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 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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Fast Forward Jewish ‘Gay Cure’ Group Hit by Lawsuit
Four gay men who underwent treatment designed to change their sexual orientation filed a lawsuit in New Jersey on Tuesday accusing their therapists of fraud, in what may be the first suit of its kind against conversion therapists. Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH), a Jersey City-based non-profit organization, falsely claimed to be able…
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Food Trading Ham for Turkey this Rosh Hashanah
The power of food never ceases to amaze me. It has the power to not only provide nourishment for our bodies, but it can build bridges in the most seemingly unusual and unexpected ways. This Rosh Hashanah marks my second as a Jewish woman. I converted in August 2011, though I’d considered myself Jewish for…
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Opinion Converts’ Permanent Revolution
I teach my classes at Seton Hall University in a seminar room known as the Oesterreicher Suite, in which a photograph of Monsignor John M. Oesterreicher looks down on the class as it is being held. The room itself is comprised of glass cases with speeches and documents that track and illustrate the Monsignor’s path…
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Fast Forward 10-Year-Old Girl Converts — Without Permission
A British judge has allowed a 10-year-old Jewish child to convert to Christianity against her mother’s wishes. In November 2011 the mother of the girl applied for a court order to prevent the father from having the girl baptized until the girl turned 16, according to the London Jewish Chronicle. The mother argued the girl…
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Israel News Israel Slower To Welcome Converts
For 64 years, Israel has been encouraging Jews, whoever and wherever they are, to immigrate as soon as possible. But today, with increasing regularity, one Jewish demographic is being told to slow down: converts to Judaism. Over the past four months, 15 people who have converted in the Diaspora, through Diaspora rabbinates that Israel deems…
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Opinion What would you call me?
I have always been a Jew — and after a cursory dunk, the Conservative movement agrees.
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Culture Preaching to the Converters
Pledges of Jewish Allegiance: Conversion, Law, and Policy-making in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Orthodox Responsa By David Ellenson and Daniel Gordis Stanford University Press, 216 pages, $30 In Herman Wouk’s autobiographical novel, “Inside, Outside,” Wouk’s alter ego falls in love with a gentile woman and is somewhat surprised to find that his grandfather, an Old World…
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