Question by Laura: Why does Judaism have such a long and stringent conversion process?
Judaism must have the most lengthy and stringent conversion process of any religion. Only Orthodox conversions are considered valid to every branch and then even not all of those are considered valid by authorities in Israel when a convert wants to immigrate there. It is a long and lengthy process and you have continuously prove you’re sincere. Other religions make it incredibly easy to convert by contrast. Why is it that Judaism has such stringent rules regarding conversion? Why should it take two, three, or four years or more to convert?
Best answer:
Answer by Ray Patterson – Extra Cheese
You answered your own question. There is no other religion which will grant you the benefit of becoming a country’s citizen. Therefore, Judaism has to be protected stringently, because you can actually use it to gain something.
Add your own answer in the comments!
For much of the history of Judaism, conversion was illegal. It wasn’t until Ruth that outsiders were allowed to join the religion.
With a long conversion process the “I want a big party when I turn 13” converts can be filtered out, leaving only people who are truly willing to dedicate themselves to God.
The basis for the Jewish religion is their covenant with God. Anyone who wants to call himself Jewish and expects to be accepted by Jews should be willing to live up to that covenant. It keeps the religion and the traditions pure.
In contrast, I will offer my religion Wicca… which is only about 70 years old. Because it is not an organized religion, there is no governing church overseeing anything, so just about anyone who wants to pick up a stick and call it a wand can say they are Wiccan. Each new generation seems to recreate it and broaden it; it is defintiely a lot more watered down and flexible than it was originally. I do not know where Wicca will be in another 70 years, let alone 4000 years.
Probably because if someone converts to Judaism, according to Judaism, it is suppose to make you Jewish.
And to leave Judaism for faith in Yeshua Messiah, according to Judaism, you are no longer Jewish.
The reason is because Judaism is very much a religion of *doing*. And “doing Jewish” is a big subject. First, there’s all the history to learn. Second, it’s a good idea to learn Hebrew. Third, there are a *lot* of mitzvot–commandments–to learn, even if (as in Reform and Conservative movements) you’re not going to follow them all. Fourth, understanding how Jews relate to G-d is an entire subject in itself. It takes a long time to do all this.
You just answered it, because they want to make sure you’re sincere and aren’t diluting the state of Israel w/ uneducated folk.
It takes 6 months, not years, tha’ts a big exaggeration.
Any conversion is okay in Israel, it depends how you phrase your certificate. You have to state your father’s and mother’s name. For us converts, it’s Avraham v’ Sarah. If you leave it like that you’re fine, but if you put Avraham Aveinu v’ Sarah, you’ve just said Avraham Our Father, meaning the Avraham of the Torah and not your real father.
You make conversion sound like a punishment! It is a privilege and a pleasure! If one is sincere about converting, they will look forward to reading everything they can get their hands on about Judaism. If they are sincere, they will become a part of the Jewish community by attending services, participating in Jewish holidays, practicing Jewish traditions. In effect, they become a integral part of the community while anticipating the mikvah and the privilege of calling themselves Jews.
Working with a convert takes much time and effort for the rabbi. He must assure that the applicant is sincere before devoting many hours to the prospective convert’s education.
Anyone who is sincere in their quest will look forward with anticipation to each and every day of the conversion process.
I suspect other religions don’t make the conversion process nearly as fulfilling as any rabbi does. Rabbis have no special powers. They are nothing more than teachers and teaching is what they love to do!!!! Bring on the *serious* converts. Rabbis’ enthusiasm rubs off even on the not-so-serious converts!
As a convert myself, I often feel sympathy for those who have no understanding of Judaism. It has much more to offer than any other religion, yet there are those who think they understand Judaism because Jesus was a Jew. Why learn from only one Jewish teacher when there are writings from thousands of Jewish sages from over the centuries. Avail yourself of their writings! You won’t regret it.
Reform Jew-by-choice
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answer: As Am Yisrael Chai said, converting is a joy. Most of those drawn to Judaism have a love of learning that makes the learning the Hebrew, learning all the history and all the holidays and practices a joyful challenge (one that I am enjoying).
To Your Accountant: It is not an exaggeration. An Orthodox conversion takes at least one year and more commonly two or three.
And now, with the new guidelines being put into place uniformly accross that USA through the RCA (Rabbinical Council of America), this is the standard.
http://www.judaismconversion.org/GPS_Policies_and_Procedures.html
These new standards have been put into place because of the Israeli Rabbinate screwing over 40,000 people out of their ORTHODOX conversions, all because of political infighting with one of the Rabbis here in the USA who does conversions.
Further, the Israeli Interior Ministry will not allow a person to make Aliyah to Israel until a year after their conversion and staying in an Orthodox community here first for a year.
Then there is the “Approved Rabbi List” put out by the Israeli Rabbinate as to which Rabbis in the USA are acceptable. This list when it first came out had about a dozen names on it. Most of them were either retired or dead.
So the Israeli Rabbinate and the Ministry of the Interior has repeatedly tried to screw with Orthodox converts, denying their Jewishness, denying their ability to make Aliyah, over and over again.
In response, the Rabbis here in the USA have formed the RCA with standardized practicies and policies that totally meet the Israeli Rabbinate’s standards, besides their own.
This is a group of US Rabbis who were fed up with the treatment the Israeli Rabbinate was handing out and decided to make ONE Orthodox conversion organization, with standards and policies consistent for all, with branches in many major cities, and with total transparency between them.
Please see the link I gave for those policies and procedures. It is in many ways a good thing, because it is the strictest standards while not being inflexible either. The Israeli Rabbinate and Ministry of the Interior cannot fault it, and cannot screw with any more people’s conversions or aliyah if the person converts under the umbrella of this new organization.
