On Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:26:33 am Joe Zeff wrote: > On 03/09/2010 03:39 AM, Steven D'Aprano wrote: > > even if you convert, > > which most rabbis don't allow and even those who do make it very > > difficult, you'll always be a Jew by conversion and not a "real" > > Jew. > > In general, rabbis discourage conversion and make it hard because > we're not a proselytizing religion, and being a properly observant > Jew is not exactly easy. That being said, a convert is just as much > a Jew as one who was born to it. In fact, their Hebrew name is > ben/bas Abraham, son or daughter of Abraham, not to show they're a > convert, but to tie them into our heritage. You, as a gentile may > not consider them "real" Jews, but we do.
I hate to tell somebody they're wrong about their own religion... oh who am I kidding, I love it! *wink* Cohens are prohibited from marrying converts, making converts second-class Jews: http://judaism.about.com/od/jewishweddingsmarriage/f/cohen_convt.htm "My mother converted to Judaism for the wrong intentions [...] I need to know if I am really Jewish?" http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_o/bl_simmons_conversionreal.htm And converts get a special name, different from everyone else, singling them out as a group and making sure that in religious ritual everyone knows that they're a convert. Of course, as one of my Jewish friends says, if you gather three Rabbis in a room together and ask them what the weather is like outside, you'll get four different opinions. I have absolutely no doubt that you will be able to find other authorities who disagree with the above, so how about if we just say that treatment of converts varies? -- Steven D'Aprano _______________________________________________ Pan-users mailing list Pan-users@nongnu.org http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/pan-users
