Welcome to 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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Opinion Did Israeli Conversions Just Get a Lot Easier?
Immigrants from the former Soviet Union arrive in Israel. / Getty Images Did you hear about the latest coup for the Reform and Conservative movements in the Knesset? A new piece of legislation that passed the Law Committee today and is ready for voting in a few weeks will apparently bring closer a day when…
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Fast Forward Conversion Reform Bill Passes Knesset Committee
A bill that would allow local rabbis to oversee conversions to Judaism in Israel passed a Knesset committee. The controversial bill passed the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Wednesday by a vote of 7 to 4. The bill will now return to the Knesset plenum for its second and third readings, which likely will…
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Israel News Reality TV Star’s Conversion Plight Reveals Orthodox Rabbinate’s Kafkaesque Grip
(Haaretz) — The struggle against the ultra-Orthodox grip on Israel’s Chief Rabbinate in issues of personal status in Israel has a new, and very attractive, poster girl. Alin Levy, an Israeli reality TV star, says she has been told she cannot complete the process of converting to Judaism because she is an actress. Levy blasted…
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Fast Forward Conversion Reform Bill Advances in Knesset — Expands Rabbi Pool
A bill that would allow more rabbis to conduct conversions in Israel advanced in the Knesset. The coalition government-backed bill passed its first reading by a vote of 28 to 16 in the Knesset plenum on Monday night. Under the measure, as many as 30 courts made up of municipal rabbis would be allowed for…
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Fast Forward Conversion Bill That Would Allow for More Local Control Presented to Knesset
A bill that would allow local rabbis to oversee conversions will be introduced to the parliament after passing a Knesset committee. Under the measure advanced Sunday by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, a city rabbi could convene a beit din, or rabbinical court, for conversions under his jurisdiction. Conversions are handled in Israel by the…
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Fast Forward Masorti Movement Holds First Portugal Conversion
For the first time in the history of the Masorti movement, its rabbis performed conversions to Judaism in Portugal. The two conversions were performed in the Portuguese capital at a beit din, or rabbinical court, of three judges, who on April 26 recognized Juliana Fernandes da Silva and her life partner, Edgard Pimentel, as Jews….
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Israel News Israelis Chafe Under Orthodox Grip on Marriage, Divorce and Conversion
To get married in Israel, Dima Motel had to bring his family photo album and two of his ancestors’ birth certificates to a rabbinical court. Then an investigator quizzed his mother in Yiddish. Israel’s Chief Rabbinate often asks Russian immigrants like Motel to prove that they’re Jewish, sometimes requiring documentary evidence that can be hard…
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Opinion Are We Jews by Choice or Blood?
Back when he was Israel’s Minister of Justice, the irrepressible and ever-creative Yossi Beilin put forward a proposal for secular conversion to Judaism. As he explained, “It is simply unimaginable that in the 21st century, a time in which most of world Jewry is not religious, we should continue to grant certain religious establishments the…
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