{"id":536,"date":"2016-08-05T12:33:43","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T16:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/followingruth\/?p=536"},"modified":"2016-08-04T22:45:23","modified_gmt":"2016-08-05T02:45:23","slug":"antisemitism-and-conversion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/followingruth\/2016\/08\/antisemitism-and-conversion\/","title":{"rendered":"Conversion Conversations: Antisemitism and the Conversion Process"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

One of the absolutely most terrifying first steps to take as a prospective convert is to contact a Rabbi. To me it was worse than cold calling, because unlike potential clients, there aren\u2019t thousands of other rabbis in your area. In my current living situation, there is only\u00a0one<\/em> synagogue in my local area (< 1 hr) and they don\u2019t even have a rabbi. In Indianapolis, there were just a handful of non-Messianic congregations in my city.<\/p>\n

So one thing you will definitely hear at some when you contact a Rabbi about conversion is to ask your willingness to endure antisemitism. It\u2019s a valid reason not to convert, frankly. If you\u2019re like me and enjoy the privilege of looking straight and white and \u201cEuropean\u201d\u2026 you have it easy. So why give it up? It\u2019s kind of like why people don\u2019t come out of the closet as LGBTQ without feeling that the risk is worthy, since the rate of violence against LGBT, especially trans individuals, is incredibly high. It\u2019s the same with Judaism. Joining the Jewish people brings the risk of online and offline attacks.<\/p>\n

The Reality<\/h2>\n The reality is that antisemitism is still real. It\u2019s not some passe thing that we all thought belonged to an older generation. It\u2019s real and it\u2019s being espoused by millennial white supremacists just as much as the older ones. We\u2019re seeing it across the world in places like Britain<\/a> and France, and we\u2019ll see it in America too. In fact, the local congregation near me experienced an exodus after too many hate crimes. It\u2019s horrific that it still happens, but it does.\u00a0According to some 2014 data,<\/a> about 59% of religiously-motivated hate crimes [in America] were against Jews.<\/p>\n American Extreme Conservatism<\/strong><\/p>\n Of course, the current political climate, and the hate that\u2019s been stirred up in America these past few years, is quickly escalating:<\/p>\n \n \n\nTrump\u2019s vigorous defense of anti-Semitic image a \u2018turning point\u2019 for many Jews<\/a><\/li>\nThe Disturbing Reality Of Being A Jewish Reporter Covering Donald Trump<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n*** ** And if you\u2019re on Twitter\u2026 good luck.\u00a0Twitter trolls are nutso.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n ** Family\u00a0Considerations<\/strong><\/p>\n ** I\u2019ve experienced my share of pre-conversion antisemitism, mostly by Christians or those who come from a Christian background. My first husband attempted to use conversion to Judaism in 2015 as an excuse to wrestle custody away from me. (I wasn\u2019t aware that was legal, but hey, the \u201cjustice system\u201d isn\u2019t always just.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n ** What you can expect is that some part of your family may ridicule you directly or by using passive aggressive remarks. They may make jokes about eating kosher or about bacon or deride you for not going to a \u201cMessianic\u201d synagogue.\u00a0And if you think I\u2019m making this stuff up \u2013 I\u2019m not. Just these few things are conversations I\u2019ve personally endured. The undercurrent of distrust and millennia-old antisemitism is still baked into everyday teaching, which is how a 13 year-old kid comes to blurt out, \u201cdidn\u2019t the Jews kill Jesus?\u201d in the middle of a Sunday brunch.<\/p>\n ** Be honest<\/strong><\/h2>\n ** When considering joining a religious minority such as Judaism, be aware of the risks. For me, the risk is worth the reward. But for others, perhaps just being a quiet Noahide is enough.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ** ***One of the absolutely most terrifying first steps to take as a prospective convert is to contact a Rabbi. To me it was worse than cold calling, because unlike potential clients, there aren\u2019t thousands of other rabbis in your area. In my current living situation, there is only\u00a0one synagogue in my local area (< 1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1656,"featured_media":542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[238,4],"tags":[239,6],"class_list":["post-536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anti-semitism","category-conversion","tag-antisemitism","tag-conversion-2"],"yoast_head":"\nConversion Conversations: Antisemitism and the Conversion Process<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the absolutely most terrifying first steps to take as a prospective convert is to contact a Rabbi. 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