HERMAN ABRAMOWITZ, Montreal Rabbi, Shaar Hashomayim Congregation FANNY R. ADLERSTEIN, New York Director, Public Relations, Joint Distribution Committee WILLIAM F. ALBRIGHT, Baltimore CARL ALPERT, Boston SAMUEL ATLAS, Cincinnati M. H. AYLESWORTH, New York FRITZ BAER, Jerusalem Professor of History, Hebrew University BERNARD J. BAMBERGER, Albany, N. Y. EDUARD BANETH (deceased) JEREMIAH J. BERMAN, New York HORACE R. BIGELOW, New York JACK BJOZE, New York WILLIAM G. BRAUDE, Providence, R. I. MINA BROWNSTONE, New York EDWARD N. CALISCH, Richmond, Va. SIMON COHEN, Brooklyn MARCUS COHN, Basel, Switzerland WILLY COHN, Breslau, Germany SAMUEL S. COHON, Cincinnati Professor of Theology, Hebrew Union LEON CRYSTAL, New York BERNARD DRACHMAN, New York ROSA DUKAS, Palestine Former Director, Bureau of Jewish Orphans' Aid, Berlin DAVID MAX EICHHORN, Tallahassee, Fla. Rabbi, Temple Israel (Chaplain, U.S. A., on leave) MOSES EISENSTADT, New York IRA EISENSTEIN, New York ISMAR ELBOGEN, New York ADOLPH J. FEINBERG, Hammond, Ind. ALEXANDER FEINSILVER, Sacramento, Acting Rabbi, Congregation Israel LOUIS FINKELSTEIN, New York President, Jewish Theological Seminary of America G. GEORGE Fox, Chicago SOLOMON B. FREEHOF, Pittsburgh HUGO FUCHS, Buenos Aires NORMAN BEL GEDDES, New York MARIE GINSBERG, New York B. Z. GOLDBERG, New York MORRIS GOLDSTEIN, San Francisco ISAAC MEYER GOODMAN, Cape Town, Journalist and Author ROBERT GORDIS, New York LEONARD A. GREENBERG, Cincinnati ALFRED GROTTE, Breslau, Germany ELISABETH GUTMAN, New York MORRIS A. GUTSTEIN, Newport, R. I. JULIUS GUTTMANN, Jerusalem JACOB I. HARTSTEIN, New York Continued on next page GEORG HERLITZ, Jerusalem Director, Central Archive of the Jew ish Agency LIONEL HILL, New York SIDNEY B. HOENIG, Brooklyn Executive Director, National Council of Young Israel LEON HUHNER, New York ISAAC HUSIK (deceased) Former Professor of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania HUGÓ IGNOTUS, New York DAVID S. JACOBSON, San Antonio JULIUS JARECKI, Berlin EDWARD W. JELENKO, New York FRITZ KAHN, New York SAMUEL KLEIN (deceased) Former Professor of Historical Geography, Hebrew University HANS KOHN, Northampton, Mass. JAKOB PINCHAS KOHN, London BERNHARD KOTEN, New York ALEXANDER KRISTIANPOLLER, Jerusalem JEROME LABOVITZ, Savannah, Ga. MAX M. LASERSON, New York ALGERNON LEE, New York LOUIS M. LEVITSKY, Newark, N. J. Rabbi, President, Rabbinical Assembly of America BERNHARD LEVY, Jerusalem Educator CLIFTON HARBY LEVY, New York Rabbi, Author and Journalist HENRY W. LEVY, Boston Journalist ISAAK LEWIN, Palestine ELIAS LIEBERMAN, Brooklyn Associate Superintendent of Schools, Board of Education J. B. LIGHTMAN, Houston, Texas Educational Director, Jewish Community Council LOUIS LIPSKY, New York SOLOMON LIPTZIN, New York JOSEPH H. LOOKSTEIN, New York Merchant and Communal Leader LOUIS LOZOWICK, New York JOSEPH MARCUS, New York HARRY S. MARGOLIS, St. Paul, Minn. Rabbi, Mount Zion Hebrew Congregation DAVID F. MARKUS, Constantinople ANDRÉ MAUROIS, New York JOSEF MEISL, Jerusalem MYRON M. MEYER, St. Joseph, Mo. Bulgarian Jewish leader and author HANS MÜHSAM, Palestine LEON NEMOY, New Haven, Conn. ture, Yale University ABRAHAM A. NEUMAN, Philadelphia PAULINE M. NEWMAN, New York ADOLPH PHILIPPSBORN, Marshall, Texas BERNARD POSTAL, Washington, D. C. MONICA REGAN, New York Continued from preceding page SIDNEY L. REGNER, Reading, Pa. Sholom IRVING F. REICHERT, San Francisco MENACHEM RIBALOW, New York NATHAN RICARDO, New York PAUL RIEGER (deceased) ESTELLE H. RIESS, New York BORUCH RIVKIN, New York VICTOR ROBINSON, New York FRANK ROSENTHAL, Winston-Salem, Rabbi, Winston Hebrew Congregation HUGH ROSS, New York ALBERT SALOMON, New York HERMAN SCHELLER, New York LUCY SCHILDKRET, New York ABRAHAM SHUSTERMAN, Baltimore Rabbi, Har Sinai Congregation LEON JULIUS SILBERSTROM, Palestine JOHN S. SILLS, New York HENRY P. SILVERMAN, Kingston, Jamaica Rabbi, United Congregation of Israelites JAKOB NAPHTALI SIMCHOWITSCH (deceased) Former Historian PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Detroit Editor, "Jewish News" CHARLES SONNENREICH, New York President, United Roumanian Jews of America HEINRICH SPEYER, São Paulo, Brazil BERNARD SPIEGLER, New York PAUL STEFAN, New York SELMA STERN-TÄUBLER, Cincinnati DONALD OGDEN STEWART, Upper Jay, ARIEH