(So he had no problems with my status, which many Orthodox Jews would. But I don't think too many Conservative Jews would, at least after learning that I'm accepted as a service leader in a Conservative congregation. Err, maybe. Whatever.)
I am not a Rabbi (or an expert), but I believe the official Conservative position is that if a woman had a conversion which included Mikveh, it's accepted. I suppose I should add "a Jewish conversion". In practice, I personally would have no problem counting you in a minyan (and note that I didn't ask if you dunked or not). (If you're in NY on the first or third Shabbat of the month, come to my minyan. We're lay-led, so there are opportunities to lead... but depending upon the coordinator, things get filled up more or less in advance. I'm D'var Torah coordinator, and I don't have anyone for next Saturday, but do have someone for July and first meeting in August. :-)
I believe the official Conservative position is that if a woman had a conversion which included Mikveh, it's accepted.
I've heard that this is true for most Conservative rabbis, but I didn't know if it was official policy. Not that I'm that worried about it, of course. (A few days after my conversion I was at the Conservative shul for morning services and they offered me g'lilah. I said I hadn't had a chance to ask their rabbi yet if he accepted my conversion, and the response was "he said to give you an aliya". Ok. :-) )
If you're in NY on the first or third Shabbat of the month, come to my minyan.
I've heard that this is true for most Conservative rabbis, but I didn't know if it was official policy.
Well, since I'm not a Rabbi, convert, or a woman, I could certainly be wrong. Also, there are two basic ways of approaching things. There's the "I know Cellio, she seems really serious about Judaism, I'm sure she did Mikveh, why embarass her by grilling her about the details" and the "Well, maybe she didn't actually completely submerge three times in a Mikveh, and, wait, is that shatnes she's wearing? Let's check!" approach. Both are found (with various permutations, of course) in every movement, but I would venture to guess that Rabbis who have the latter approach tend to not to gravitate towards being congregational Conservative Rabbis.
If the Blue Man Group you saw is the same show as the one in Boston (it sounds like it), the poncho seats are protecting from banana, not paint. Or at least, when I was in the poncho seats, that's what it was protecting from (the drumming scene with paint never got close). The ponchos are annoying, more drape-around than true ponchos, plus hot to be under the plastic; I didn't find it a good place to sit.
Davening sounds very nice, and very much what I think of as normal for certain kinds of modern Orthodox (except the lack of rabbi part, I think).
Also, most people won't ask specifics of conversions; it's obvious that you know the davening, etc, and that shows you've not just done a technical conversion for some social reason, so definitely, acceptable as Jewish :-). (Also, ditto what Goljerp said about mikveh.)
Blue Man Group: thanks for the info. Probably the same show, or at least with elements of the same show. I was too far away to see what the apparently-edible light-yellow bits were, but banana would be consistent. I would definitely consider the ponchos a negative; if I go to another show I want to sit in the first poncho-free row, so I can see but not have to put up with that discomfort. (For what the tickets cost, why should I also have to be uncomfortable?)
Also, most people won't ask specifics of conversions;
I wouldn't expect them to ask; I had just figured that people labelled "traditional" would probably err on the side of caution (from their point of view). It also never occurred to me that they'd ask a woman to lead. :-)
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I am not a Rabbi (or an expert), but I believe the official Conservative position is that if a woman had a conversion which included Mikveh, it's accepted. I suppose I should add "a Jewish conversion". In practice, I personally would have no problem counting you in a minyan (and note that I didn't ask if you dunked or not). (If you're in NY on the first or third Shabbat of the month, come to my minyan. We're lay-led, so there are opportunities to lead... but depending upon the coordinator, things get filled up more or less in advance. I'm D'var Torah coordinator, and I don't have anyone for next Saturday, but do have someone for July and first meeting in August. :-)
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I've heard that this is true for most Conservative rabbis, but I didn't know if it was official policy. Not that I'm that worried about it, of course. (A few days after my conversion I was at the Conservative shul for morning services and they offered me g'lilah. I said I hadn't had a chance to ask their rabbi yet if he accepted my conversion, and the response was "he said to give you an aliya". Ok. :-) )
If you're in NY on the first or third Shabbat of the month, come to my minyan.
If I'm ever in NY I'll attempt to do that.
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Well, since I'm not a Rabbi, convert, or a woman, I could certainly be wrong. Also, there are two basic ways of approaching things. There's the "I know Cellio, she seems really serious about Judaism, I'm sure she did Mikveh, why embarass her by grilling her about the details" and the "Well, maybe she didn't actually completely submerge three times in a Mikveh, and, wait, is that shatnes she's wearing? Let's check!" approach. Both are found (with various permutations, of course) in every movement, but I would venture to guess that Rabbis who have the latter approach tend to not to gravitate towards being congregational Conservative Rabbis.
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Davening sounds very nice, and very much what I think of as normal for certain kinds of modern Orthodox (except the lack of rabbi part, I think).
Also, most people won't ask specifics of conversions; it's obvious that you know the davening, etc, and that shows you've not just done a technical conversion for some social reason, so definitely, acceptable as Jewish :-). (Also, ditto what Goljerp said about mikveh.)
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Also, most people won't ask specifics of conversions;
I wouldn't expect them to ask; I had just figured that people labelled "traditional" would probably err on the side of caution (from their point of view). It also never occurred to me that they'd ask a woman to lead. :-)
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