From Orthodox Christianity to “Jewish Law”: Unusual Conversion in the Russian Empire of the Early 19th Century
This article is a piece of microhistorical research of a court case investigating religious conversion in Russia in the 1820s. It presents the story of an Orthodox Christian girl who adopted ”Jewish law” and married a Jewish man. The article attempts to define the background and peculiarities of the...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-08-01
|
| Series: | Religions |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/8/717 |
| _version_ | 1797408176806559744 |
|---|---|
| author | Tatiana Khizhaya |
| author_facet | Tatiana Khizhaya |
| author_sort | Tatiana Khizhaya |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article is a piece of microhistorical research of a court case investigating religious conversion in Russia in the 1820s. It presents the story of an Orthodox Christian girl who adopted ”Jewish law” and married a Jewish man. The article attempts to define the background and peculiarities of the conversion and clarify the context in which this was taking place. The work uses various methods: narrative, comparative, contextual analysis, text interpretation, etc. Analysis of the court case establishes that the girl’s change of faith was the result of: (1) close contacts with the Jews and lack of social ties within the Christian community; (2) poverty and extremely low social status; (3) lack of “religious capital”. Jewish social assistance practices, ways to legalize a new status, finding a job, and personal freedom turned out to be attractive to the serf woman. The novelty of this study involves the introduction of a previously unknown archival source representing a very rare phenomenon of conversion to Judaism in imperial Russia. In addition, the article presents the paradoxical case of an attempt at re-socialization by transitioning from the dominant confession to the faith of a religious minority and integration into a community whose rights in Russia were heavily curtailed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:54:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6ea51abeba4144a1a4207a6392d70e5d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T03:54:28Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-6ea51abeba4144a1a4207a6392d70e5d2023-12-03T14:22:58ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442022-08-0113871710.3390/rel13080717From Orthodox Christianity to “Jewish Law”: Unusual Conversion in the Russian Empire of the Early 19th CenturyTatiana Khizhaya0Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Vladimir State University Named after Alexander and Nikolay Stoletovs, Vladimir 600000, RussiaThis article is a piece of microhistorical research of a court case investigating religious conversion in Russia in the 1820s. It presents the story of an Orthodox Christian girl who adopted ”Jewish law” and married a Jewish man. The article attempts to define the background and peculiarities of the conversion and clarify the context in which this was taking place. The work uses various methods: narrative, comparative, contextual analysis, text interpretation, etc. Analysis of the court case establishes that the girl’s change of faith was the result of: (1) close contacts with the Jews and lack of social ties within the Christian community; (2) poverty and extremely low social status; (3) lack of “religious capital”. Jewish social assistance practices, ways to legalize a new status, finding a job, and personal freedom turned out to be attractive to the serf woman. The novelty of this study involves the introduction of a previously unknown archival source representing a very rare phenomenon of conversion to Judaism in imperial Russia. In addition, the article presents the paradoxical case of an attempt at re-socialization by transitioning from the dominant confession to the faith of a religious minority and integration into a community whose rights in Russia were heavily curtailed.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/8/717religious conversionJudaismconversion to JudaismgiyurJewish-Christian relationsRussian Empire |
| spellingShingle | Tatiana Khizhaya From Orthodox Christianity to “Jewish Law”: Unusual Conversion in the Russian Empire of the Early 19th Century Religions religious conversion Judaism conversion to Judaism giyur Jewish-Christian relations Russian Empire |
| title | From Orthodox Christianity to “Jewish Law”: Unusual Conversion in the Russian Empire of the Early 19th Century |
| title_full | From Orthodox Christianity to “Jewish Law”: Unusual Conversion in the Russian Empire of the Early 19th Century |
| title_fullStr | From Orthodox Christianity to “Jewish Law”: Unusual Conversion in the Russian Empire of the Early 19th Century |
| title_full_unstemmed | From Orthodox Christianity to “Jewish Law”: Unusual Conversion in the Russian Empire of the Early 19th Century |
| title_short | From Orthodox Christianity to “Jewish Law”: Unusual Conversion in the Russian Empire of the Early 19th Century |
| title_sort | from orthodox christianity to jewish law unusual conversion in the russian empire of the early 19th century |
| topic | religious conversion Judaism conversion to Judaism giyur Jewish-Christian relations Russian Empire |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/8/717 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tatianakhizhaya fromorthodoxchristianitytojewishlawunusualconversionintherussianempireoftheearly19thcentury |