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a conversion is meant to be discouraging
if it is fast, easy, accommodating, comfortable, pleasant or encouraging, then it is suspect
No there is nothing in normative Halacha that states that a prospective convert must be discouraged. The only thing is to inquire before them their intentions i.e are they doing it for a Jewish partner and also to inform them of the reward and punishment surrouding the Mitzot. So for example inform the prospective convert that if they are caught doing Melecha on Shabbat by two witnesses or more, and issued a warning and persist. Then they are liable to be stoned by the Bet Din. or if done in error bring a [i]Chatat [/I- sin offering which would not be the case had they remained non- Jewish.
if they accept them proceed with the actual conversion process- Milah, Tevilah and this they Yisrael .
Moreover if you say that conversions which are encouraged by Jews are suspect how do you explain the concept of Eved Cannani and Shificah - a non- jewish slave who is brought by a Jew for which the Jewish master says to the non-jewish slave prior if he wants to accept the Brit i.e convert. To which if the Eved Cannani/Shificah accepts then they are jewish.
we are Jews because of matrilinael descent or proper conversion and delineated in the corpus of Jewish law.
By the way, the chabad site affirms that "According to Torah law, a person's Jewishness is not a matter of life-style or self-perception: one may be totally unaware of one's Jewishness and still be a Jew, or one may consider himself Jewish and observe all the precepts of the Torah and still not be a Jew."
Ah, now please define "proper conversion", because according to theflipflop, I am not a Jew, which I most assuredly AM.
I can;t judge if you are or aren't. I can tel you that the standards as I understand them are matrilineal descent and conversion as supervised by and approved of by rabbis acting in accordance with halacha.
this article on line talks about Conservative perspective (link below)
October 23, 2014 10:51 AM Yoel said... I too was a Conservative convert and later converted Orthodox. It can be done!
Even if your intent is 100% right with a non-Orthodox conversion, it is not valid, because the members of the beit din must be kosher witnesses, and someone affiliated with a heretical movementis not a kosher witness.
The Conservative movement tries to portray itself as an authentic continuation of traditional Judaism, but thisis clearly false. Not only have they changed many rabbinic mitzvot (such as changing the number of days required before mikvah), they have also completely abolished certain Torah mitzvot (such as the marriage restrictions for kohanim), and abandoned fundamental beliefs (such as the Sinaitic originof the Oral Law). Such dramatic changes are completely out of the question from traditional Jewish law (including the available methodologies for changing halacha or adapting it differently to the times). Having watered down Judaism so much and violated its fundamental tenants, it's no wonder the movement is unable to keep its children from intermarrying at extremely high rates, and unable to inspire a significant proportion of its membership to be completely observant.
It may take a lot of determination and hard work to finish an Orthodox conversion for your family, but don't lose heart. Rememberthat everything that happens happens for a good reason. Even if the Conservative conversion is not valid, it all happened for a good reason and you should thank Hashem for it, as well as everything else that happens to you. Have faith that you will be able to convert at the right time. Contact the nearest RCA (Rabbinical Council of America) beit din and they will probably have good advice for you. Hatzlacha!
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