I’m a convert who used to love Hanukkah
Coming from a Korean immigrant family, I craved holidays. Hanukkah was magical — until it wasn't
converts
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Opinion Do Jewish converts have to believe in God?
A recent Alma column by an atheist convert to Judaism has provoked intense reactions
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Opinion Germany denied my Holocaust survivor mother reparations — twice
When I was 34, I discovered my mother was a Holocaust survivor. My parents finally put their hellish marriage out of its misery and called it quits. In the aftermath, I came across an affidavit in which my mother was claiming financial support. In it, she stated she was born into the Jewish faith. It…
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Opinion To Israel, converts are still just a political football
This week, Israeli converts to Judaism found themselves once more caught in a political power struggle between Israel’s religious right and left. After 15 years of waiting for the Knesset to find a legislative solution to Israel’s conversion crisis, the Supreme Court dropped a legal bombshell by issuing a verdict requiring Israel’s Interior Ministry to…
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Opinion With conversion decision, Israel moves one step closer to being genuinely inclusive
It is the rainy season in Israel, so I have been thinking about umbrellas. It is tempting to make a benign, even cozy, metaphor, imagining Israel as a protective force shielding us from threatening storms, and a means of uniting us as we huddle together to stay warm and dry. I wish I could give…
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Fast Forward Brazil Holds World’s First Summer Camp For Heirs Of Forcibly Converted Jews
(JTA) — At the world’s only summer camp for descendants of forcibly converted Jews, young Brazilians had numerous first-time experiences, including seemingly mundane activities like studying the Bible in a group or singing at synagogue. But they were among the most memorable moments from Yeshiva Camp. There are multiple layers to the mission of bnei…
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Life The ‘Other Shidduch Crisis’: Dating While Convert
For regular consumers of Jewish news, the phrase “shidduch crisis” needs no explanation — the phenomenon of Orthodox singles, usually women, facing difficulties finding suitable spouses. But for converts, the struggle of finding a mate takes a strikingly different form, and goes to the very heart of one of the Jewish community’s most important obligations….
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Community When Converts Are Commodities
If my Facebook feed is any guide, converts to Judaism are commodities, not human beings. In countless posts, and in real life too, born Jews of all stripes opine about — depending on their ideological outlook — whether particular converts have met proper conversion standards, or whether there should be any standards at all. Not…
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Fast Forward Report: Iranian regime has plotted to kill Jews overseas, including philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy
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Fast Forward Slivovitz, a spirit with a cherished Jewish history, gets UNESCO World Heritage protection
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Fast Forward ‘Silence is complicity’: Biden calls on political leaders to denounce antisemitism, not platform it
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Events
Haart to Haart
Virtual
Dec 7, 2022
7 pm ET ·
A conversation with Julia Haart and her son Shlomo, stars of Netflix's 'My Unorthodox Life,' about the new season and much more.