An Ammonite Convert
On that day Judah, an Ammonite convert, came and stood before them in the house of study. He said to them, “May I enter the assembly [i.e., marry an Israelite woman]?” Rabban Gamliel said to him, “You are forbidden.” R. Joshua said to him, “You are permitted.”
Rabban Gamliel said to him, “The scriptural verse says: An Ammonite and a Moabite shall…
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In this passage from the Mishnah, R. Joshua finds a creative way to accept a convert from a group with whom scripture prohibits marriage, normally a barrier to conversion.
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Related Guide
Real and Imagined "Others" in Ancient Jewish Literature
4th Century BCE–6th Century CE
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