Sikertelen térítési történet a 18. században
An Account of an Unsuccessful Conversion in the 18th Century

Summary/Abstract: This study is the methodological analysis of a literary presentation and its historical sources of an account of an unsuccessful conversion in Hungary in the 18th century. During the second half of the 18th century, Hungarian Jews lodged several complaints to the monarch, providing accounts of their children’s christening in their infancy. An unknown author, presumably a contemporary, depicted the christening of a young Jewish girl in a literary work, and the struggle between the Jewish and the Christian communities over the girl’s education sometime later. The story reveals that the young girl persevered and was determined to keep her Jewish faith. Although the manuscript of the account came into the possession of Joseph (Juspa) Flesch, (1788–1854) rabbi of Veszprém, sometime during the first half of the 19th century, it was published only in 1925 by his great-grandson, and then only in an English translation. The authenticity of the literary piece of the unsuccessful conversion is verified by archival sources. Fictitious events enrich the work in several cases, presenting her exemplary deeds to the public by spiritualizing the girl’s attachment to her Jewish religion and to traditional values. The archival sources testifying to the events, reflect the voices of representatives of the church and secular society and illustrate the procedure of official bodies in certain christening ceremonies as well as the options of individuals in these processes. Nevertheless, the literary piece conceals some questions: did its author live when these events took place as the manuscript states, or as the linguistic evidence of the account seems to suggest, much later, at the beginning of the 19th century? Why was the manuscript not published at this time? The analysis is followed by a transcription of the manuscript from the original Jüdisch- Deutsch, that is Judeo-German in Hebrew characters

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