The Conversion of the Jews

“The Conversion of the Jews,” originally published in 1958 in the literary magazine The Paris Review, is a satirical postmodern short story by American novelist Philip Roth (1933-2018). The short story was later included in a collection of Roth’s stories titled Goodbye Columbus (1959), which won the National Book Award for Fiction. This guide references the version collected in The Oxford Book of Jewish Stories (1998).

“The Conversion of the Jews” centers around the precocious and inquisitive Oscar “Ozzie” Freedman. Ozzie is a freethinking, curious student who consistently clashes with authority figures in his life, especially his mother and Rabbi Marvin Binder. The story opens with a conversation between Ozzie and his friend Itzie Lieberman, who asks the protagonist why he keeps speaking out in class and getting in trouble. Ozzie, as we discover, cannot help expressing his opinions in class discussions with Rabbi Binder, and this behavior typically leads to trouble. Itzie, the opposite of his best friend, prefers to make fun of the teacher behind his back and avoid trouble with the school administration. This initial conversation focuses on Ozzie questioning the birth of Jesus. Ozzie is genuinely curious about the Bible’s depiction of the virgin birth. According to Rabbi Binder, this event was impossible. Ozzie, to the shock of Itzie and the rabbi, challenges that if God can do anything—something he learned in school—then he surely could make a woman conceive a child “without having intercourse” (314).

Ozzie’s defiance leads to a meeting between Rabbi Binder, Ozzie, and his mother to correct his behavior. The narrator flashes back to two previous incidents in which Ozzie’s mother was called to the school. The first occurred after Rabbi Binder claimed that the Jews are the “Chosen People” and Ozzie pointed out that in the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers claimed that all men are created equal. The second incident occurred when the class was discussing a plane crash at La Guardia Airport. Ozzie remarked that, during a discussion of the tragedy at home, his mother noted the names of the dead who were Jewish (inferred from their last names). Rabbi Binder began to pontificate on the cultural unity of the Jewish people. Ozzie was frustrated that the rabbi did not understand his question, leading to another outburst in class.

The narration transitions back to the conversation between Itzie and Ozzie; readers discover that Rabbi Binder says Ozzie’s mother will have to come to the school for a third time. He threatens to cancel Ozzie’s bar mitzvah due to his insolence. None of these threats and lectures from Rabbi Binder change Ozzie’s inquisitive nature.

The story then describes a scene of Ozzie’s homelife. He is about to let his mother know about the most recent school incident when he sees her lighting candles for the Sabbath. Despite Ozzie’s defiant nature at school, he admires and respects this contemplative moment with his mother, picking up the phone and leaving it off the hook so it will not disturb the ceremony. Afterward, Ozzie tells his mother what he said at school, and she slaps him in the face for the first time ever. Ozzie cries during dinner and quickly loses his appetite.

The rest of the short story recounts the next afternoon at school. Here, the reader is introduced to Yakov Blotnik, a seemingly oblivious, 71-year-old custodian who constantly mumbles to himself. Ozzie interprets the constant mumbling as a continuous prayer, and he feels that “he had memorized the prayers and forgotten all about God” (316).

During “free-discussion time” in class (316), no one wants to bring up a discussion topic, not even Ozzie. He is hesitant due to an earlier reprimand by the rabbi for reading Hebrew too slowly. Ozzie argues that if he reads too fast, he doesn’t understand what he is reading, but Rabbi Binder is too impatient to consider Ozzie’s honest attempt to learn the language or the lesson from the Torah.

Eventually, Ozzie stands up to speak and is initially hesitant to broach the topic that is on his mind. Rabbi Binder cajoles Ozzie into speaking, and he blurts out, “Why can’t He make anything He wants to make!” (317). The question perplexes Rabbi Binder. As the rabbi ponders, Itzie makes a rude gesture behind the teacher’s back, sending the class into uproarious laughter.

Binder spins around to see what had happened, and Ozzie exclaims, “You don’t know! You don’t know anything about God!” (317). Furious, Rabbi Binder demands that Ozzie apologize. Ozzie is once again defiant, repeating that the religious leader knows nothing about God. Rabbi Binder, in a clumsy effort to clamp Ozzie’s mouth shut, hits Ozzie square in the nose, causing it to bleed. Ozzie flees the classroom with the rabbi giving chase. Ozzie bolts up three flights of stairs heading for the roof, his teacher and classmates closely behind. Ozzie successfully locks the roof access door before anyone can push their way through. Once alone, Ozzie experiences a moment of existential dread and clarity. He asks, “Can this be me?” (318), noting that he just cursed at a religious leader twice and claimed he had no authority.

Quickly, a crowd gathers outside the school; Rabbi Binder shouts at Ozzie to get down from the roof. Yakov calls the fire department, yet Ozzie “started to feel the meaning of the word control: he felt Peace and he felt Power” (318). The fire department arrives, leading one fireman to encourage Ozzie to jump off the roof. Ozzie, feeling the “Peace” and the “Power,” proceeds to taunt the crowd by running from one side of the school to the other, faking a fatal leap down and sending the firemen into a frenzied rush to bring their net to the approximate spot of Ozzie’s landing.

Rabbi Binder, desperate to end the debacle and fearing for the child’s life, begs Ozzie to stop playing. Itzie then shouts for Ozzie to jump; a chorus of students then encourages their classmate to take the leap. At this moment, Ozzie’s mother arrives at the parent-teacher conference established earlier in the story. She asks Rabbi Binder to get Ozzie off the roof, but the religious leader weakly claims, “I can’t […] I can’t. It’s them. Listen to them […] He’s doing it for them. He won’t listen to me” (322). Ozzie’s mother misinterprets her son’s actions as an act of martyrdom. Then Itzie misunderstands her claim that her son is a “martyr” by shouting to Ozzie, “Be a Martin, be a Martin!” (322).

Still on the roof, Ozzie reflects on the absurdity of the situation: The rabbi and his mom are chanting without emotion, while his classmates are cheering for his death. Eventually, his confusion subsides and he quiets the crowd. He orders them to get on their knees or else he will jump to his death. Once everyone obeys, Ozzie again asks Rabbi Binder if God can indeed do anything, forcing his teacher to admit that God could indeed allow for a child to be conceived without intercourse. After Rabbi Binder agrees, Ozzie proceeds to make his mother, his classmates, and the firemen say they believe in the Immaculate Conception. Then he has everyone say they believe in Jesus Christ, effectively converting his Jewish schoolmates, mother, and teacher to Christianity.

After the conversion, Ozzie calls out to his mother: “Mamma, don’t you see—you shouldn’t hit me. He [Rabbi Binder] shouldn’t hit me. You shouldn’t hit me about God, Mamma. You should never hit anybody about God” (324). The story concludes with a satisfied Ozzie jumping into the fire department’s net, which “flowed in the evening’s edge like an overgrown halo” (324).