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Each month the journal Sh’ma posts three or four essays from the print publication. To read all of the essays—which create a “conversation-in-print”—click on “New Subscription” above. The November issue focuses on conversion. As the shape of the Jewish People is determined now, more than ever, by Jews not born Jewish, and as conversion emerges as one of the more contentious issues on the Orthodox Jewish stage, it seems crucial to better understand the complexities of conversion. This issue features several essays reflecting both the personal journey into conversion and the complicated political ramifications of this process; it gives voice to a deeply moving quandary. Today, as we acknowledge that human identity is fluid, multifaceted, and complex — that each of us is made of many, often conflicting, aspects — is it right to expect that when an individual chooses Judaism, this should include total excision of their past? Judaism expects religious allegiance from its converts, but does this mean that they are required to totally abandon who they were — or to somehow integrate significant parts of what they have always been into what they are becoming? The issue also addresses the political state of conversion both in North American and in Israel, where the Great Rabbinical Court recently retroactively disqualified thousands of Orthodox conversions performed by Israeli rabbinical courts. In the U.S., in response to a possible threat of disqualification by the Israeli rabbinate, the Rabbinical Council of America has restructured the supervision of conversion programs conducted by Orthodox congregational rabbis — thus capitulating to what Jess Olson calls “a new kind of religious imperialism.” If you want the full issue, please order a subscription HERE. Families & ConversionSarah Luria: When I am called to the Torah, I am called as Sarah bat Avraham v’Sarah. While my birth name signals the Sephardic roots of my father, Carlos Luria, announcing my Hebrew name before the congregation outs me: I am a convert. Edgar M Bronfman & Beth Zasloff: Whether people choose to make a commitment to Judaism has a lot to do with the quality of the welcome they receive…It’s not enough to say, “Come in and sit”; we must say, “Come in and sit with me.” Jess Olson: The last two years have been a trying time for converts to Judaism in both the United States and Israel. With very little warning, the status of individuals who make the highly personal and private decision to convert to Judaism has become the lynchpin in a massive shift in Israeli rabbinic authority and, through a new kind of religious imperialism, a robust assertion of power over both Israeli policy and the American rabbinate. Laura Wiessen: began this film project by talking to people who had decided to become Jews. Sharing their journeys gives us a new appreciation of what the newest Jews bring to the Jewish people. |
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