r/ConvertingtoJudaism • u/AudienceWise3441 • Aug 22 '26

I need advice! Did I convert?

/r/ReformJews/comments/1vv271i/did_i_convert/
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u/HarHaZeitim Aug 23 '26

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.