TARTAKOWER, New York SIDNEY S. TEDESCHE, Brooklyn SURA TYGEL, New York ZELIG TYGEL, New York MORRIS D. WALDMAN, New York PROSBUL (from the Greek, pros boule, "before the council"), a document of preservation deposited with the court as a means of preventing the annulment of debts in the year of release (Shemittah). When an economic crisis arose as a result of many poor harvests at the beginning of the reign of Herod and there was a great increase in the number of loans, Hillel the Elder found it necessary to institute the Prosbul in order to prevent debts from being cancelled and credit being refused. Hillel's purpose in making this supplementary ordinance was not that of annulling the remission of debts in the Shemittah year, but rather of maintaining the old social laws of the Bible in their ethical intention. The Prosbul was a written protest against the cancellation of debts, signed by the judges and witnesses, and became valid when it was deposited with the court. It contained the formula: "I hereby declare in the presence of you, N.N., judges in X., that I will collect all the claims which I have against N.N. at any time that is suitable to me" (Git. 36a; Shebi, 10:3-4). The creditor could then use the Prosbul to meet the objection of the debtor that the debt had been cancelled by reason of the year of release. However, a Prosbul was regarded as valid only when the debtor owned real estate, which was regarded as the only proper security in such cases; it was felt that in any case the creditor could receive from the debtor a part of his real estate in payment of the debt. In the period of the Amoraim (200-500) the Prosbul was simplified and an oral declaration was considered sufficient. Some of the post-Talmudic rabbis (Posekim) held that the year of release and the Prosbul were still valid institutions even in their own time; the law was still enforced as late as the time of Asher ben Jehiel (12501327). However, the majority of authorities held that the law in both instances was no longer valid for their own time. See also: SABBATICAL YEAR; SHAM TRANSACTION. Lit.: Maimonides, Hilchoth Shemittah Veyobel 9; Shulhan Aruch, Hoshen Mishpat 67; Kook, A. I., Shabbath Haaretz; Assaf, Simhah, in Klausner Anniversary Book (1937) 226-34; Greenstone, J. H., in Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 10, pp. 219-20; Blau, Ludwig, "Prosbul im Lichte der griechischen Papyri und Rechtsgeschichte," Festschrift zum 50 jährigen Bestehen der Franz Josef Landesrabbinerschule in Budapest (1927) 96-151. PROSELYTES. As used in this work, proselyte means a person of non-Jewish birth who adopts the Jewish religion. The word convert is reserved for Jews who have accepted other faiths; converts who have displayed special hostility toward Jews and Judaism are denominated apostates. The term proselyte is derived from a Greek word used in the same sense by Hellenistic Jews. The equivalent in rabbinic Hebrew is ger, more fully ger tzedek, righteous proselyte. In the Bible ger means simply "foreigner," particularly a foreigner resident in Palestine. For such a resident alien the rabbis coined the term ger toshab. 1. The Biblical Period. One who possesses a great faith of universal significance inevitably feels the need to share his faith with others. A missionary element was from the start implicit in the Jewish religion, with its message of a universal God. During the Babylonian Р Exile and the years immediately following, this impulse became more articulate. The second Isaiah declares that Israel's mission is to bring the message of God's unity to all mankind (Isa. 42:1-8). The book of Jonah is a protest against narrow nationalistic conceptions of Judaism. In reaction against Ezra's austere demand that the Judeans divorce their foreign-born wives, the author of Ruth declared that King David himself was descended from a Gentile woman who had joined herself to the people and God of Israel. A later prophet speaks with affection and encouragement to "the aliens, that join themselves to the Lord" (Isa. 56:6-8). Several psalms (115 and 118) refer to "them that fear the Lord"-persons of Gentile origin who have adopted the worship of Israel's God—as a separate class in the Jewish commonwealth. It appears that a substantial number of Gentiles were attracted to the Jewish religion during the last centuries of the Biblical period, a fact which accounts in considerable part for the rapid increase of the Jewish population. Beyond the old law (Gen. 17:10-14) that all males living in a Jewish household must be circumcised, the Bible nowhere mentions a procedure of formal conversion; but some such ceremony probably existed by the end of the Biblical period. 2. The Hellenistic Period. The Maccabean victory appears to have given new stimulus to the Jewish missionary movement. Proudly faithful to the God Who had wondrously rescued them from their enemies, the Jews were well fitted to propagandize for their religion, in a period when the old pagan cults were in decline and people were receptive to new doctrines. The opportunity was the greater because the Jews were dispersed throughout the Mediterranean world, while on the other hand there were numerous Greek settlements in Palestine. Many non-Jews were profoundly impressed by the simple, sublime teachings of Judaism, its noble. morality, and the purity of Jewish home life. Numerous visitors were attracted to the synagogue by the religious and ethical discourses to be heard there. A large body of semi-proselytes now appears, persons who accepted Jewish monotheism and ethical standards without being formally converted or adopting all the provisions of the ceremonial law. Such persons were called "fearers of Heaven" (that is to say, of God); many of them, more often their children, became full proselytes. Josephus records with pride (Against Apion, book 2, chap. 39) that the Sabbath and many other Jewish observances had become widely accepted among Gentiles of his day. John Hyrcanus and several of his successors forcibly imposed Judaism upon the Idumeans and other conquered peoples; probably, however, this action was inspired more by political expediency than by religious zeal. These forcible conversions are not mentioned in rabbinic literature, and are entirely foreign to the spirit of authoritative Judaism. The vigor of the missionary movement in Alexandria is indicated by the Jewish Sibylline Oracles, propaganda documents in which an ancient heathen prophetess is made the protagonist of Jewish beliefs. Philo speaks repeatedly and warmly of proselytes, and many of his writings appear to have a missionary intent. The greatest triumph of the Jewish missionary effort in this period was the conversion of the royal family of Adiabene, a Hellenistic state on the Tigris river. Queen Helena and her sons, Izates and Monobaz, were distinguished for their scrupulous piety, and for their munificent gifts to charity and to the Temple. Their descendants supported the Jews in the final struggle against Rome. Sometimes the proselytizers seem to have been motivated by less worthy purposes. Josephus (Antiquities, book 18, chap. 3, section 5) tells the story of Fulvia, a Roman patrician woman who had been converted to Judaism, and had sent a large gift to the Temple. This money had been diverted by the proselytizers to their own use, and the scandal became so great that Emperor Tiberius banished many Jews from Rome. The Gospel statement (Matt. 23:15) that the Pharisees compassed land and sea to make one proselyte, although uttered with hostile intent, correctly describes the zeal with which Jewish leaders sought to win adherents to their religion. 3. The Talmudic Period. This desire to enlarge the household of Israel continued unchanged throughout the Talmudic period, despite the disasters that befell the Jewish people. Surprisingly, the destruction of the Temple and the loss of Jewish national life did not discourage the spokesmen of Judaism, nor deter prospective proselytes from accepting the faith of the downtrodden. In the decades immediately following the fall of Jerusalem Judaism made notable headway in the highest circles of Roman aristocracy. It is almost certain that Flavius Clemens, whose sons had been designated for the imperial succession, was a Jewish proselyte. He was executed by Domitian on the charge of "impiety." The rise of Christianity seems to have affected Jewish missionary effort (for the time being) only in one respect. Many of the supporters of the early apostles were drawn from the class of "God-fearers," the unofficial hangers-on of the synagogue. For this reason, and