Wayne State University Press Brothers from Afar: Rabbinic Approaches to Apostasy and Reversion in Medieval Europe

Review This is a remarkable and fascinating read. Living in medieval Europe was not easy for a Jew, and Kanarfogel writes of the complexities manifest in Jewish life then. While our approach to returnees today is that of Rashi, the underlying question of dealing with returnees is not a simple one, to which the author brilliantly explains those complexities and challenges and myriad struggles of life in medieval Europe.--Ben Rothke "Jewish Link" (12/9/2021 12:00:00 AM)Where does an individual person's 'Jewishness' lie? Can it be taken away or given up? If so, are there any circumstances in which it can be regained? How and at what price? These complicated, multifaceted questions form the backbone of Ephraim Kanarfogel's book Brothers from Afar: Rabbinic Approaches to Apostasy and Reversion in Medieval Europe. Brothers from Afar could prove influential beyond its intended readership and open up new avenues of investigation into underexamined social and religious dilemmas.--Neta Bodner "Journal of Jewish Studies" (9/1/2021 12:00:00 AM)An erudite and richly documented study of how medieval European rabbis required reverting apostate Jews to undergo a range of rites of passage to return to the fold. It revises the approach of the late Jacob Katz, who claimed that this process occurred only in early modern times. Precisely because of their social proximity to Christians, medieval Jews needed boundary markers to reassure themselves that returning apostates could be trusted again. A masterful contribution to the social contexts of Jewish legal history that dazzles on every page.--Ivan G. Marcus "Frederick P. Rose Professor of Jewish History, Yale University" (9/4/2020 12:00:00 AM)An excellent assessment of the changing views of the medieval rabbis, this book would be a valuable addition to academic Judaic libraries.--Randall C. and Anne-Marie Belinfante "Association of Jewish Libraries News and Reviews" (5/1/2021 12:00:00 AM)Drawing on previously unknown manuscript sources and the vast literature of Jewish law, Brothers from Afar offers readers a pathbreaking reassessment of the much-debated subject of apostasy. In this work of superb scholarship, Ephraim Kanarfogel reveals the inner workings of medieval Jewish public policy and the wider implications for Jewish-Christian relations in the Middle Ages and beyond.--Jay R. Berkovitz "distinguished professor (emeritus) of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst" (9/4/2020 12:00:00 AM)This learned study is essential reading for those interested in the history of Jewish apostasy and reversion to Judaism. Its meticulous analysis of manuscript evidence fundamentally reorients understandings of the attitudes of medieval rabbinic authorities toward apostasy, opening new avenues for research in medieval Jewish-Christian relations.--Paola Tartakoff "professor of history and Jewish studies at Rutgers University" (9/4/2020 12:00:00 AM)Through extraordinary industriousness, Kanarfogel has unearthed a gold mine of material buried in medieval Hebrew manuscripts that sheds a whole new light on the place of repentant apostates in medieval Jewish societies and Jewish consciousness over the course of five centuries.--Edward Fram "Solly Yellin Chair of Lithuanian and Eastern European Jewry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev" (9/4/2020 12:00:00 AM)Who was a Jew in the Middle Ages? Brothers from Afar illuminates the complexities at the intersection of Jewish law and medieval Jewish identity, conversion and gender, Ashkenaz and Sepharad. Kanarfogel's penetrating scholarship contributes an important new chapter to the historical development of halakhah.--Elisheva Carlebach "Salo Wittmayer Baron Professor of Jewish History, Culture, and Society, Columbia University" (9/4/2020 12:00:00 AM) Product Description In Brothers from Afar: Rabbinic Approaches to Apostasy and Reversion in Medieval Europe, Ephraim Kanarfogel challenges a long-held view that those who had aposta