Apostasy in Judaism

A mumar is someone who does not observe a certain mitzvah or who doesn't observe any mitzvot at all. Rabbinic categories differentiate between a mumar ledavar echad (מומר לדבר אחד) who doesn't observe a certain mitzvah, and a mumar lekhol hatorah kulah (מומר לכל התורה כולה) who doesn't observe any of the Torah. Likewise they differentiate between a mumar l'teyavon (מומר לתיאבון) who transgresses mitzvah(s) wantonly due to craving (teyavon) or convenience, versus a mumar l'hakh`is (מומר להכעיס) meaning one who transgresses out of spite, who defies the mitzvah willfully.{{cite web |url=http://www.hashefa.co.il/article/9767.aspx |title=Archived copy |website=www.hashefa.co.il |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404191255/http://www.hashefa.co.il/article/9767.aspx |archive-date=4 April 2016 |url-status=dead}}

Some halakhic aspects of this status include: a mumar is treated as a gentile in regard to commerce; it is forbidden to cause them to stumble into doing something forbidden; regarding matrimony, ritual purity, and inheritance (with some exceptions) they are an Israelite; the sages prescribed no mourning for a mumar.{{Cite web|url=https://www.daat.ac.il/encyclopedia/value.asp?id1=886|title=אנציקלופדיה יהודית דעת – מומר בהלכה היהודית ;|website=www.daat.ac.il}}

However today another category, tinok shenishba ("captured infant"), a Jew who sins as a result of having been raised without sufficient knowledge and understanding of Judaism, is widely applied and should be considered.{{Cite web |title=Chapter 9: Our Generation: The Tinok SheNishbah |url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2312348/jewish/Chapter-9-Our-Generation-The-Tinok-SheNishbah.htm |access-date=2025-03-22 |website=www.chabad.org |language=en}} A tinok shenishba is not halachically classified as a Mumar, regardless of how much of Halacha they observe.

The first recorded reference to apostasy from Judaism is in {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|13:6–11|HE}}, which states:

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"If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again."}}

In the Talmud, Elisha ben Abuyah (referred to as Acher, the "Other One") is singled out as an apostate by the rabbis.{{cite wikisource |חגיגה יד ב |Hagigah 14b |he}}

In Medieval Spain, a systematic conversion of Jews to Christianity took place, largely under threats and force.[https://books.google.com/books?id=IRyTg1jZaxAC&pg=PA128&dq=Medieval+Spain+conversion+Jews&sig=R8tuR9MeSzaYyEvIoi9izaCnT2o Figures of Conversion: The Jewish Question and English National Identity], Michael Ragussis, Duke University Press, 1995, p. 128, Quote: "The persecutions of the Jews that dominated fifteenth-century Spain, including the forced conversion of masses of Spanish Jews" The apostasy of these conversos provoked the indignation of some Jews in Spain and it was made illegal to call a converso by the epithet tornadizo (renegade).[https://books.google.com/books?id=-89-GjxFU24C&pg=PA65&dq=Converso+former&lr=&sig=Xqp2VIjYAJu8O2-HlijTRDXAYx0 A Social and Religious History of the Jews], Salo Wittmayer Baron, Columbia University Press

Some Spanish Jews, however, remained crypto-Jews despite being compelled to convert to Christianity (see Anusim). They are also called Marranos.Joseph Jacobs and Meyer Kayserling. "[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=169&letter=M Marano]." Jewish Encyclopedia. JewishEncyclopedia.com.

In 1648 Sabbatai Zevi claimed to be the Jewish Messiah. His Jewish followers were known as Sabbateans. Zevi converted to Islam in 1666. Afterwards, some of his followers willingly converted but continued to practise Sabbatean rituals. These people became known as the Dönmeh.[https://books.google.com/books?id=g1isTTzX7ZIC&dq=Sabbatai+Zevi+converted+Islam God-Optional Judaism: Alternatives for Cultural Jews Who Love Their History] Judith Seid, Published 2001, Citadel Press: Quote: "Sabbatai Zevi converted to Islam under threat of death"

In the 1750s Jacob Frank claimed he was the reincarnation of Zevi and attracted many followers in Poland, known as Frankists. In 1759, with Frank's encouragement, more than 500 Frankists were baptized as Catholics. Frank himself was also baptized, with the King of Poland as his godfather.[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZP_f9icf2roC&pg=PA358&dq=Jacob+Frank+Augustus+baptized&sig=6mb20GtPW6dV41TWR6KvGktDAf4#PPA357,M1 Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions], Wendy Doniger, p. 358, Published by Merriam-Webster

• Conversion of Jews to Islam
• History of Jewish conversion to Christianity
• Heresy in Judaism
• Humanistic Judaism
• Jewish atheism
• Jewish Buddhist
• Jewish schisms
• Jewish secularism
• List of converts to Christianity from Judaism
• List of Jewish atheists and agnostics
• Messianic Judaism
• Off the derech
• Religious disaffiliation
• Self-hating Jew
• Zera Yisrael

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• {{cite encyclopedia |url=https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1654-apostasy-and-apostates-from-judaism |title=Apostasy and Apostates from Judaism |last1=Kohler |first1=Kaufmann |last2=Gottheil |first2=Richard |author1-link=Kaufmann Kohler |author2-link=Richard James Horatio Gottheil |encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia |publisher=Kopelman Foundation |year=1906 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140117212506/https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1654-apostasy-and-apostates-from-judaism |archive-date=17 January 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=24 November 2021}}

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Category:Apostasy

Category:Jewish law

Category:Heresy in Judaism