For the source text click/tap here: Yevamot 79
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In our daf King David used three verses to describe traits of the Jewish people. They are merciful, shamefaced, and kind.
If a person is converting to Judaism, they must embody these characteristics.
A note suggests that rabbis reinterpreted this idea. They do not believe that Jews embody these traits.
Instead, they suggest that G-d gave those gifts to us to do with what we will.
The subtle difference between these two descriptions of Jewish traits is quite fascinating. Are we different innately? Did G-d bestow these differences upon us? Do these traits occur independent of our relationships with G-d, or with our religion?
We explore the notion of ethnic character and the science of race, those describing Jews from the outside (1892) from a Christian perspective down to the Tibor Egervari’s post-Auschwitz adaptation of Shakespeare’s anti-Semitic comedy The Merchant of Venice.