Identity

3 texts

What makes someone Jewish: conversion, lineage, chosenness, and the ongoing question of Jewish identity across the centuries.

Zepho's Prayer

Ginzberg Legends of the Jews (Ginzberg)

It’s a story filled with surprising alliances, desperate prayers, and… well, a healthy dose of mistaken identity. So, picture this: Zepho, a king with a problem. He’s about to go t...

Josephus on Welcoming Strangers Without Dissolving Identity

Josephus Josephus

The historian Josephus, in his work Against Apion, gives us some insight into this very question. He highlights how Jewish law, as he understood it, navigated the delicate balance ...

The King's Son Switched at Birth

Kabbalah & Mysticism Kabbalah & Mysticism

A queen and her bondmaid gave birth on the same night. The midwife—curious about what would happen, or perhaps driven by something darker she could not name—switched the babies. Th...