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Jewish Community News

Ask the Rabbi: June 2006

Ask the Rabbi:
How does one convert to Judaism?
Why it is so hard to convert to Judaism?
Can one ever really convert to Judaism?
If interfaith families are so well accepted in
the Reform movement, why convert ?

By Rabbi Melanie Aron
Congregation Shir Hadash

Like the questions asked by the four sons at the Passover seder, each of these questions also reflects a particular mindset or point of view. The simple question is the easiest to address. The process of conversion to Judaism has for many centuries included three components. The first is learning about Judaism. The second is adopting Judaism to the exclusion of any other religious faith and the third are rituals that accompany conversion to Judaism, circumcision and immersion in the mikvah.

In contemporary America, learning something about Judaism typically begins in an organized class or program but also includes individual meetings with a sponsoring rabbi. In some communities there are also small groups meeting for discussion with others who are also thinking about conversion, and of course, as each individual comes with different needs and experiences, paths to Judaism can be very varied.

Eventually though, the candidate will come before a beit din, a rabbinic court of three rabbis, who determine the candidate’s preparedness and commitment and welcome them into the Jewish community. This is less a test than a safeguard. In my 25 years as a rabbi, I have never seen a candidate rejected, and only rarely been part of a beit din that suggested further preparation, a reflection more on the sponsoring rabbi than on the candidate.

Often those who question conversion to Judaism are not religious Jews but are those for whom Judaism is an ethnic identity. Converts, or Jews by Choice as they are often called today, have been part of Jewish religious life from the beginning and the halachah is very strong on insisting that a convert is fully Jewish and not a second class citizen.

Maimonides in a famous Responsa explained that the convert too can pray, “Eloheinu V’Elohei Avoteinu, Our God and God of our Fathers,” and is not to be shamed in any way. Rabbinical and Cantorial schools accept converts as students and, of course, many lay leaders in our community are individuals who have chosen Judaism for themselves as adults. Ethnic Judaism may perhaps be our parents’ religious identity, but with the changing nature of the Jewish community, it is less likely to be our children’s.

Christians, who are used to a more evangelical approach, can be put off by the Jewish religion's propensity not to actively solicit converts. Some Christians interpret this lack of active solicitation to mean that Jews don’t want or respect converts. Those who come from a Protestant background may be used to a conversion that takes place in a moment of high feeling and see ‘Introduction to Judaism’ classes as making someone jump through hoops. Within Jewish culture, the lack of proselytizing stems naturally from a respect for each person’s faith, after all the Talmud teaches that “the righteous of all nations have a place in the world to come”, and the idea of learning before converting seems natural, as learning is so central to our tradition.

Finally the question of why one would convert if one could participate in a Reform congregation without doing so, is a live one today. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, spoke recently about the importance of encouraging conversion by at least asking the question. He is concerned that some of those non-Jews living within the Jewish community may not have the sense that their conversion is welcome.

My experience has been that some people chose to convert only after being part of the Jewish community for many years.

For some there is an event that concretizes their feeling of Jews being ‘us’ and not ‘them’. For one of my students years ago it was the Gulf War and her feelings about the scuds then falling on Israel. For others there is a desire to model commitment for their children, perhaps before an important life cycle event like a Bar Mitzvah, or to feel more part of their Jewish family. Individuals have talked to me about the importance of taking this legal step, even where they have been active in the synagogue for years, as a sign of their serious commitment and ultimate loyalty.

This month as we celebrate Shavuot, we honor one of the most famous converts to Judaism, Ruth. Ancestress of King David and thus also ultimately of the Messiah, her Moabite ancestry created interesting challenges for those who read the Deuteronomic ban on Moabites and Ammonites entering the community as a ban on their acceptance as converts. Some scholars think that this book came into Scripture as part of an argument about accepting outsiders, weighing in on the opposite side of the argument as Ezra-Nehemiah. Today accepting and honoring those who have chosen Judaism is a norm of American Jewish culture and the presence of the many Jews by Choice in our communities is a great blessing.