Two New Books on Conversion
There are two new books on conversion, the first which has already succeeded in causing quite a controversy.
1. Sifrut Ha-Shu”t: Ha-Giyyur Be-Rei Ha-Dorot
2. Zera Yisrael (See here, here, and here for some info about the controversy. Thanks to MB for the heads up via Facebook.)
February 5th, 2010 at 2:18 am
glad that you’re enjoying the volume!!!
February 5th, 2010 at 8:25 am
Menachem,
I don’t have either of them…yet. What were your impressions of Zera Yisrael?
February 6th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
To my mind the best book on conversion from a broadly Halachic and scholarly perspective is ” Transforming Conversion” by Avi Sagi. In any case the issue of conversion in Isreal is now totally absurd. It is crazy that a country cannot have one standard who is a citizen ( and in this case a Jew). Isreal should get out of the business of religious coercion. If not for the politics, Isreal should decide on the broadest possible defintion of who is a Jew, and if the Orthodox, Conservative, Reform ( or other wings) of Judaism do not recognize each other that is their problem. At this time Isreal must be the only so called democratic state that Jews are not free to practice their religious beliefs or no beliefs. It is the height of absurdity that there is no civil marriage in Isreal.
Harry
February 7th, 2010 at 10:17 am
There is also a new volume Called Mishnas Hager by the son of R Menashe Klein a very nice surprisingly even handed take with an encyclopedic fashion on the subject.