24 pages • 48 minutes read
Philip RothA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“The Conversion of the Jews” both seeks truth and challenges things previously accepted as true. Ozzie is a genuine, if naïve, truth seeker. Literature often uses the voice of the child—or social outcasts—to question cultural norms. Roth’s protagonist reveals holes in Rabbi Binder’s knowledge of the Jewish faith.
Ozzie’s quest for truth is met with disciplinary action including verbal, psychological, and physical abuse. Ozzie’s questions during “free-discussion time” lead Rabbi Binder to shout at him and call in his mother for further discussion of his behavior. Psychologically, Ozzie is tormented by Rabbi Binder’s oppressive, authoritarian classroom, which the narrator describes as “soul-battering” (316). This psychological suppression ultimately leads the rabbi to physically shut Ozzie up, resulting in a bloody nose for the boy. In an earlier flashback, Ozzie’s mother becomes physically violent upon learning he defended the virgin birth.
Ozzie is constantly let down by the authority figures who are supposed to impart knowledge. Roth employs his protagonist as a catalyst to question previously held truths centered around religion, authority, and structures of power. Roth employs humor to undermine institutions often deemed infallible. The questioning of truth reaches its climax at the end of the short story as Ozzie forces the crowd of Jewish people to say that they believe in Jesus Christ. Ozzy adds, “First one at a time, then all together” (324). This powerful moment inverts the relationship of teacher to student. Instead of the parent or teacher imparting wisdom to a child, a student vindictively and mischievously forces—under threat of his own death—a crowd to declare a “truth” that is opposed to their beliefs.
Philip Roth explores and challenges the role of power and authority. The protagonist, Ozzie, battles against several authoritarian power structures throughout the short story. The most obvious is Rabbi Binder, who represents the power of organized religion and of the education system. Mrs. Freedman represents parental authority as well as the power of tradition, as symbolized by the reverent candle ceremony in the Freedman home the night before the roof incident. Ozzie’s best friend, Itzie, represents the power of peer pressure. The firefighters represent municipal (city) authority.
“The Conversion of the Jews” questions power and authority through humor, absurdity, and inversion of traditional power structures. Roth begins the story with an irreverent conversation between two 13-year-old boys, using everyday language and raising controversial questions on the opening page. Itzie asks Ozzie, “What do you care about Jesus Christ for anyway?” (312). The narrator goes on to describe two previous classroom discussions that led to Ozzie’s mother coming to the school. Furthermore, the school views Yakov Blotnik, an old, mumbling custodian, as a joke instead of offering respect for what he represents: the country of origin for many of the story’s characters. The narrator observes, “To most students Yakov Blotnik’s mumbling, along with his brown curly beard, scythe nose, and two heel-trailing black cats, made him an object […] towards whom they were alternately fearful and disrespectful” (315).
The complete inversion of power occurs in the rooftop scene. After a brief existential crisis, Ozzie realizes that he has his teacher, classmates, mother, and the fire department in the palm of his hand. Just as his parent and teacher abused their power over him, Ozzie torments his audience by running from side to side on the roof, pretending he’s about to jump. This ploy sends the firefighters running back and forth, and Rabbi Binder cannot control the students, washing his hands of any responsibility once Mrs. Freedman arrives. The ultimate inversion of power occurs when Ozzie forces the crowd to kneel and state both individually and in unison that they believe in the divinity of Jesus and the possibility of the Immaculate Conception. He demands of them, “Tell me you believe God can make a child without intercourse” (324).
“The Conversion of the Jews” explores the theme of tradition by exposing the emptiness of blindly following custom. The critique of tradition is revealed in the clash between Ozzie and Rabbi Binder. The rabbi upholds traditional Jewish values and beliefs but without intellectual curiosity or deep understanding of what he is teaching. He constantly, perhaps intentionally, misunderstands Ozzie’s questions about the Jewish faith. When Ozzie points out that the rabbi doesn’t understand, Rabbi Binder threatens to cancel Ozzie’s bar mitzvah, the traditional coming-of-age ceremony for Jewish boys. When Ozzie reads Hebrew, Rabbi Binder simply wants him to read faster instead of understanding what he is reading, representing an adherence to tradition for tradition’s sake, lacking spiritual or intellectual depth. The story further pokes fun at tradition through the character of Yakov Blotnik. The narrator says that his constant mumbling is like “a monotonous, curious prayer; what made it curious was that old Blotnik had been mumbling so steadily for so many years. Ozzie suspected he had memorized the prayers and forgotten all about God” (315-16). Tradition becomes meaningless and routine.
This theme is repeated outside the religious context as the firefighters arrive. Without thinking, they hook up their hoses to the fire hydrant without realizing there is no fire to put out. They are initially confused when Rabbi Binder informs them there is no fire. Tradition becoming routine results in automatic behavior and dehumanization. The firemen beg Ozzie to simply jump, not worried for his safety, so they can go about their day. Ozzie’s classmates beg him to jump, unconcerned for his safety as well.
Ozzie occasionally reveres tradition, as when he picks up the ringing phone so it will not disturb his mother as she lights the candle for the Sabbath. Ozzie feels a true connection to his mother, and it is the only moment of sentimentality in the story. The narrator says of Mrs. Freedman, “Even when she was dressed up she didn’t look like a chosen person. But when she lit candles she looked like something better; like a woman who knew momentarily that God could do anything” (315). Unfortunately, Ozzie’s respect for his mother’s Sabbath tradition is upended after he tells her what he said at school and she strikes him.
By Philip Roth