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
The Latest
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Fast Forward Jewish Foundation Makes Waves With Plan To Convert Gentiles
(Washington Jewish Week) — Maybe it’s the centuries of living under Christian and Muslim rule. Maybe it’s the history of forced conversion. Maybe it’s that there’s no religion requirement for the Jewish afterlife. Whatever the reasons, Jews have traditionally been uncomfortable proselytizing. But a Maryland foundation is flouting the taboo by funding outreach programs to non-Jews…
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News Lawmaker Makes Video Plea for Non-Christians To Convert — on Taxpayer’s Dime
MILWAUKEE — At first glance, the video looks innocent enough – a 50-year-old man, standing before a Christmas tree quoting the Bible and offering a religious Christmas greeting in which he urges non-Christians to convert to Christianity. The video loses its innocence, however, when one learns the speaker is Rep. Scott Allen, a Republican member…
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Fast Forward Rabbis Tell Israeli Mom: You’re Not Jewish — After 30 Years
An Israeli mother whom a rabbinical court declared to be not Jewish said in an appeal that the judges failed to satisfactorily explain their unusual decision. Sarit Azoulay’s appeal, which she filed this month with the High Rabbinical Court, concerns a 2012 ruling by the Jerusalem Rabbinical Court that nullified her mother’s 1983 conversion to…
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Fast Forward Catholics Should Not Try To Convert Jews, Vatican Says
Catholics should not try to convert Jews and should work with them to fight anti-Semitism, the Vatican said on Thursday in a major document drawing the Church further away from the strained relations of the past. It was the latest move on a host of issues, such as gay rights and re-marriage, that the Vatican…
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Life Israel’s Voiding of Conversions Should Worry Us All
For at least the past seven years or so, the State of Israel has been subjecting converts to intense examinations and inquiries regarding the level of their religious observance. When a convert requests that a rabbinic court administer a get in the context of an amicable divorce, rabbinic judges will surreptitiously cross-examine the convert: Did…
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The Schmooze Zooey Deschanel Is Judaism’s ‘New Girl’ After Conversion
Actress Zooey Deschanel has converted to Judaism. Deschanel, the daughter of a Quaker and Roman Catholic, converted shortly before marrying producer Jacob Pechenik, Us Weekly reported Monday. The article did not say what denomination of rabbi supervised her conversion. The two married in June, a month before the birth of their daughter, Elsie. “Zooey converted…
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Forward 50 2015 Bethany Mandel
What do you do when you discover that your rabbi filmed you naked in the mikveh as you were converting to Judaism? You pull out your cell phone at 2 a.m., type up “a bill of rights for Jewish converts” and watch as your blog post goes viral by morning. At least, that’s how you…
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Fast Forward Michele Bachmann Calls for Stepped-Up Push To Convert Jews
Former presidential candidate Michele Bachmann called for an intensified effort to convert Jews to Christianity. Bachmann, a former congresswoman from Minnesota who ran for the Republican presidential nod in 2012, was in Israel last week on a tour organized by the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. Toward the end of the week, she…
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