You Can Take the Girl Out of Newton: How I Plan to Convert to Judaism

If only it were this easy.

Converting to Judaism is a process.  Every book and website on the topic will tell you that. I’m guessing every Rabbi will tell you the same. In Orthodox Judaism, conversion is as serious and holy as it can get, and can even involve not speaking with or seeing your spouse-to-be for an entire year while you go through the process. For many people the conversion falls somewhere between Orthodoxy and the instant spray depicted above. Though these days you can convert to Judaism online, and probably even find an ordained Rabbi to pronounce you a converted Jew for an untold price, I am not about to go down those roads.

Before I go any further, I’d like to announce the winning Rabbi from last week’s post, On Shopping for a Rabbi.  Votes have been cast and the results are in.  As of Wednesday, January 30 at 9:30 p.m. EST, 28 percent of voters chose Rabbi A, five percent chose Rabbi B, 50 percent chose Rabbi C and 17 percent chose “none of the above.”  If you chose Rabbi C, and most of you did….

On Shopping for a Rabbi

Three Rabbis walk into a bar.

The bartender turns to them, takes one look, and says, “What, is this some kind of joke?”

With our 10 Requirements in hand, Steve and I set out to find our New York City Rabbi. As with many things these days, our search began with Google, and ended with an empty wallet and broken dreams.  Not really.

There are over 1,000 synagogues in New York City, 1.9 million Jews and more than 150 kosher restaurants.  Over 70,000 Jews live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan alone, and after years of decline, the number of Jews in New York is on the rise (I’m a trend setter, what can I say?)

We decided, with Steve’s parents’ blessing, to pursue a Conservative, Reform or Reconstructionist conversion, and to find a synagogue that felt right to us and fit into our current and very secular lifestyle.