apparently because they suspected that such persons might include heretics and even informers, the rabbis discouraged these semi-proselytes. Candidates for proselytism were required to make a definite decision within a year (A.Z. 65a; Mishnath Rabbi Eliezer, p. 374). The laws governing the admission of proselytes, and the numerous regulations concerning their status, are treated at length in the Talmud. A prospective proselyte must be warned that the Jewish people is subject to persecution and contempt; further, that by accepting Judaism he takes upon himself heavy religious responsibilities, of which he has hitherto been free. This warning, however, should not be so prolonged or gloomy as to discourage a sincere candidate. Males are formally admitted to Judaism by means of circumcision and the ritual bath, women by means of the ritual bath alone. (This ritual bath has both a purificatory and an initiatory character, but not a sacramental one.) Before the destruction of the Temple, the proselyte was also required to bring a sacrifice before his entrance into the Jewish fold was complete. The custom of bestowing a new name upon the proselyte is not clearly attested until the post-Talmudic period. A favorite name was Abraham, for the Biblical Abraham, as the first Jew and as the traditional founder of Judaism, was regarded as the national patron and protector of proselytes. The proselyte is regarded as a Jew in every respect. In practice, however, he was subject to a few discriminations. A priest might not marry a woman of Gentile birth; but this rule reflects the insistence that priests shall ally themselves only with aristocratic families, rather than an active prejudice against proselytes. There was a tendency to exclude proselytes from public office, which some of the leading rabbis worked to overcome. According to Jewish legal theory, a proselyte is "like a new-born child." All his relationships prior to conversion, even those of blood, are regarded as cancelled. Children born while he was a Gentile are not heirs at law; only by a special dispensation of the rabbis is the proselyte permitted to inherit his heathen father's estate. Talmudic teachers speak frequently in praise of prose. lytes, and the Mishnah contains a severe warning against embarrassing a proselyte by referring to his former idolatries. The rabbis go so far as to declare that the proselyte who, of his own accord, seeks out the service of God is dearer to Him than the born Israelite; further, "Israel was scattered among the nations only that they might make many proselytes." The Haggadists depict various Biblical characters as formally converted to Judaism, notably Jethro, Rahab, Ruth, Obadiah and Nebuzaradan. Among the famous teachers known for their special interest in proselytes were Hillel, Rabbi Joshua, and Rabbi Judah ben Ilai. The most notable proselyte of the period is perhaps Aquila, who translated the Bible into Greek. Other famous proselytes were Onkelos, a disciple of Rabban Gamaliel I (probably not to be identified with Aquila); Rabbi Samuel ben Judah; and Rabbi Judah the Hindu. The dedicatory inscription of the Dura synagogue records that the building committee included a proselyte, whose name, however, has been obliterated. Simon bar Giora, the Zealot leader, was-as his name indicates -the son of a proselyte; the famous teachers Shemaiah and Abtalion were said to have been of proselyte families. And Akiba is reported to have been a descendant of Haman! The Palestinian sources record several incidents about the Ashtor family, which over several generations kept proudly alive the tradition that its founders were proselytes. Occasionally, in the vast Talmudic literature, one encounters an expression of ill will toward proselytes— the characteristic attitude of the "old timer" to the newcomer. Such expressions are to be regarded as outcroppings of prejudice, not as the view of a "school" hostile to proselyting. (Of course, some remarks questioning the sincerity of proselytes or their accuracy in observing the law may have been based on individual experiences.) The oft-quoted statement of Rabbi Helbo, "Proselytes are as hard for Israel as leprosy," is of uncertain meaning, and in any case is not typical of the rabbinic viewpoint. Legally, the status of the freed slave in Jewish life is identical with that of the proselyte; in practice, the freedman seems to have been on a lower social level. 