This is the Forward’s coverage of conversion, the process by which those of other faiths adopt Judaism. Most streams of Judaism, unlike many other religions, do not evangelize.
Conversion
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Community How My Southern Baptist Minister Mother Explained Her First Christmas to My Orthodox Jewish Son
I am a Jew by choice, I was raised a Muslim, and my mother is an ordained Baptist minister. One might think that I would encounter religious conflict with my family on all fronts. In fact, people are often incredulous at the ease with which I can navigate through these three Abrahamic faiths. Perhaps, because…
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Life From Secular Christianity To The Sukkah (But Watch Out For Bears)
When I was 12 I asked my mom to take me to church so I could learn about religion. I grew up in a secular Christian household. My religious upbringing was full of questions without answers and a sense that there must be something more out there. Though we celebrated secular Christmases and Easters at…
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Fast Forward Israel Chief Rabbi Pushes for Acceptance of American Rabbi’s Conversions
— Israeli Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau sent a letter urging a midlevel bureaucrat in the Chief Rabbinate to accept conversions certified by the head of a prominent American Orthodox rabbinical court. Lau “asked me to clarify to you once more that his position is to recognize the certifications given from the Beth Din of America and signed…
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Fast Forward Israelis and Americans Back Non-Orthodox Conversion — and Pluralism at Kotel
— A large majority of American and Israeli Jews say Israel should recognize marriages and conversions performed by Reform and Conservative rabbis. A poll conducted by The Jerusalem Post and the American Jewish Committee found that 74 percent of American Jews and 62 percent of Israeli Jews believe the non-Orthodox rites should be recognized. The findings…
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Community Dining or Dying – A Jew’s Conundrum in Zimbabwe
Food, food, everywhere, but not a morsel to eat. My play on words exaggerate, but as a traveler in a strange land, my eyes often feasted upon a surfeit of food my commitment to kosher forbade I consume. In late 2015 my father died in Harare, Zimbabwe and I inherited his property which included land….
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News Does Famed 1899 Painting Debunk ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ Myth on Intermarriage?
KIEV — No Jewish visitor to Ukraine’s National Art Museum can pass this painting without stopping to look. A Jewish woman is being assaulted, not by anti-Semites but by a crowd of angry Jews. Pressed to the fence by the mob, her hair is undone, her blouse is ripped, her eyes horrified. The rabbi is…
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Life I Grew Up in South Korea — Here’s Why I’m Embracing Judaism
I grew up in South Korea until the age of 15, which was when I moved to Ohio to go to a boarding school. South Korea has less than 100 Jews out of a 50 million population, which is composed of 99.9% Koreans. I did read comic books based on the Talmud when I was…
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Opinion After Orthodox-Only Mikveh Law, Time To Rein In the Israeli Rabbinate
As a woman who underwent Orthodox conversion, I was livid when I read about the controversial Israeli bill that was formally passed into law July 25. The bill allows local Orthodox rabbinates to ban non-Orthodox conversions in publicly funded mikvehs. The ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism Party may have introduced this piece of legislation, but in…
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