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
-
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…
-
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…
-
Opinion What would you call me?
I have always been a Jew — and after a cursory dunk, the Conservative movement agrees.
-
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…
-
The Schmooze Barrymore Enlists Sandler as Conversion Coach
Is it any surprise that, after going out on fifty first dates with Adam Sandler and also falling for him as a wedding singer, Drew Barrymore would say that she is close to her co-star? Of course, not. However, it’s one thing to look to a co-star for friendship and acting advice — or even…
-
News A Fraught Journey To Judaism
I’ve spent most of my adult life on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where the reigning deity is liberal politics, and in Miami Beach, where the locals worship sun-bronzed physical perfection. Not that there’s anything wrong with either one. But there came a point — amid an array of midlife disjunctions, including an empty…
-
Israel News Israel Deports Some Converted Immigrants
Within the next few weeks Martina Ragachova could be deported from Israel — for being too frum. Prague-born Ragachova, 37, moved to Israel a decade ago, and in 2004 converted to Judaism in the Bnei Brak rabbinic court of Nissim Karelitz, one of the world’s best-respected and most stringent Haredi rabbis. Karelitz was so moved…
-
Books Raising an Ethiopian Jewish Child in Georgia
Melissa Fay Greene is the author of “No Biking in the House Without a Helmet.” Her posts are being featured this week on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog Series. For more information on the series, please visit: In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November 2001, I…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Culture ‘My mayor Muslim, my bagel Jewish’ — the Knicks chant capturing New York’s soul
- 2
Opinion The Iran war ended terribly for the US, and even worse for Israel
- 3
Opinion Cultural boycotts of Israel just reached peak absurdity
- 4
Film & TV In ‘Disclosure Day,’ Steven Spielberg finds himself at odds with Jewish thought about aliens
In Case You Missed It
-
News This Jewish activist was arrested and deported for her book ‘Lesbian Love.’ 100 years later, will NYC apologize?
-
Culture Ever the restless spirit, Tel Aviv-born architect and designer Ron Arad is still reinventing himself and his art
-
News New Jewish-Arab political party debuts in Israel, aiming to topple Netanyahu
-
Fast Forward Trump says Syria would do a ‘better job’ of fighting Hezbollah than Israel