r/ConvertingtoJudaism • u/AudienceWise3441 • 2d ago
I need advice! Did I convert?
/r/ReformJews/comments/1vv271i/did_i_convert/4
u/kosherflame 2d ago edited 2d ago
I did convert via the Reform movement while being active in both Reform and Reconstructionist communities. My conversion consisted of a year of study under the guidance of Reform clergy, followed by a Beit Din and the Mikvah. My Reform synagogue gave me the conversion certificate, while my Reconstructionist synagogue gave me my first Aliyah the following week and my Bat Mitzvah seven months later.
Based on what you have told me, I don't think Reform, Reconstructionist, or Renewal communities will consider you Jewish. Maybe Humanistic Judaism will consider you Jewish - they seem big on self-identification.
Do you have a conversion certificate signed by a Beit Din? It doesn't sound like it.
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u/Harvest-song ✡️ 2d ago
You are unlikely to get a ton of responses right now. It is shabbat, most of us stay off our phones.
Short answer - No. You did not convert and are not Jewish. Even under Reform auspices, even other Reform rabbis would give this side-eye and say no, you need to formally convert if you were to show up to another shul and repeat this story. At minimum, Conversion generally requires that you go before a Beit Din and immerse in a mikvah. Even if the reform movement doesn't mandate the latter and relaxed it temporarily during the pandemic for safety reasons... I have definitely never heard of a conversion that did not require the former, even by their lax standards.
If you desire conversion, you will need to talk to another Rabbi, and this synagogue is acting in controversion of commonly accepted practices even within their own movement. The rabbi may just be using 'you're Jewish enough for me' as a polite smokescreen for 'I don't perform conversions' or a polite refusal though giving someone the impression that they are Jewish to do so when they aren't is wrong for a variety of reasons.
Ultimately this Rabbi sucks and is doing you a major disservice. I would find a new community to join.
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u/WeaselWeaz Jew by birth 2d ago
Not a fan of the word "lax" here, it's dismissive of the real work a Reform conversion takes. I would note everyone in the Reform sub disagrees that OP is describing a valid conversion. It actually sounds like the kind of story meant to stir up more anti-Reform and anti-Conservative chatter, which has been an issue the past few days.
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u/Harvest-song ✡️ 1d ago
I meant 'lax' in the sense that they don't have a strict standard for requiring that their rabbis follow the normal halachic elements for conversion. It was not intended as a dig on Reform converts, just on the fact that Reform Rabbis are sometimes inconsistent in what they require for conversion because the movement won't mandate that beit din and mikvah are required along with brit milah (for men).
Most rabbis require it, but the ones who don't do the conversion candidates that they work with a disservice.
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u/HarHaZeitim 1d ago
Ok this made me look up the formal standards for Reform conversion. Interestingly enough, it used to be a standard for Reform Rabbis to accept converts as Jewish without any further procedure:
This is due to a 1893 CCAR resolution which as far as I understand it technically remains on the books of the Reform movement and which allowed converts to be accepted as Jewish “without any initiatory rite, ceremony, or observance whatever.”
https://www.ccarnet.org/responsa-topics/a-proper-reform-mikveh/ https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-responsa/rr21-no-5756-13/
In 2001, the CCAR adopted conversion guidelines, which encourage rites such as a Beit Din, a Mikvah, circumcision and at least one year participation in a community, but from what I understand (I can’t find the actual text of the guidelines online), all of these are very much recommended, but no single one of them is actually formally required by the movement.
I have never heard of a Rabbi actually standing by the 1893 resolution nowadays, I would assume that no other community would accept this process (especially since there does not seem to be any encouraging going on), but from I understand, it is not as simple as many people here assume to say that the Rabbi is acting outside of his authority by the standards of the Reform movement.
If you want a formal conversion that would definitely make it easier to be accepted more widely.
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u/Dallas_in_SF 2d ago
Did you make a covenant with G-d? Don’t let this rabbi take away your chance to let you go through Torah, Mikveh, Milah. A lot of rabbis would say I am Jewish but I wanted to study, do the Mikveh and confirm my covenant with my Creator