benefited
neither the nation nor the faith of the Jew, and turned the school of
Shammai, which belonged to the party of the Zealots, entirely against the
whole system of proselytism. On the whole, bitter experience taught the
Jews distrust of conversions due to fear, such as those of the Samaritans
who feared the lions that killed the inhabitants, or to political and
social advantage, like those under David and Solomon, or in the days of
Mordecai and Esther, or still later under John Hyrcanus.(1349) Instead,
all stress was laid upon religious conviction and loyalty to the law. In
fact, Josephus mentions many proselytes who in his time fell away from
Judaism,(1350) who may perhaps have been converts to Christianity. The
later Halakah, fixed under the influence of the Hadrianic persecution and
quoted in the Talmud as Baraitha, prescribes the following mode of
admission for the time after the destruction of the Temple, omitting
significantly much that was used in the preceding period:(1351) "If a
person desires to join Judaism as a proselyte, let him first learn of the
sad lot of the Jewish people and their martyrdom, so as to be dissuaded
from joining. If, however, he persists in his intention, let him be
instructed in a number of laws, both prohibitory and mandatory, easy and
hard to observe, and be informed also as to the punishment for their
disobedience and the reward for fulfillment. After he has then declared
his willingness to accept the belief in God and to adhere to His law, he
must submit to the rite of circumcision in the presence of two members of
the Pharisean community, take the baptismal bath, and is then fully
admitted into the Jewish fold." It is instructive to compare this Halakic
rule with the manual for proselytes preserved by the Church under the name
of "The Two Ways," but in a revised form.(1352) The mode of admission in
the Halakah seems modeled superficially after the more elaborate one of
the earlier code, where the Shema as the Jewish creed and the Ten
Commandments, possibly with the addition of the eighteenth and nineteenth
chapters of Leviticus and the twenty-seventh chapter of Deuteronomy, seem
to have formed the basis for the instruction and the solemn oath of the
proselyte.

11. As long as the Jewish people possessed a flourishing world-wide
commerce, unhampered by the power of the Church, they were still joined by
numerous proselytes in the various lands and enjoyed general confidence.
Ind