Author name: Kochava Yocheved

Welcome! My name is Kochava, and I'm not crazy. Well, maybe I *am* crazy, but not for converting to Judaism. I'm a Southerner, writer, lawyer, teacher, parent, homeschooler, activist, nerd, and brand-new YouTuber. You name it, I'm curious about it.

Reason #84 You Know You’re Crazy: Orthodox Conversion is EXPENSIVE!

Reason #84 You Know You’re Crazy: An Orthodox Conversion is EXPENSIVE. Really. My conservative conversion cost me nothing other than one required paperback book for my Introduction to Judaism class. I think I bought it on Half.com for 5 bucks. To get to my first meeting with an orthodox beit din, I spent approximately $1,000 […]

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Reason #483 You Know You’re Crazy: Don’t Mess with the Zohan

Reason #483 You Know You’re Crazy: Don’t Mess with the Zohan Read Post »

Kiruv and (Non-Orthodox) Converts

I tried to get some Hebrew reading help from a kiruv organization that offers free tutoring to any Jew. Interestingly, they will work with gay Jews, intermarried Jews, or any other non-Orthodox Jew. However, they will not work with a convert who has had a non-Orthodox conversion because we are “not Jewish.” Of course, they

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Changing from Jeans-and-T-Shirts to Skirts-and-Sleeves

I’ve always been a jeans-and-t-shirts kind of girl. Very low maintenance. So much so that I didn’t even know I have an obsessive compulsion to color-coordinate until my freshman year of college! Beginning to work in a professional field had partially ruined this tendency, but in April 2010, I switched full-time to knee-length or longer

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The Best Part of Converting

You know the best part about converting? Preparing for a mitzvah IS a mitzvah, so I will eventually get “credit” for all the things I’m doing pre-Conversion 2.0. Why is this awesome? It means that even my most awful, stupid mistakes are actually a mitzvah in themselves rather than being a chet that might turn

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Mandatory Introduction

Here is the mandatory introduction. As any Jewish convert/convert-in-progress knows, when you’re converting to Judaism, sometimes you just wanna know you’re not crazy. This will hopefully help keep me accountable to my learning, as well as sharing those funny little moments when you wonder if you’re crazy. Disclaimer: in all areas of my life, I

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