Posted by:
Tevai
(
)
Date: May 24, 2022 03:16AM
caffiend Wrote:
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> ~ In her defense, she might not be savvy to the
> theology here, being Jewish.
According to the Google results I have read, she does indeed "feel Jewish"--but this is not the same thing as BEING a Jew according to Jewish law. From what I have read on Google, she is NOT a Jew.
According to Jewish law, a Jew is one of two things:
1) Born of a Jewish M-O-T-H-E-R. [Jewish fathers do NOT count when it comes to whether their offspring are according-to-Jewish-law legal Jews.] Or, alternatively ...
2) A convert to Judaism according to Jewish law. Across the wide spectrum of Judaism, this can mean a number of different things (most often depending on which Jewish "denomination" is doing the converting: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, etc.).
In general, conversion to Judaism involves Jewish ritual circumcision for males, plus appearance before a Bet Din [Jewish legal court] for everyone, and mikvah (ritual immersion according to Jewish law) for everyone.
When I converted at the University of Judaism (now: American Jewish University; affiliated with the Conservative movement in Judaism), our mikvah was the Pacific Ocean (which IS a kosher mikvah) because the indoor mikvah being constructed at the U.J. was having problems simultaneously dealing with both Jewish legal requirements, plus the plumbing code of the City of Los Angeles. [There is a Jewish law requirement that a mikvah must qualify as "living waters," which is a Jewish philosophical concept.]
The circumcisions for the males in my class who were converting were done individually, by appointment, at the offices of medical doctors.
The men in my conversion class who were actually converting (*), all agreed that the "symbolic circumcisions" (for those men who were already circumcised, usually as infants) hurt more than the complete circumcisions did (for those males who had never been previously circumcised).
Our Bet Din [rabbinical court] was held one night near the end of our classes, with our teachers being the judges on the court. [All of us who were seeking conversion all passed!]
(*) Re: the non-Jewish males in our class who were already circumcised, usually as infants, and usually soon after their birth: in order to become legally Jewish, they had to be symbolically circumcised as part of the prescribed legal Jewish conversion. What this means is: the M.D. a man has chosen puts on his kippah (head covering) and his prayer shawl...says the appropriate blessings...and then draws a single drop of blood from the head of the penis with a sterile surgical needle. I think there are maybe a couple of blessings more which are said, and then the prospective convert is a kosher prospective convert.
Also: there was a U.J requirement that if someone was converting because they were going to marry a Jew, BOTH members of the couple had to go through the academic part of the course together (to build unity in the future new family). The usual American situation is: Male Jew with female non-Jew (unless and until she converts). This means that many of the men in our class were already legal Jews, so they did NOT need to get circumcised again! ;)
Several weeks before the end of our classes, all of the males who were seeking conversion were given printed instructions: names, addresses, and phone numbers of M.D.'s who were also qualified legal (and Jewish!) circumcisers. They each phoned their personal choice of doctor from that list, made the appointment, and then showed up at the date and the time they had agreed on. There was general agreement among the men in my class that the "symbolics" hurt more than the full circumcisions did--something we females found odd and sort of unbelievable, but the men all agreed with each other on this.
EDITED TO ADD: I forgot something important: Any post-op scabbing from the circumcision/symbolic circumcision surgical procedure had to be gone before that male could go through the mikvah/ritual bath, so there was a specific date told to us, beyond which neither circumcision procedure could be done if that male was going to convert with the rest of us. (This meant, at least theoretically, that the doctor's working schedule would be rearranged, if necessary, to meet that specific date.)
The last step in legally converting to Judaism is the Beit Din [legal Jewish court], which we were all apprehensive about, but the three judges were also our teachers and we all passed. (By that time, the teachers knew all of us well, so the Beit Din was no problem for any of us.)
The bottom line is: According to Jewish law, no one can just declare that they are now Jewish. If you were not born of a legally Jewish mother, and you want to be Jewish, then (male or female) you must go through the Jewish legal conversion process.
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2022 04:44PM by Tevai.