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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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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Israel News Orthodox Conversion Rebels Challenge Rabbinate on Marriage
In the latest challenge to Israel’s supreme religious authority, several Orthodox rabbis have begun to perform weddings for converts who are not recognized by the Chief Rabbinate. In recent months, Haaretz has learned, these rabbis officiated at three such weddings involving Israelis converted by a new alternative rabbinical court. Their names cannot be published, however,…
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Fast Forward Chief Rabbi Declares War on Orthodox Conversion Rebels
Israel’s chief Ashkenazi rabbi accused the founders of a private conversion court of “fighting against the Torah.” David Lau made the allegation Thursday night at the inaugural event of B’Noam, a lobby group devoted to defending the policies of Israel’s chief rabbinate and its religious establishment, in reference to the announcement last week of several…
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Fast Forward Will Rebel Rabbis’ Conversion Court Spark Orthodox Civil War?
Six young people were converted to Judaism by a rebel religious court on Monday. The small group of Orthodox rabbis who sat on the beit din and supported the act, led by rabbis David Stav and Nahum Rabinowitz, are all veteran pulpit rabbis and the heads of respected yeshivas. Their defiance of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate…
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Fast Forward Jewish Agency Will Aid Conservative and Reform Conversions
As part of a major new initiative it is launching, the Jewish Agency plans to provide conversion services abroad not only to Orthodox communities – but also to Conservative and Reform communities. Speaking with Haaretz, Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said: “We have no intention of discriminating between one stream of Judaism and another.” Last…
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Opinion Why My Biracial Son Doesn’t Want To Date Jewish Girls
When I became a Jew by choice, it was for no other reason than the fact that I felt a calling: I had a Jewish soul. I embarked on the long and arduous journey of becoming Jewish through a Conservative conversion, only to discover later that neither my son nor I was considered Jewish according…
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Opinion Conversion Committee Helps Steer Path for Orthodoxy
I have a confession: I am a convert regarding conversions. That’s the stark realization I reached as chairman of the Rabbinical Council of America’s recent conversion review committee. The committee was established last fall to review the RCA’s Geirus Policies and Standards system, the network of regional Orthodox conversion courts operating under the aegis of…
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