The Talmudic story of the four who entered Pardes sticks with me. It’s definitely in my Jewish Story Top 10. I couldn’t tell you why. Maybe it shows I’ve got a 1/4 chance of making it out of this conversion alive and mentally/emotionally/religiously intact. Four men entered pardes: Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Acher [“the other […]
Phrase of the Day: Beged Ish
I don’t know how it happens, but the phrase “beged ish” pops up in the most random of contexts. Perhaps that says something about the people saying it, but I’ll leave that to you. Beged ish is Hebrew for “a man’s garment.” In short, men and women aren’t supposed to wear the clothing of the […]
Revisiting Last Friday’s Post
Last Friday’s soapbox moment got a lot of attention. Worse, it got a lot of sympathy, proving that I’m not alone. However, I want to clarify what prompted me to write that post because of some of the reactions in the comments. As you should all know by now, I’m studying for two bar exams. […]
News: Rabbi Angel on Parsha Hukkat and Conversion
Rabbi Angel, former President of the Rabbinical Council of America and author of Choosing to Be Jewish: The Orthodox Road to Conversion, has written a pretty scathing commentary on this week’s parsha and conversion. Here is an excerpt. The full version is located here. Some years ago I attended a meeting of Orthodox rabbis to discuss policies […]
Are Conversion Rabbis Capable of Understanding the Conversion Candidate’s Emotional State?
Can conversion rabbis ever really understand the emotional issues that face conversion candidates? Worse, maybe even our friends and family can’t understand? I don’t mean to downplay the suffering that other people face. We all have our own challenges, but orthodox conversion candidates face an outside restriction on the most intimate areas of life. Given […]
Lessons in Ahavas Yisrael: Tattoos in the Mikvah
(I’m not so bright, so I accidentally scheduled this for tomorrow’s date. Sorry!) A really nice story to start your day off right! I don’t think any story can really be classified as a “chassidic story” unless it involves a forest in The Old Country, a miraculous job offer, and someone who gets pregnant after […]
Rambam’s 13 Principles of Faith
Every single conversion syllabus and potential beit din question list asks about Rambam’s 13 Principles of Faith. Rambam’s list attempts to distill the key ideas of Judaism. If you can not accept these principles, you cannot convert orthodox. I don’t know how the other movements stand on these principles, but I was required to know […]
Sunday is Lag B’Omer!
Lag B’Omer is the 33rd day of the Omer. (My understanding is that Sephardic Jews say Lag LaOmer, which is just a different literal translation of the preposition.) Forgive me for not giving you a detailed explanation of the Omer here. This year, Lag B’Omer is Saturday, May 22, 2011, at sundown until Sunday, May […]
Convert Questions: What’s Up with Synagogue Membership Fees??
The existence of synagogue membership fees always seems to be a major shock to the new conversion candidate. Coming from mainstream American society, voluntary donations during a religious service are the expected way for the average person to donate money to a religious organization (whether the candidate was involved in Christianity or not). Now, as […]
Bullying Within the Conversion Community: The Enemy Within
An important read from the other convert blogger named Chavi: The Real Danger? Other Converts. From the post: “I don’t know if it’s new, but all of the conversion crises talk has exacerbated this self preservation to the point that converts, in some communities, have become bullies. It is the classic case where the bullied […]
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