4. The Medieval Period. Although the attitude of the rabbis toward proselyting remained unchanged throughout the Talmudic period, the number of proselytes in Palestine must have declined greatly in the early Christian centuries, first as a result of the Hadrianic persecution, later because of Christian oppression. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Jews were forbidden to make proselytes and to circumcise their slaves. Severe penalties were invoked for the enforcement of these laws; that at first they were frequently disobeyed is shown by the fact that the punishment for their violation was made increasingly harsh. Only by degrees did the Jews give up the effort to increase their numbers. The proselyting movement continued longer in Babylonia, but was eventually checked by the Magian persecution. Likewise Islam, itself an aggressive missionary faith, brooked no competition from the Jews. About the year 615 a Palestinian monk, who for years had lived in a monastery on Mount Sinai and whose real name is unknown, voluntarily embraced Judaism at Tiberias; he was given the name Abraham, and is often referred to as Abraham the Monk. Abraham the Monk later married a Jewish woman, and throughout the rest of his life was a devoted advocate and fosterer of the Jewish faith. During the Middle Ages proselytes were rare, and the Jews gradually lost the urge to win new adherents. Certain communities, fearing reprisals by the church, even adopted rules forbidding the acceptance of proselytes. Nevertheless, there were occasional bold spirits who dared the displeasure of the ruling powers and the disabilities of Jewish life in order to accept the faith of Israel. References to them are scattered through the legal treatises and responsa of almost every country and century. One such, a certain Obadiah of Norman origin, came to the Orient as a crusader with Geoffroy of Bouillon; after his conversion to Judaism he became a distinguished personage in Damascus, Aleppo and Alexandria. He wrote an autobiographical "scroll" in excellent Hebrew, of which portions have been preserved. Among the French Tosafists, we read of Rabbi Abraham the Proselyte. The last great success of the Jewish missionary effort was the conversion of the ruling family of the Khazars, and eventually of a large portion of their subjects; for several centuries there was a predominantly Jewish state in what is now southeast Russia. Particularly famous and beloved among more recent proselytes was the 17th century Valentin Potocki, of a well-known Polish noble family, who finally died at the stake as a martyr to Judaism. 5. The Modern Period. When the period of Emancipation began, Jewish missionary activity had long been in abeyance, because of compulsion; as a result the impulse to seek proselytes had almost disappeared. This indifference was heightened almost to the point of aversion by the widespread acceptance of baptism by Jews seeking to improve their worldly situation. Many loyal Jews were thus led to feel that any change of religious affiliation was essentially discreditable; and some Jewish writers went so far as to deny that Judaism is interested in proselyting. Nevertheless, proselytes were not infrequent in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Central Conference of American Rabbis has found it desirable to publish a manual for the instruction of proselytes and to draw up a conversion certificate. Already in 1891 the Conference had declared that circumcision need not be required of adult proselytes. (This ruling, of course, has been accepted only among Reform Jews). Most recent proselytes have come to Judaism through the desire to marry a Jew or Jewess. In many cases, however, the outcome has shown that the conversion, although occasioned by an ulterior motive, was neither perfunctory nor insincere. Some of these proselytes have taken an honorable and active part in Jewish life. Particularly interesting is the case of Nahida Remy, whose formal conversion and marriage to Professor Moritz Lazarus occurred many years after she had abjured Christianity and devoted herself to writing on Jewish themes. Other proselytes have been attracted to Judaism by