List of converts to Judaism

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  • Rahab, as mentioned in the Book of Joshua. According to Jewish tradition, she married Joshua, gave birth to a daughter, and was the ancestress of several prophets .
  • Ruth, the great-grandmother of King David, born a Moabite princess . Had she not converted, we would have been denied not only the kings of the house of David, but also the Books of Psalms, the Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and Isaiah.
  • Naamah, mother of King Rehobaom (she was one of the wives of King Solomon), born an Ammonite. All kings of Judah from Rehobaom on were her descendants, as well as the Prophet Isaiah.
  • The Prophet Obadiah , born an Ishmaelite.
  • Shmaya and Avtalyon, the teachers of Hillel;
  • Ben Hay-Hay of the Mishnah;
  • Ben Bag-Bag of the Mishnah;
  • Rabbi Akiva, whose father was a convert;
  • Rabbi Meir (aka Rabbi Meir Baal Hanes), a grandson of Nero Caesar. (While Nero did not have any official seed, he did father children. According to the Talmud Nero converted. According to general historians, Nero was assassinated by his guard. According to the Talmud, he fled [perhaps he had staged his “assassination”] and converted to Judaism. At any rate, the Talmud states that Rabbi Meir was a descendant of Nero. Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg [d: 1293] was a descendant and was the foremost rabbi of the German states in the 13th century.)
  • Aqilas (known to Jews as Unkalos) nephew of Hadrian, author of the prime Aramaic translation of the Torah.
  • Queen Helena of Adiabene , together with her sons. She and they are mentioned many times in the Talmud. It is likely that many of her subjects converted too. It is perhaps interesting that the Kurds are genetic relatives to both Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews.
  • Flavius Clemens, a Roman Senator, and nephew of the Emperor Domitinan.
  • Fulvia, the wife of a Roman Senator, Saturninus. It is likely that Saturninus also converted.
  • Rachel, the mother of Rav Abba Mauri an Amora of the Talmud. The latter was converted while he was a fetus and was born a Jew.
  • Bishop Bodo, confessor to Louis the Pius (son of Charlemagne). He moved to Moslem Spain in order to convert. Died 876.
  • Andreas, Archbishop of Bari (late 11th Century)
  • Obadiah the Convert (12th Century) a former priest whose original name was Johannes. He was born in Normandy.
  • Obadiah the Convert (13th Century) to whom the Rambam (Maimonides) wrote a famous letter and primarily for him wrote The Guide to the Perplexed.
  • Robert de Reddinge, an English nobleman of the 13th century, also a preaching friar. His conversion eventually led to the expulsion of Jews from England. He was burned at the stake.
  • Abraham of Augsburg martyred 1265.
  • Catherine Weigel, burned at the stake for converting, 1539.
  • Diego de Asumpcao, burned at the stake for converting, 1603.
  • Conrad Victor, a professor of classical languages at the University of Marburg. He moved to the Ottoman Empire and became Moses Prado.
  • Nicolas Antoine. While he was not able to convert to Judaism, he was burned at the stake in Geneva, Switzerland in 1632 for seeking to convert to Judaism.
  • Francisco de Silva burned at the stake in Lima, 1639.
  • Don Lope de Vera burned at the stake, 1644.
  • Johann Peter Spate, a German priest, d: 1697.
  • Valentine, Count Potocki (Avraham ben Avraham, the Ger Zedek of Vilna) burned at the stake by the Catholic Church in Poland, 1749. His ashes and a single finger that had not been burned were interned next to the Vilna Gaon, the most eminent sage of the 18th century.
  • Boruch ben Avraham (Zaremba). A Lithuanian nobleman who converted with Count Potocki who wisely moved to Israel upon his conversion.
  • Lord George Gordon (d: November 1, 1793). While the British did not kill him outright, he was arrested and kept in prison until he sickened and died. In the 1800s, conversion to Judaism was no longer considered a capital crime in most Christian countries.
  • Abraham Graanboom, a Swedish aristocrat who converted and relocated to Amsterdam with his family. (d: 1807)
  • Setzuso Kotsuji , a Japanese aristocrat (d: 1974).
  • Dr. Kenny Trabert (d: 2008) who had been part of the Princeton Think Tank and then joined the Lakewood Yeshiva.
  • Asher Wade (former Methodist minister, now rabbi )
  • Ole Brunell, former Finnish Lutheran Minister .
  • Natan Gamedze, African prince, now rabbi .
  • Julius Lester, a black American convert to Judaism famous for remarking, “The black assumption is that Jews are white people. And blacks don't understand that most Jews don't see themselves as white ."
  • Ahuvah Grey, black American who was once a Protestant Minster and is now an Orthodox Jewess.
  • Rabbi Dr. Aharon Shear Yashuv, who was Wolfgang Schmidt, a German Protestant. His father had been an SS officer. He studied for the ministry, and then decided to convert to Judaism. He converted under Reform and subsequently under Orthodox auspices. He became the Rav of the Technion University in Haifa and a lecturer at Bar Ilan University.