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Management Update: Expanded Content and New Layout!

As you’ve probably noticed, the blog has a new layout! I hope you like it! And if you have eagle eyes, you may have noticed that there are new pages listed above! Enjoy the expanded content, provided as always to promote practicality in the conversion process. If you have suggestions, edits, or gripes, my email […]

Convert Questions: Does Anyone Fail the Beit Din?

In short, no, especially in orthodox conversions today. However, I think that is generally true in all the movements. If your sponsoring rabbi recommends to your beit din that it is time for you to take the oral examination part of your conversion (“the” beit din) and your beit din agrees, then you likely ARE […]

Buying into Modern Orthodox Stereotypes One Day at a Time…

Wearing skirts in the cold winter is less awful than I expected. Not even bad, 95% of the time. (Check back with me next year during my first New York winter!) However, I’m in the snOMG blizzard experience, even in Virginia. We’ve got about 10 inches of snow as of Sunday night, and it’s still […]

Did Something Important Happen Yesterday?

Oh yeah. Xmas. This week has mostly been a reminder of how much I’ve forgotten Xmas. Case in point: I’m spending my winter vacation mostly with my parents, who celebrate Xmas. I was shocked when my stepmom asked, “So what are you going to fix for Xmas dinner?” (Since I’m cooking kosher in their house.) […]

Convert Questions: Converts and Aliyah

A common question for many converts is whether they can make aliyah to Israel. In short, yes, a convert from any movement can make aliyah to Israel under the Law of Return. This means the convert can get expedited citizenship and be labeled as a “Jew” on their ID card. (I’m still very confused by […]

The Orthodox Dating Process

We all know that orthodox dating practices are different than other Jewish groups or the secular public. However, there isn’t much explanation of the process. And most of the kvetching (whining) is about being an “older single,” which most converts and baalei teshuva are. Unfortunately, most of the internet resources on the topic are on […]

The Importance of Finding the “Right” Community

As we just discussed the potential that a convert may need to move to a new community in order to finish his or her conversion (Convert Issues: the Community Requirement), the next step is choosing the RIGHT community for you. And I mean literally “you,” specifically. No community will be the right fit for all […]

Culture Shock: Jewish Standard Time

If there is any “cultural” aspect of the Jewish People that you should know, it’s Jewish Standard Time (JST). I swear I hear this phrase at least twice a week, and I live in a very small community. I can only imagine its effects in the larger communities! In my Jewish encounters, I’ve found that […]

Something You Should Read and Comment on!

As an unmarried woman who had a terrible first mikvah experience (for conversion 1.0), I would very much like all of you to read this post by fellow Chavi about the mikvah! Please comment, anonymously or not! Just Call Me Chaviva: The Mikvah Is Lost on Me.

Memory Lane: The Converting for Marriage Stereotype

Since we’ve been discussing converting specifically for marriage this last week (See Why on Earth Would Someone Convert to Judaism and Taking a Shyne to Judaism), it reminded me of a funny story. (I’m not sure if it’s funny weird or funny haha!) But it’s the kind of story that could only happen to me. […]