its spiritual values alone. Outstanding among these is Aimé Pallière, who became a rabbi in Paris, and wrote The Unknown Sanctuary. Perhaps we should include as proselytes the Judaizing sects in Transylvania and especially in Russia, although they were not attracted to Judaism by missionary effort, or even by contact with Jewish life. These sects were the result of a process, which occurred several times in the history of Christianity, whereby a preoccupation with the Hebrew Scriptures led to Judaizing heresy and even back to Judaism itself. The more extreme clements among the Russian Judaizers have attempted, wherever they could, to affiliate themselves with official Judaism and intermarry with Jews. After the rise of Hitlerism, several Christians of partJewish extraction returned to Judaism; and there are even a few cases of out-and-out proselytes who took this strong form of protest against Nazi anti-Semitism. See also: APOSTATES; CONVerts. BERNARD J. Bamberger. In addition to those mentioned above, the following were important proselytes to Judaism in the past: Minyamin (Benjamin), an Egyptian, and Judah, an Ammonite, who were pupils of Akiba in the 2nd cent. Bodo, a former bishop of the Catholic church, and the confessor of Louis the Pious, king of France. Bodo was converted to Judaism at Saragossa, Spain, in 838. He adopted the name of Eliezer, and later married a Jewess. Vezelin, a Christian clergyman of Germany, about 1012. Abraham of Augsburg, who died as a martyr in the year 1264 or 1265, and was an opponent of Christianity; Mordecai ben Hillel and Moses ben Jacob mourned his death. Katherine Malcherova Weigel, wife of the mayor of Cracow, Poland, who died as a martyr in 1539. Diego de Assunção, a Franciscan father, who died as a martyr at Lisbon, Portugal, in 1603. John Peter Spaeth, of Augsburg, Germany, who, after becoming a proselyte to Judaism, adopted the name of Moses Germanus; he died at Amsterdam, Holland, in 1701. Marina Davidova and Marina Wojciechova, who died as martyrs in Dubno, Poland, in 1716. Alexander Voznitzyn, a Russian naval officer, who died as a martyr in either 1737 or 1738. Joseph Steblicki, of Nikolai, Upper Silesia, who became a proselyte to Judaism at the beginning of the 19th cent., adopting the name of Abraham. Lit.: Braude, W. G., Jewish Proselyting; Bamberger, B. J., Proselytism in the Talmudic Period; Samter, N., Judenthum und Proselytismus; Kashdoi, Z., Hamithyahadim; Radin, M., The Jews among the Greeks and Romans (1915). PROSKAUER, ADOLPH, United States Army officer, b. Breslau, Germany, 1826; d. St. Louis, 1911. Proskauer lived in Mobile, Ala., at the outbreak of the Civil War and entered the Confederate Army as a private in the 12th Alabama Infantry. Subsequently he was promoted to the posts of color-sergeant, senior captain, and major. He was wounded four times. At the battle of Gettysburg he was seen standing calmly with his regiment, smoking his cigar, issuing his orders and encouraging his men, until a bullet through his cheek disabled him and he became a prisoner of war. After the war Proskauer was secretary of the Mobile Board of Trade, a member of the Alabama legislature, president of the Hebrew congregation for ten years, and the first president of the first lodge of B'nai B'rith formed south of Memphis. In 1895 he moved to St. Louis and, until his death, was president of a congregation there. PROSKAUER, BERNHARD, hygienist and medical author, b. Ratibor, Germany, 1851; d. Berlin, 1915. His most important works, written with others, include: Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Säurebildung bei Typhus Bazillen und Bacterium Coli (with Capaldi; 1899); Über das Berliner Trinkwasser (with Plagge); Zum sechzigsten Geburtstage Kochs (with P. Pfeiffer). He published the Enzyklopädie der Hygiene (2 vols.), and was director of the Berlin bureau of research for industry and hygiene. PROSKAUER, JOSEPH, printer and philanthropist, b. Richmond, Va., 1856; d. New York city, 1937. He was the son of Adolph Proskauer. Proskauer was regarded as an international authority on printing, having participated in the development of the printing industry from hand press to high speed multiple presses. After learning the printer's trade in Richmond and in several other cities, Proskauer came to New York in |