JewsByChoice.Org

Okay, so lets omit the fact that I’m not even technically Jewish yet. The thing is that I feel Jewish, I try to live Jewish, and I feel I have been bound to the mitzvot since the day of my Brit Milah. It was a contract that I literally signed in blood.
I am not where [...]

Last night I stumbled across an interesting article from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution website about what appears to be a surge in African American Converts to Judaism in the Atlanta area. I know we have several African American readers, who are either JBC’s, in the process of converting or are interested in learning more about Judaism, [...]

Cross-posted on True Ancestor
In a previous post, I’ve explored the ideas behind a book that looks at the cross-currents of genes, identity and values and tries to answer the question, “Who is a Jew?”
The answer, according to that post, and the book discussed therein, was “almost everyone.” A new and perhaps even more compelling book on [...]

Hi all,
So I’ve been a bit out of touch lately, as my family is expecting the arrival of our third child any day, and we’re staying with my sister until then - closer to the midwife.  Anyway, I will be away from my shul this weekend, when we read Parshat Behalotkha.  Five years ago, on [...]

Hi All,
If you haven’t checked out The Sephardi Perspective blog on the Jerusalem Post website, I highly recommend doing so. While I live in the U.S., I have been to Israel, and it is my passionate hope to make aliyah one day; as a result, I spend lots of time “in” Israel vicariously through [...]

I just came across the following on the Ynet site:
Anyone inflicted with a severe hearing and speech impediment cannot undergo Jewish conversion. This harsh statement was recently made by Rabbi Avraham Sherman of the Chief Rabbinical Court, in a ruling now made public.

And here is why incase you were wondering!
Any conversion preformed on the [...]

This opinion piece by a Modern Orthodox Jew by Choice was linked from On the Fringe-Al Tzitzit and I think everyone should go and read it.
I have to admit I am increasingly frustrated as I read articles and opinions on the conversion crisis in the Orthodox community, partly because they seem to just now be [...]

Last week Rabbi Eli Garfinkel of Temple Beth El (a Conservative Synagogue in Somerset, NJ) recorded an interesting Podcast. In short the good Rabbi shares some of his concerns regarding the recent conversion fiasco in Israel.
Here is a brief summary of the episode from the RabbiPod site.
In this episode of RabbiPod, I argue [...]

One of the questions I was asked in my first (of three) meetings with the beit din at my conversion dealt with what I would do if I had a question regarding Jewish ritual.  “Would you look it up yourself, or would you ask a rabbi?” asked the black-coated, bearded personage on the dais.
Now, I [...]

I’ve been meaning to post this for nearly a week, but last week just escaped me. So here I am, today, to share a thoughtful nosh posted up on A Simple Jew’s blog from last week. The blog post focuses on a Q&A with Rabbi Dovid Sears about the "spiritual marketplace" mentality and the ger/ba’al [...]