I’m about four months into my conversion process. I regularly attend Shabbat services, have checked out different area synagogues, and have a rabbi who is sponsoring my conversion. I was wondering if there are other Jews by Choice on the board who would like to share their stories? Specifically, I’m curious about your background. When did you inform your family? What drew you to Judaism?
For part, my mother is a lapsed Catholic and my father was a nominal Protestant. They didn’t raise me and my brother with a religion so we could choose as adults. I told my immediate family within a week after my decision. I’m hesitant about telling my extended family because some are devout Catholics. I attended a Jews by Choice event last month and the majority of people there were lapsed Catholics interestingly enough… My attraction to Judaism is threefold:
I grew up in a heavily Jewish town. My first friends in school were Jewish and my first boyfriend was Jewish.
I never liked the idea of Original Sin, heaven or hell.
My father’s family survived WWII in Europe and I grew up hearing horror stories from the war. So, I always felt a connection to the legacy of WWII.
I’m surprised by how expensive the conversion process is between the classes and the mikveh donation it’s a considerable amount!
I converted to Conservative Judaism in 2003, at age 28. Anything in particular that you would like to know?
I informed my parents before I started the formal conversion process (working with a rabbi, et cetera). I don’t remember when I told my sister. I haven’t formally told my extended family, though I’m sure most of them know by now. I’m not particularly close to most of them (this has nothing to do with converting to Judaism- my family’s just that way), so I don’t talk to them or visit them that often. Religion is and always has been kind of a taboo subject in my family, so discussions of it just don’t come up.
I grew up Methodist, going to church every Sunday because my mom made me.
I’d always had doubts about Christianity- I remember thinking when I was about nine, “There are all these different religions in the world- how do we know which one is right?” I also could never accept the idea that God would send good people to hell simply for believing in the wrong religion. Around age 16, I realized that I just didn’t believe in Christianity. I tried to make myself believe, but I just couldn’t.
After I graduated from high school and moved out of my parents’ home, I never went to church again. I tried to be an atheist, but I just didn’t believe that God doesn’t exist, either.
I didn’t grow up in a very Jewish area, but in college I had a lot of Jewish friends. One of my non-Jewish friends thought I had lots of Jewish friends because I was Jewish- she saw me eating a steak and cheese sub one day, and tsk-tsked at me about how I shouldn’t eat that. I looked at her like She was surprised to find out that I wasn’t Jewish.
I started the formal conversion process after I started going out with Mr. Neville (who is Conservative Jewish).
Yeah, it’s not cheap. That doesn’t end once you convert, either- synagogue dues are not cheap, and kosher meat certainly isn’t cheap. Are you keeping kosher, and, if so, how?
Feel free to email me if you’d like to take it offline- my address should be in my profile.
I’ve posted at length in the past about my conversion process, so I won’t go into all the details again – a search from my username and “Judaism” should turn up the relevant threads.
If there’s anything in particular you’d like to ask, feel free. After reading the other threads I’ve posted in, you’ll see that there’s almost no aspect of this I’m not willing to discuss :eek: .
As a child I was brought up in the Congregational church, and even went so far as to be confirmed. I have few recollections of that time; I know I was quite into it, but never sure on what level I believed what I was being told. Regardless, sometime in my teens I decided there was really nothing in Christianity for me.
I converted to Judaism because I met a Jewish woman, who I’ve now been married to for 23 years. It was not because I felt any need for religion, although in that regard it turned out I was wrong.
I told my family early on. They had no problem with it, nor did I expect them to.
I went the Conservative route. My wife was raised Orthodox, and there was never any question of either of us messing with that. Reform was right out, because her parents wouldn’t have bought it, and also because Reform Judaism feels too much like a Protestant church to me.
For a while I really got into it, for two reasons:
It provided a more refreshing way of looking at the idea of God, and the role of religion. It was much more relaxed, for one thing, and not so dogmatic.
It gave me the opportunity to formally, and on paper no less, break away from Christianity. I was pretty pissed off at the latter.
I still never had any need for a god, mind you, but I did need something. Mainly, I needed the opportunity to think about spiritual matters in an atmosphere that did not insist that it had all the answers down pat, and Judaism gave me that.
In the end, I drifted away from Judaism, and found myself pursuing Buddhism. I’ve been on that path for eight or nine years now, I think, and it’s given me a lot more than the theistic religions ever could. But I still have a warm regard for Judaism.
You can read about a recent Jewish milestone in my life in this thread, if you’d like. I’m quite proud
That’s a positive aspect of converting to Judaism for me, too. It also means there’s absolutely no question that I would be expected to raise my eventual children as Christians, and I have a reason for that that my family can respect. I certainly couldn’t have raised any kids I may have as Christians without feeling like a huge hypocrite.
She was surprised to find out that I wasn’t Jewish.