A Concise Code of Jewish Law for Converts

by Michael J. Broyde

While the topic of conversion in Judaism has been extensively covered, no one has explored the particular laws related to after conversion. In A Concise Code of Jewish Law for Converts , Michael J. Broyde explores many topics and questions that revolve around the life of a Jewish convert. Such topics include the place of a convert in a Jewish community according to Jewish law, the treatment of a convert in respect to acceptance and discrimination, and providing affirmative incentives to converts. Containing a detailed review of every aspect of Jewish law from the convert’s perspective and in relation to them, as well as supplemental essays, A Concise Code of Jewish Law for Converts provides knowledge and guidance on life after conversion.

Genres: Judaism

180 pages, Hardcover

Published June 29, 2017

Reviews

[Ben Rothke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many new parents, this writer included, wore out their copies of What to Expect the First Year. For the parents just starting out, this was their go-to guide to navigate the often turbulent their first year of parenthood.

For the new convert to Judaism, once their conversion completes, they are often left in a whirlwind, with many questions, and often not a whole lot of resource to turn to. They need a similar guide to help them navigate down their newly found religious path.

In A Concise Code of Jewish Law for Converts, (Urim Publications 978-9655242492) Rabbi Michael Broyde (professor of law at Emory University) has written a useful reference that can assist the convert in navigating the often challenging first year and beyond.

In this monograph, Broyde has a written an extremely helpful resource that can be used by converts to quickly find answers they need on a variety of topics. Broyde has arranged the book around the 4 sections of the Code of Jewish law, and has encapsulated pretty much every topic that is relevant to a convert. The book discusses the entire lifecycle the convert must traverse; from their relationship with their now non-Jewish family, how to deal with certain texts in prayer, marriage, business dealing and more.

Broyde doesn’t deal with any aspects of an actual conversion or the laws relating to how it works. Rather it deals with the laws relating to how the convert is to observe halacha once they are full members of and within a Jewish community.

The book is relevant not just to a convert, but to all member of the Jewish faith. Broyde reiterates the imperative that a convert be made to feel welcome into the overall Jewish community. For the convert, the approach Broyde take is to accept them with a kindler gentler feel. For the community as a whole, Broyde stresses the need to be lenient where feasible, albeit being loyal to halacha at all times. All with the goal of making the convert feel welcome.

Broyde wrote this book to help ensure that the convert finds their proper place within the community. Nothing is more appealing to God than that the convert be welcomed into the community. To which this is a book that should be on the reading list of every member of the Jewish community. Those old, and new.

[Leib Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful in charting a path. Explores a whole range of treatments
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2018
Verified Purchase
We found this book after some searching because my wife has non specific back pain. With insurance deductibles as high as what they are these days (thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), I am trying to map a plan for her treatment as judiciously as possible because it only takes a very few missteps to waste a lot of money.

Boy am I glad that I found this book!

There is so much information on this topic, it's amazing that the author got in even as much as she did.

The author breaks the book into two parts: 1. Problems. 2. Solutions.

That is not quite the way that the book comes across to me. It's more like:

1. Scope of the problem
2. What *definitely does not work* (i.e., Chiropractic-- If the initial practitioners of chiropractic knew how much fodder they would have provided for later people to blowtorch them with, they would never have started to ply their trade.)
3. What has a shakier track record (Surgery of various types/ Injections, along with detailing the techniques of each type of surgery)
4. Relationship of mental states to back pain. (It's not psychosomatic, but more of it is in a person's head than they might imagine.)
5. What has the best track record (Different types of exercise and methods to improve movement).

There are also quite a few questions around the edges that have tangential relationships.
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1. What are the misaligned incentives such that surgeons want to do a whole bunch of extra surgeries, even if they have only marginal benefit. (To a hammer, everything looks like a nail.) Could those incentives be made better?
2. What happens when the state is the single provider of medicine? There are a lot more treatments than they can test and sort through and in their question to do less work, they may exclude some very effective treatments.
3. What happens when insurance companies will not pay for something that is a little bit too much to pay for out of pocket but less than what it would cost to take a surgery?

The book itself appears to be four things at once:

1. Medical history
2. Investigative journalism (the author herself goes through many treatments as well as calls to attention exposes of corrupt doctors)
3. A policy book (that asks questions about outcomes under universal health care as well as insurance based systems)
4. Information on success rates of different types of surgery/ procedures (and there are many of them)

I don't know that this is an exhaustive literature survey-- but there are some things that give the reader directions for further study. So, for example, we might want to get a meta analysis of one particular type of surgery to get an idea if *many* surgeries say that it is no more effective than placebo or just the study that Ramin uotes.

The book is well organized (with a good index) and well sourced.

Verdict: Worth the price and worth the time. Even if you have to read the book a second time or go to the medical library to source some of the citations in this book or do secondary research.

Recommended.

[Gale · Rating 5 out of 5]

For Jewish converts like myself, this is very helpful in navigating the new world we now find ourselves in, regardless of your level of observance.