Funny thing is, if a person converts Conservative or Reform, now he can just make aliyah with no problem. It is the Orthodox converts whose Jewishness has been being questioned, not the more liberal converts. The Israeli officials really do not want any observant Jews to move to Israel, especially converts. It is not fond at all of Orthodox converts. On the other hand, they will bring in a million Russians who most of them are not even Jewish by Torah law, and give them all quickie Orthodox conversions along with all the benefits of being an Israeli citizen as a Jew.
In other words, the Israeli Rabbinate is really screwed up. They are corrupt to the bone. They, like the rest of the Israeli government, are in the back pockets of the oil Arab nations around them, and will do all they can to keep true Jewish converts from coming in.
It is extremely difficult for anyone from the West and especially the USA to move to Israel TO convert, as well. Almost impossible, the red tape makes it.
So for now, either convert Conservative or Reform and get your fast free ticket to Israel to live, or spend years getting an Orthodox conversion that may or may not be accepted in Israel at all. At least until now. Maybe things will change with this new organization of USA Rabbis who are fed up completely with the corrupt Israeli govt. and Rabbinate. Please see the link I gave to be sure if you want to convert Orthodox, you do it through this new nationwide organization.
Because converting to Judaism is not taken kightly and it takes time and effort.
Which includes learning Hebrew, how to use the prayers books, so you can pray in Hebrew and understand it, be able to read the Torah, understand the Festivals, the Sabath, Kashrut etc. you also need a sound grounding in the Jewish laws regarding day to day living and an introduction to living as a Jew. If you are male you will also have to be circumcised (if you were circumcised in a secular manner a drop of blood still must be drawn) followed by immersion in a mikveh (ritual bath) both men and women are immersed in a mikveh and a Beis Din (Rabbinical court) a minimum of three judges act as a witnesses to the conversion.
Jews have 613 laws, and those have sucategories to their subcategories. So in essence, while following the 613 laws has the potential for greater spirituality it is a far more difficult path than following only 7 laws (the Noahide Laws)
Converting others to Judaism is actually a big responsibility for the person who is doing the conversion and can lead them to erring and sinning themselves. There is a commandment “Do not place a stumbling block before the blind” Its easy enough to understand but at a deeper level it also means to not do something that will cause another person to err and thus be worse off than they were before.
For this reason Judaism does not seek to convert people as changing them from needing to obey only 7 laws to needing to follow 613 is seen as a possible contravention of the commandment “Do not place a stumbling block before the blind” in plainer terms, don’t tell someobody to do something when the chances are they won’t.
So when someone chooses to convert to Judaism they are agreeing to be bound by and obey an additional 606 laws that previously did not apply to them, which means that the Rabbi doing the conversion has to educate the convertee well enough so that they will know enough about the laws to undertake to follow them, if they don’t, the person is going to err and thus the Rabbi is in violation of the commandment.
So making sure that someone is serious about converting to Judaism is imperiative. If the person is not serious, and the teacher has not tested them, the teacher is in violation of the commandment and has caused another person to sin.
By Jewish Law, once a Jew, always Jew whether born or converted. So once a person becomes a Jew they are always judged by Jewish standards, and if they revert/convert to a different religion they are still considered Jewish by Jewish law. But someone practising a religion other than Judaism is considered an apostate Jew and is outside of the community, may not be a member of the community, receive any community honours, be a representative for the community, be buried in a Jewish cemetary, marry a Jew or be treated as a Jew for the purposes of the laws of mourning. However, since they never stop being a Jew they merely have to repent and return to Judaism and go to the mikveh in order to once again be a full member of the community
Judaism is a religion of covenant, not faith. In many other religions, it’s enough to say “I believe”. In Judaism, you have to DO, and you have to know HOW to do. That’s fulfilling the mitzvot, participating in shabbat and all the annual festivals, reading Hebrew, understanding your obligations in dozens of contexts, etc etc. In Judaism, we value study, and we continue to study all our lives. So the conversion process enables us to live fully as Jews.
It’s a huge commitment – and one we don’t think is necessary for anyone. Unlike the religions to which you can convert by saying “I believe”, we don’t think that those who follow a different religion are condemned in any way. So there is no imperative to convert. Those who choose to do so, do it because it feels absolutely right for them, and the conversion process is a joy.
The conversion process takes so long simply because it is not necessary for gentiles to convert to Judaism to go to heaven.
There is a lot that comes along with being a Jew. Persecution, joining a new community, an obligation to follow a mere 613 laws (depending on what Jewish movement you join). Like many others have said, Judaism is a “do” religion. It is a daily commitment to God. It is a way of life. There is a heck of a lot to learn.
Not only does it sometimes take years to convert to Judaism, often a Rabbi will turn you away several times before he even agrees. Then, through out your conversion process he’ll try to dissuade you. Rabbis do this to make sure that you are committed. The whole thing is about commitment.
Conversion to Judaism has never been illegal as we see right from the exodus from Egypt that many Egyptians left with the Children of Israel and became Jews. Not too far after the exodus, Jethro, Moses father in law, converts to Judaism. Judaism always has and always will accept converts.
The process of conversion to Judaism is typically a long process in order to protect the person converting and to protect his/her descendants from committing sins. How so? Because Judaism holds Jews accountable for 613 commandments while Gentiles are only held to 7 commandments and there is no undoing a conversion.
Here’s a quick simple example of what I am talking about… Judaism does not forbid a Gentile from eating pork. If a young woman converts to Judaism, if she ever eats pork later, she is committing a sin. In addition, all her children born to her after her conversion are considered fully Jewish and whenever they eat pork, they would be committing a sin.
If Judaism opened it’s doors to anyone and everyone who wanted to convert, they would be committing the sin of putting a stumbling block before the blind (ie causing others to sin).