Responsum: On the Testimony of Forced Converts

This influential Hebrew responsum concerns the acceptability of testimony regarding the period of their apostasy from a Jew who had converted to Christianity but subsequently reverted to Judaism. Rashi distinguishes between two types of apostates, those forced to undergo baptism and those who willingly did so. Succeeding generations of talmudists in Europe accepted Rashi’s ruling but debated exactly what kind of evidence might be necessary to prove that an individual had been forced to convert to Christianity.