Shlomo Sand, The Invention of the Jewish People - Rafapal

THE INVENTION OF THE EXILE 171
"the son of a certain woman which was a Jewess and believed, but his father
was a Greek" (Acts 16:1). In Rome, too, the women were drawn more readily to
Judaism. The poet Martial, who came from Iberia, made fun of the women who
observed the Sabbath. 97 Epigraphic material from the Jewish catacombs names
as many female converts as male. Especially notable is the inscription about
Veturia Paulla, who was renamed Sarah after her conversion and became the
"mother" of two synagogues. 98 Fulvia (wife of Saturninus)—on whose account,
according to Josephus, Jews were expelled in the year 19 CE—was a full convert.
Pomponia Graecina, the wife of the famous commander Aulus Plautius, who
conquered Britain, was put on trial and divorced by her husband for her
devotion to the Jewish (or possibly the Christian) faith. Poppaea Sabina, the
emperor Nero's second wife, made no secret of her tendency to Judaism. These
women and many other matrons spread the Jewish faith in Rome's upper
classes. There is evidence that Judaism was also becoming popular among the
lower urban classes, as well as among the soldiers and freed slaves. 99 From
Rome, Judaism spilled over to parts of Europe annexed by the Roman Empire,
such as the Slavic and Germanic lands, southern Gaul and Spain.
The pivotal role of women in proselytization might indicate a particular
female interest in the religion's personal laws, such as the early rules of personal
purification, which were preferred to the common pagan customs. Possibly
it was also due to the fact that women did not have to undergo circumcision,
which was a difficult requirement that deterred many would-be male
converts. In the second century CE, after Hadrian prohibited all circumcision,
the emperor Antoninus Pius permitted the Jews to circumcise their sons, but
forbade males who were not children of Jews to do it. This was another reason
that, parallel with the increase of converts, there was a growing category of
"God-fearers"—probably an adaptation of the biblical term "fearers of Yahweh"
(sebomenoi in Greek; metuentes in Latin). 100
These were semi-converts—people who formed broad peripheries around
the Jewish community, took part in its ceremonies, attended the synagogues,
97 Quoted in Stern (ed), Greek and Latin Authors, vol. 1, 524.
98 See Nurit Meroz, Proselytism in the Roman Empire in the First Centuries AD,
MA thesis, Tel Aviv University, 1992 (in Hebrew), 29-32. Of the several hundred Jewish
tombstones, only a few bear Hebrew names, and the majority are Greek or Latin.
99 Ibid., 44. Many of the converts were slaves or freed slaves. Jewish and Judaized
families were obliged to circumcise their male slaves and proselytize the females.
100 "Fearers of Yahweh" are mentioned in Malachi 3:16, and Psalms 115:11-13. "Fearers
of Elohim" are mentioned in Exodus 18-21. On the semi-Judaized or Judaism-sympathizers,
see Jean Juster, Les Juifs dans l'Empire romain, vol. 1, Paris: Geuthner, 1914, 274-90; and also the
article by Louis H. Feldman, "Jewish 'Sympathizers' in Classical Literature and Inscriptions,"
Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, vol. 81, 1950, 200-8.