© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi:10.1163/15700704-12341347 The Review of Rabbinic Judaism 21 (2018) 281–284 brill.com/rrj Book Review ∵ Moshe Lavee, The Rabbinic Conversion of Judaism: The Unique Perspective of the Bavli on Conversion and the Conversion of Jewish Identity. Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity. Volume 99. E.J. Brill. Leiden and Boston. 2018. i–xiii+321 pp. This book is important in two respects: Lavee has carefully charted the devel- opment of the institutionalization and legalization of conversion to Judaism, and he has systematically demonstrated that “the governing voice of the Bavli” employed, altered, and created Palestinian materials. The book is one of the clearest expositions of the ways in which “the governing voice of the Bavli” created and expressed its point(s) of view. Although the bulk of the volume is a detailed study of the Bavli’s “Mini Tractate” on conversion—Yevamot 46a– 48b—Lavee’s method of investigating the Babylonian Talmud and his synop- tic charts, especially the detailed chart of B. Yev. 46a–48b, 231–283, serve as a model for future studies of the Babylonian Talmud. Lavee argues that the Bible provided an “awareness of Israel as distinct from other groups,” “rooted in genealogical affiliation,” as well as the possibility of “partial belonging,” allowing circumcised non-natal Israelites to participate in some rituals. In addition, the Greek and Roman views of citizenship provided Jews with a model for imagining membership within the Jewish community as a political phenomenon, in which “belonging to a group” meant “being sub- ject to its legal system.” Also, the Hellenistic mystery cults demonstrated that a small group within the society could be distinguished from society, and they “provided the archetype for conversion in the form of religious rituals of ini- tiation.” Lavee argues that the merging of these early ideas culminated in the Bavli’s thoughts about conversion. However, Lavee’s explanation of the complex development of the Bavli’s image of conversion and converts is, to my mind, the most important part of the study. Employing the method of “discourse analysis” and building on the work of Sussman and Friedman, Lavee convincingly argues that the “governing voice Downloaded from Brill.com12/02/2019 07:34:44AM via University of Haifa