Is It Time For Jews To Seek Converts More Aggressively? (Americans, marry)
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Because of demographics and birthrates, the percentage of Americans identified as Jews has been diminishing since 1950.
Here is my question: should there be a greater effort to bring more non-Jews into Judaism? I'm not talking about coercing people or obnoxious proselytizing, of course. I am aware of the tradition of discouraging all but the most determined outsiders being accepted into the fold ... but is it time to reevaluate the old ideas about reaching out to new converts?
I thought about this today as I talked to a man whose father was Jewish and mother was some sort of gentile. I wanted to encourage him to get back to his Jewish roots, but I did not.
I don't know the answer, though. It's a mixed bag. You have to be dedicated to Judaism and have to want to live the lifestyle, which can be difficult. The heart knows what's true, though, and if people are compelled, they will find a way.
We've been talking about this in my community lately. We've talked to several rabbis, and they have all commented about increasing efforts to bring in the non-Jewish spouses in interfaith marriages and other non-Jewish family members, and to make conversion a more "user friendly" process.
One made the comment that we grow more through conversion today than we do through births. I don't know if there is data to back it up, but it is something to think about. I'm a convert, and the process can be very daunting; I don't think it should be changed, but it does need to be a community effort. Conversion isn't for everyone, and there are always going to be people who prefer to remain outside of the tribe, but there are also many who are interested in learning, if not outright conversion in the beginning, but don't know how to take that first step.
ETA: Just to be clear, I'm not talking about proselytizing or looking for converts. The fact that Judaism doesn't preach or try to convince others of the "truth" is a good thing.
Last edited by JB from NC; 04-07-2014 at 06:28 PM..
Because of demographics and birthrates, the percentage of Americans identified as Jews has been diminishing since 1950.
Here is my question: should there be a greater effort to bring more non-Jews into Judaism? I'm not talking about coercing people or obnoxious proselytizing, of course. I am aware of the tradition of discouraging all but the most determined outsiders being accepted into the fold ... but is it time to reevaluate the old ideas about reaching out to new converts?
What are your ideas and opinions, please?
tons of people want to convert, where are you, who is the rabbi?
we are in france, i got a family of 6, another family from india of 5, everyone wants to send their kids to a school under 10k, where you advise we go in the EU?
Because of demographics and birthrates, the percentage of Americans identified as Jews has been diminishing since 1950.
Here is my question: should there be a greater effort to bring more non-Jews into Judaism? I'm not talking about coercing people or obnoxious proselytizing, of course. I am aware of the tradition of discouraging all but the most determined outsiders being accepted into the fold ... but is it time to reevaluate the old ideas about reaching out to new converts?
What are your ideas and opinions, please?
While there is a lot you can read about on the Internet on conversions to Judaism, mainly about the 3 basic requirements, it doesn't take into account the intra-Jewish warfare over conversion and the "Who is a Jew" question. In most countries where there is a Jewish community, with the exception of the U.S. and to a lesser extent, Canada and the UK, the community's religious leaders are Orthodox rabbis. Orthodox Judaism has become much stricter in its attitude toward converts over the past 150 years. In particular, over the past 30 years, a disturbing new practice has evolved among mainstream Ashkenazi Orthodox rabbis. Effectively, a convert is only seen as Jewish if his or her 3 converting rabbis are at least as pious and observant than the questioning rabbi. This "relativity of Jewish status", where whether a person is Jewish depends on who is asking, is threatening to tear Jews apart, especially in communities where there is a lot of interaction and intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews, such as in the U.S.
The only groups of rabbis who are open to inviting non-Jews to convert and take on the 613 commandments of Judaism are Reform and Conservative rabbis. The more popular conversion to non-Orthodox Judaism becomes, the more the Jewish community will be divided between people who are viewed as universally Jewish by all religious communities, i.e. those with an unbroken genetic maternal link, and those only viewed as Jewish within the Reform, Conservative, and secular Jewish communities.
I think that until the "conversion crisis" in Israel and abroad can be resolved, or Reform and Conservative rabbis stop caring what the State of Israel thinks of them, Jewish communities should not be encouraging more conversions!
It only results in heartbreak when people who were raised Jewish in the U.S. move to, or try to marry a Jew from, say, South Africa, Argentina, France, or Israel, and discover that their conversions are seen as worthless as a trillion dollar bill. Fortunately, it is not a problem if the Jew by birth is secular and his or her family is completely secular and thus doesn't give a rat's a__ about what the religious community thinks. But if the family is even slightly religious and wants a rabbi at the wedding, it will be a problem.
My fiancee had a Reform conversion and whenever we visit Orthodox communities, I tell her that she should not disclose the fact that she converted, because although her conversion was completely valid under Jewish law, recent innovations that Orthodox Jews have created (that are against the Torah) will mean that they would view her as non-Jewish if they knew of the conversion.
So what happens when they eventually do learn that your wife converted? Do they still treat her (and/or you) the same?
I haven't let that happen yet
I used to go to a Chabad regularly where I met Orthodox Jews and other baalei teshuva (newly Orthodox) but stopped going after I started dating my fiancee and she didn't like Chabad.
MOD CUT: DELETED
Last edited by Woodrow LI; 04-08-2014 at 07:45 AM..
Reason: Reference to a deleted post
We've been talking about this in my community lately. We've talked to several rabbis, and they have all commented about increasing efforts to bring in the non-Jewish spouses in interfaith marriages and other non-Jewish family members, and to make conversion a more "user friendly" process.
One made the comment that we grow more through conversion today than we do through births. I don't know if there is data to back it up, but it is something to think about. I'm a convert, and the process can be very daunting; I don't think it should be changed, but it does need to be a community effort. Conv ersion isn't for everyone, and there are always going to be people who prefer to remain outside of the tribe, but there are also many who are interested in learning, if not outright conversion in the beginning, but don't know how to take that first step.
ETA: Just to be clear, I'm not talking about proselytizing or looking for converts. The fact that Judaism doesn't preach or try to convince others of the "truth" is a good thing.
What about just telling others the Truth?...
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