Conversions again
An e-mail I got today:
Dear Daniel
... One last question: if I have a Japanese friend who is interested in seeing what Rosh Hashanah is like, do you think he'll [the Chabad Rabbi] be OK with having her come to services? ... she's actually Christian, and would like to learn more about Judaism. What do you think?...
My response:
Oh dear... I've done things like this, but I think I was wrong. Non-Jews, particularly Christians, don't really belong in services. I've hardly ever had it be worthwhile for them, although it was sometimes worthwhile for me, in that I went to services and participated to a greater extent than I might have done otherwise.
I'd say definitely don't bring her. The "would like to learn more about Judaism" thing is also often a bit of a trap- Japanese people never convert to Judaism, trust me. The only way it can ever happen, and this is rarer than the panda, is when they come to Israel or the US and first become Israeli or American rather than Japanese, as was the case with my wife, Michal, Rachel, Tamar, etc. What does happen is fake conversions, which is a terrible thing for Judaism and for the people involved. And if she doesn't want to ultimately convert, then going to Chabad to services is probably a much worse way to proceed than just reading any one of the many books in Judaism which came out in Japanese, by Rabbi Tokayer etc., for instance because she won't be getting much knowledge out of a service in Hebrew which she doesn't understand.
According to Hallacha she can come to services- but according to common sense I think she shouldn't, and if she does you shouldn't be helping her. Sorry for being so frank.
I hope my gut feeling is wrong, that this guy has a prospective shiksa he's looking to be toyvel. He's a really nice, intelligent person, and I would hate to see him become another statistic.
Dear Daniel
... One last question: if I have a Japanese friend who is interested in seeing what Rosh Hashanah is like, do you think he'll [the Chabad Rabbi] be OK with having her come to services? ... she's actually Christian, and would like to learn more about Judaism. What do you think?...
My response:
Oh dear... I've done things like this, but I think I was wrong. Non-Jews, particularly Christians, don't really belong in services. I've hardly ever had it be worthwhile for them, although it was sometimes worthwhile for me, in that I went to services and participated to a greater extent than I might have done otherwise.
I'd say definitely don't bring her. The "would like to learn more about Judaism" thing is also often a bit of a trap- Japanese people never convert to Judaism, trust me. The only way it can ever happen, and this is rarer than the panda, is when they come to Israel or the US and first become Israeli or American rather than Japanese, as was the case with my wife, Michal, Rachel, Tamar, etc. What does happen is fake conversions, which is a terrible thing for Judaism and for the people involved. And if she doesn't want to ultimately convert, then going to Chabad to services is probably a much worse way to proceed than just reading any one of the many books in Judaism which came out in Japanese, by Rabbi Tokayer etc., for instance because she won't be getting much knowledge out of a service in Hebrew which she doesn't understand.
According to Hallacha she can come to services- but according to common sense I think she shouldn't, and if she does you shouldn't be helping her. Sorry for being so frank.
I hope my gut feeling is wrong, that this guy has a prospective shiksa he's looking to be toyvel. He's a really nice, intelligent person, and I would hate to see him become another statistic.