ing up an aspect of life that was particularly dear. An examination of the Jew-
ish sources does not strengthen the claim that Jews, unlike Christians, valued
their children’s lives. Rather, it demonstrates that medieval Jews and Christians
shared the same world.^137
Jews who faced the choice of baptism or death preferred death for them-
selves and for their children. The idea that the death of a child is to be pre-
ferred over his baptism into Christianity appears in other sources as well, even
those not dealing with times of duress, such as attacks on the community. R.
Tam decrees that one should not mourn the death of a Jewish child who con-
verted to Christianity. He discusses what one should do if such a child dies.
When converted adult Jews died, they were not mourned by their families. The
question concerns whether converted children should be mourned, as they did
PARENTS AND CHILDREN 181
Figure 9. The Mother and Her Seven Sons. Cod. Heb. 37, fol. 79b, Germany, 1427.
Photo courtesy of Hamburg Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek.