We don’t really talk about the imposter syndrome that comes after converting to Judaism. I identified as being Jewish since a very young age. Very young. Be it born with a Jewish soul, or lost Jewish lineage in my family tree wanting to be finally heard, I always knew that I was a Jew before…
In a New York Times article this weekend, Amy Chozick and Hannah Seligson wondered, “Are Jared and Ivanka Good for the Jews?” There’s plenty there to dissect, but what caught my eye was how they described Ivanka Trump, “who converted to Judaism to marry Mr. Kushner.” This is typical of how the media describes women…
When you go to a doctor, you initially have to complete and sign a plethora of forms. There are the checkboxes for all imaginable ailments and diseases, and you begin to realize “Yikes! There are so many things in me that can go wrong, it’s a miracle that I even can read this thing and…
Yisrael Campbell is a Catholic-turned Orthodox Jewish comedian who has made his complicated spiritual path the subject of over a decade of stand-up jokes. Campbell was born in Pennsylvania to a family of Irish and Italian Catholics and later in life went through a series of Jewish conversations — first to Reform, then Conservative and…
The law “ואהבתם את הגר,” and you shall love the convert, is mentioned over 36 times in the Torah. The prolific rabbi Moshe Feinstein wrote that “As a matter of normative practice, one should know that the mitzvah (commandment) to love the convert obligates us to bring them closer and to be lenient on all…
Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri suggested on Monday that opponents of a controversial recent conversion bill, which would prohibit all private conversions, are motivated by a desire to convert illegal African immigrants and promote intermarriage. The Times of Israel reported that at the weekly meeting of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, Deri attacked Israeli Reform leader…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Knesset committee has approved the advance of a bill that would require the state to recognize only conversions completed under the auspices of the haredi Orthodox-dominated Chief Rabbinate. The measure would circumvent a March 2016 Supreme Court ruling that allowed those undergoing private Orthodox conversions in Israel to become citizens under…
I am a Jew by choice, I was raised a Muslim, and my mother is an ordained Baptist minister. One might think that I would encounter religious conflict with my family on all fronts. In fact, people are often incredulous at the ease with which I can navigate through these three Abrahamic faiths. Perhaps, because…
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