053085-8 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover image: Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg, Ms Cod. Levy 115, fol. 158r: Maimonides, More Nevukhim, Beginn von Teil III. Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Unauthenticated Download Date | 12/15/17 7:26 PM 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 Unauthenticated Download Date | 12/15/17 7:26 PM Unauthenticated Download Date | 12/15/17 7:26 PM 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 Unauthenticated Download Date | 12/15/17 7:26 PM 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. Unauthenticated Download Date | 12/15/17 7:26 PM 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 Unauthenticated Download Date | 12/15/17 7:26 PM 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. Unauthenticated Download Date | 12/15/17 7:26 PM
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