Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "List of converts to Judaism" in English language version.
a treasury of jewish anecdotes.
Some sources (such as the first century CE Jewish historian Josephus) suggest that a Jewish leader named John Hyrcanus forcibly "converted" the residents of Idumea to Judaism during the middle of the second century BCE, though others have pointed to natural affinities between Idumea and Judah that would have made the two regions natural allies (not requiring conversion).
This last stage of Second Temple history was unique in the annals of the Jews, especially the Hasmonean practice of forced conversion
Idumaeans now were converted to Judaism... forcibly converting to Judaism the native populations, including the Ituracans
During Aristobulus's brief reign he conquered Galilee and the Golan, perhaps converting to Judaism the Ituraeans, a native Semitic people... Atkinson 2016: 86—97, doubts that the Ituraeans were ever under Hasmonean rule, and suggests that Jewish expansion into Ituraean territory was a gradual process
In 104 B.C. John Hyrcanus I's sons, Antigonus and Aristobulus l, conquered Mt. Hermon, and probably forced the Ituraeans to convert to Judaism
In 1962, she married Hilary Putnam, a Harvard philosopher. He, too, had a Jewish mother and non-Jewish father and was raised as an atheist... In 1994, Hilary Putnam celebrated his belated bar mitzvah, and four years later, his wife did the same.
In sum, Judaism in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries not only showed its vigor through the debates constituting its greatest work since the Bible, namely the Talmud, but also met the twin challenges of paganism and Christianity by winning more than its share of converts and "sympathizers."
My response to Sand's arguments is that no historian of the Jewish national movement has ever really believed that the origins of the Jews are ethnically and biologically "pure." Sand applies marginal positions to the entire body of Jewish historiography and, in doing so, denies the existence of the central positions in Jewish historical scholarship. No "nationalist" Jewish historian has ever tried to conceal the well-known fact that conversions to Judaism had a major impact on Jewish history in the ancient period and in the early Middle Ages. Although the myth of an exile from the Jewish homeland (Palestine) does exist in popular Israeli culture, it is negligible in serious Jewish historical discussions. Important groups in the Jewish national movement expressed reservations regarding this myth or denied it completely.
After Winningham observed her first Yom Kippur that year, she knew she had to convert, and did so March 3, 2003, accompanied by an entourage of friends and relatives.
Joseph Joel Sherman has traveled a long road, from devout Christian to even more devout Jew – and in fact he has not yet arrived at his destination, to be accepted as a fully-fledged Orthodox Jew – although he is well on the way.
There is reason to believe, though the matter is certainly subject to scrutiny and though it is not possible to arrive at anything like a precise figure, that there was a great increase in the number of Jews between the time of the Babylonian captivity in 586 b.c.e. and the first century c.e... If there was such an increase in the number of Jews, it may be explained most readily only by assuming a large number of converts to Judaism. Considerable doubt surrounds the alleged forced conversion of the Idumaeans at the end of the second century B.C.E. and of the Ituraeans shortly thereafter. The statements of Philo and Josephus indicate that the Jews were well disposed toward attracting converts and that, indeed, they succeeded in doing so. This aim is likewise reflected in statements in the New Testament, in Strabo, Seneca, Juvenal, and Tacitus, as well as in rabbinic literature. This does not mean that Judaism was a missionary religion. It certainly lacked a central administration and a central bureaucracy capable of carrying on such a mission. What it does mean is that there is evidence, direct and indirect, that there were many converts to Judaism... The fact that we know of no tracts aimed specifically at attracting non-Jews to Judaism may be explained by the hypothesis that the great majority of people in antiquity were illiterate and that most conversions were apparently obtained through oral persuasion. More-over, expulsions of the Jews from Rome on at least two occasions because of proselyting activities may indicate that some Jews were, indeed, eager to accept converts. The generally very positive attitude of the rabbis toward proselytes would accord with this view. We may conjecture that people were attracted to Judaism for various reasons, especially economic advantages and the charitable institutions of the Jews. Women, in particular, were attracted.
In sum, Judaism in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries not only showed its vigor through the debates constituting its greatest work since the Bible, namely the Talmud, but also met the twin challenges of paganism and Christianity by winning more than its share of converts and "sympathizers."
We know from Pagan, Christian and Jewish sources that during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods some Gentiles were so strongly attracted to Judaism that they became converts and undertook to observe Jewish laws and customs in the same manner as did the Jews themselves. [...] It is also commonly assumed that there were some Gentiles who did not go so far as to become converts but indicated their belief in monotheism and gave up the worship of Pagan gods. How far they went in openly dissociating themselves from Paganism and in associating themselves with Judaism we do not know. These Gentile sympathizers are commonly thought to be referred by the terms sebomenoi or phoboumenoi ton theon and metuentes in Greek and Latin sources, and yir᾿ê shamayim "fearers of Heaven" (i.e. God-fearers) in some early Rabbinic passages.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)My response to Sand's arguments is that no historian of the Jewish national movement has ever really believed that the origins of the Jews are ethnically and biologically "pure." Sand applies marginal positions to the entire body of Jewish historiography and, in doing so, denies the existence of the central positions in Jewish historical scholarship. No "nationalist" Jewish historian has ever tried to conceal the well-known fact that conversions to Judaism had a major impact on Jewish history in the ancient period and in the early Middle Ages. Although the myth of an exile from the Jewish homeland (Palestine) does exist in popular Israeli culture, it is negligible in serious Jewish historical discussions. Important groups in the Jewish national movement expressed reservations regarding this myth or denied it completely.
There is reason to believe, though the matter is certainly subject to scrutiny and though it is not possible to arrive at anything like a precise figure, that there was a great increase in the number of Jews between the time of the Babylonian captivity in 586 b.c.e. and the first century c.e... If there was such an increase in the number of Jews, it may be explained most readily only by assuming a large number of converts to Judaism. Considerable doubt surrounds the alleged forced conversion of the Idumaeans at the end of the second century B.C.E. and of the Ituraeans shortly thereafter. The statements of Philo and Josephus indicate that the Jews were well disposed toward attracting converts and that, indeed, they succeeded in doing so. This aim is likewise reflected in statements in the New Testament, in Strabo, Seneca, Juvenal, and Tacitus, as well as in rabbinic literature. This does not mean that Judaism was a missionary religion. It certainly lacked a central administration and a central bureaucracy capable of carrying on such a mission. What it does mean is that there is evidence, direct and indirect, that there were many converts to Judaism... The fact that we know of no tracts aimed specifically at attracting non-Jews to Judaism may be explained by the hypothesis that the great majority of people in antiquity were illiterate and that most conversions were apparently obtained through oral persuasion. More-over, expulsions of the Jews from Rome on at least two occasions because of proselyting activities may indicate that some Jews were, indeed, eager to accept converts. The generally very positive attitude of the rabbis toward proselytes would accord with this view. We may conjecture that people were attracted to Judaism for various reasons, especially economic advantages and the charitable institutions of the Jews. Women, in particular, were attracted.
In sum, Judaism in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries not only showed its vigor through the debates constituting its greatest work since the Bible, namely the Talmud, but also met the twin challenges of paganism and Christianity by winning more than its share of converts and "sympathizers."