I’ve been trying to decide how to approach the Chabad question for several months. It is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed for conversion candidates because many discover Judaism through local Chabad houses. However, it is difficult to handle a controversy fairly and without making too many people angry! I am not Chabad, […]
Controversies You Should Understand: Chabad Conversions Read Post »
Nightmares are probably the strangest sign that you’ve really cast your lot with the Jewish people. But they seem to be universal: everyone begins to have nightmares about Nazis, the Holocaust, or other anti-Semitism. [I don’t think anyone dreams about the Cossacks.] It seems unavoidable. Interestingly (and in my totally unscientific opinion), I believe it’s one of
Signs You’ve Made It: Nightmares Read Post »
Just as there are many baalei teshuva who read this blog, there are many conversion candidates reading Beyond Teshuva, a blog created for BTs. [Grammar note: notice that the plural of BTs is not BT’s. That’s your dose of my crazy for the day.] Last week, Beyond Teshuva had a great breakdown of the kinds
Do You Have an Adequate Support System? Read Post »
Thanks to the ever-helpful Lifehacker blog, I came across this Psychology Today article: Are You Teaching People to Treat You Badly? Essentially, a psychological theory says that if you don’t “punish” people who treat you badly, they become conditioned to treating you badly. They think it’s ok to treat you badly. As a dog trainer, this is
Does the Squeaky Wheel Get the Grease? Read Post »
On another occasion it happened that a certain conversion candidate came before a rabbi and said to him, “Make me tznius in a New York City winter, on condition that you teach me all your fashion secrets while I stand on one foot.” Thereupon he repulsed her with the builder’s cubit which was in his
Tznius Women and Winter Weather Read Post »
There is a lesson that many conversion candidates and newly religious Jews are not told until they’ve made a fool of themselves: There are different interpretations of halacha, and it’s possible for all these interpretations to be halachically valid and accepted. In other words, the modern orthodox, the “just plain orthodox,” the chassidim, and the
Lessons from Hillel: There Is Generally No One “Right” Way in Halacha Read Post »
Many conversion candidates believe that a prior conversion will speed up the time of a second conversion. (If you are in the unlucky group that gets to 3+ conversions, you’re more likely in the territory of geirus l’chumrah than “normal” geirus.) After all, it makes sense: you’ve already “cast your lot with the Jewish people,”
Convert Questions: Is Conversion Faster If You Have a Prior Conversion? Read Post »
People are both pleased and dismayed by the “streamlining” of orthodox conversion since 2006. Some believe it standardizes the process and releases “regular” rabbis from dealing with conversion issues (which your average rabbi is not well-versed in). Others feel that American rabbis capitulated to the Israeli Rabbinate and that the process invites abuse by concentrating
Conversion from the Rabbi’s Perspective Read Post »
Many converts want to live in peace with their Jewish history unquestioned. For converts able to physically “pass” (aka, those who are white or Middle Eastern or otherwise of “vague” ethnicity), it’s easier to blend into the born-Jewish community. However, even the most “Jewy-looking” convert can be “outed” by Jewish geography. Even if you are
How Jewish Geography Will Trap You Read Post »
There is a mitzvah to make a mitzvah beautiful or otherwise enhance the mitzvah beyond the demands of the halacha through aesthetics. Generally, it refers to the beauty of a physical ritual object. The source for hiddur mitzvah is Exodus/Shmot 15:2 “This is my God, and I will glorify Him.” Many mitzvot require a physical
Phrase of the Day: Hiddur Mitzvah Read Post »