Yes, no and maybe..., jews are just like other people. There's always going to be people who will snub you, while others welcome you with open arms. Generally, your going to have to learn to take the bad with the good, and give back good in either case. One sect will accept and recognize your conversion while others not, and it depends on where you live too.
All in all..., the good and blessings for doing it outweighs the negatives and struggles when you do it for the right reasons. Finding a Rabbi who will accept you as a candidate and teach you could be hard and difficult, its a totally different lifestyle, is not just a one day a week involvement. Depending on the sect of Judaism your contemplating conversion into, it could be more or less a 'life' style change. L-chayim. To life!
i doubt that the fact that she was black has any thing to do with the family's hostility. the fact that she was not born jewish is most likely the reason. the jewish faith and heritage is passed down through the mother's line. the family was probably worried that the children would not be raised "jewish" (for lack of a better word).
but to answer your question: the vast majority of converts are not treated as lepers. though i would reccommend going through an orthodox conversion ceremony and joining a reform temple. the othodox ceremony would prevent anyone from questioning the validity of your conversion and reform temples are in general more open.
I agree with the above that it has nothing to do with the fact that she's black. There are plenty of perfectly "kosher" black Jewish converts--I know one myself--not to mention a large population of Ethiopian Jews living in Israel. The problem lies more in the "for her husband" part of it. As a non-missionary religion, we don't especially encourage conversion because we think the other nations have their job in the world and we have ours, and there's no point in trying to get them to do our job. Conversion is accepted only when the convert him/herself is the one who initiates the conversion, meaning s/he went searching, found Judaism, and fell in love with it... and not that s/he went searching, found Shlomo/Sarah/Enrique (?), and fell in love with him/her. Of course it's a lovely gesture to be willing to convert to make the spouse's family happy, but it doesn't work that well, seeing as we don't view that reason for conversion a good enough one
( ... )
i'm black, and i think that you're going to be fine...i've never had to convert since i was a jew from day one, but you know, if it's a good fit for you, go for it!
Comments 5
All in all..., the good and blessings for doing it outweighs the negatives and struggles when you do it for the right reasons. Finding a Rabbi who will accept you as a candidate and teach you could be hard and difficult, its a totally different lifestyle, is not just a one day a week involvement. Depending on the sect of Judaism your contemplating conversion into, it could be more or less a 'life' style change. L-chayim. To life!
Reply
but to answer your question: the vast majority of converts are not treated as lepers. though i would reccommend going through an orthodox conversion ceremony and joining a reform temple. the othodox ceremony would prevent anyone from questioning the validity of your conversion and reform temples are in general more open.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment