Posted on 09/21/2006 4:15:01 PM PDT by Nachum
NEW YORK - Christine Benvenuto embodies a Jewish ideal.
Her kitchen is kosher, she attends synagogue and has read rabbinic writings and Torah.
But for many American Jewish leaders, she has an even more compelling quality. The mother of three, whose husband was born Jewish, is a convert.
“A lot of things attracted me to Judaism,” said Benvenuto, whose book “Shiksa” chronicles her path to conversion and the choices of other non-Jewish spouses. “I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood in New York and my friends were always Jewish.”
As intermarriage continues at a high rate, many community leaders believe the survival of Judaism lies with people like Benvenuto. Over the last year, top rabbis have urged Jews to overcome their fear of offending non-Jewish spouses and suggest outright that they convert.
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, and Rabbi Jerome Epstein, executive vice president of the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, each called for a more assertive approach at national religious meetings of their movements in the last year. Together, their organizations represent about 75 percent of North American synagogue members.
The American Jewish Committee, a leading advocacy group based in New York, released the first major study in nearly two decades of why people decide to become Jewish. Among the central findings is that advocating for conversion works.
Even some Orthodox, who have traditionally discouraged conversion, have joined in.
Rabbi Leib Tropper, who runs a school in Monsey, N.Y., for Jews who lack basic religious education, started Eternal Jewish Family a year ago to train rabbinic courts on proper conversion for non-Jewish spouses. Tropper says hundreds of rabbis have attended the training sessions.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bostonherald.com ...
Non-Jews become Jews essentially the same way the first Jews became Jews.
Aside from exclusive allegiance to the Jewish people, EXODUS records that they were circumcised, offered sacrifices, and immersed in a mikveh ('sanctified').
Even though converts can not now offer sacrifices, they are obliged to do so once the Temple is rebuilt.
Jews don't believe that non-Jews go to hell.
kosher pork?
"If I knew God I'd be Him."
Your last example is absolutely wrong. Protestants don't think Catholics will go to hell and vice versa.
Which is heresy: "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6 (emphasis mine)
Is it a problem if it is accurate? The way you talk, it sounds like religions are just commodities to be picked off a shelf for their pure aesthetic value.
Yes, it's a problem, because they can't all be correct or accurate. And when you have large groups of people who think their way is the only way it tends to lead to conflict with opposing groups who also feel religious superiority.
It's started a lot of wars in the history of the world beginning from biblical times to the present day.
Sorry, but some do. I provided examples on the thread.
Yes we do.
my Rabbi has 5 children and over 54 grandchildren (with room for a few more to come)
my wife comes from a fairly modern orthodox family (her mother has 4 siblings and her father 2--my wife has over 30 first cousins and 1 more is on the way)
My ex is Catholic; our son is raised Jewish - but he knows a lot about Catholicism - he prefers Judaism. I know Christians who converted to Judaism when they married Jews - but they claim that eventually they would have converted; the marriage gave them the push to do it. If it is not sincere, you should not do it.
I hear similar stories - people who converted to Judaism because of marriage but apparently were interested in the religion before they married. I also hear of Jews who convert out and then return later on.
This is obvious to a Christian. But I've heard that Mormons are not frowned upon for marrying outside their faith. It's seen as an outreach. Most Jews see "Jewishness" as their nationality. They think such a saying as "Jews for Jesus" is impossible and ridiculous.
My understanding is that there is an afterlife and that the mystics believe in a hell and even a purgatory but that you are not supposed to do good deeds "to get into heaven". You are not supposed to bargain with G-d to have a great after life. What is your knowledge of this? I was told that the idea that we do not believe in an afterlife is false; that we do; but that we do not emphasize it.
It is quite possible that doing "good deeds" here in the only life we are sure of is its own reward.
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