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The 92nd Street Y, New York is a world-class cultural and community center where people all over the world connect through culture, arts, entertainment and conversation. For over 150 years, we have harnessed the power of arts and ideas to enrich, enlighten and change lives, and the power of community to repair the world.
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    The Elie Wiesel Living Archive

    at The 92nd Street Y, New York. Supported by The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity

    In the Talmud: Converts and Outsiders

    Claiming a Jewish Future and a Jewish Past

    Oct 17, 1996

    Professor Wiesel introduces his talk on converts by looking at the complicated story of Onkelos, the nephew of General Titus and translator of the Bible into Aramaic. Professor Wiesel shows how both the Bible and the Talmud, though never encouraging conversion, honor and love the convert. From legends about converts, Professor Wiesel teaches us that racism is never an option for a Jew since a Jew is defined by his commitments, not his origins.

    Download the transcript

    Selected Quotes:
    “
    The past is more than prologue, the past lives in the present. (00:06:21)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    The Talmud is not afraid of contradictions, and nor are we. In fact the Talmud is not afraid of anything. (00:11:26)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    We can benefit from each other’s experience -- only if that experience is authentic. (00:24:06)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    The moment a convert enters our covenant, he or she shares not only our future, but also our past. (00:28:29)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    But clearly, the Talmudic sages have done everything in their power to prevent the convert to Judaism from feeling excluded or marginalized by the Jewish community. (00:31:25)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    In other words, the convert is someone special because his or her Jewishness is a matter not of birth, but of choice. (00:33:08)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    For a Jew, racism is never an option. (00:48:25)
    Elie Wiesel
    “
    Man is defined by his commitments, not by his origins. (00:48:43)
    Elie Wiesel
    Books:
    Subthemes:
    1) A Disturbing Legend of Onkelos and Titus
    2) Introductory Remarks on the Talmud
    3) Onkelos as a Proselytizer
    4) Aquilas and Hadrian: Weakened by Torah
    5) Loving the “Ger”—and Defining the Term Clearly
    6) Understanding the "Zar"
    7) Limitations to the Special Privileges of the Ger Viewpoints on Conversion and some Contradictions
    8) Converts Who Became Great Rabbis
    9) Extraordinary Leaders Who Converted to Judaism
    10) Racism is Never an Option
    11) Conversions in the Diaspora
    12) What is Conversion?
    13) Voluntary and Individual
    14) Hillel and Shammai: Tales of Conversion
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