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Archive for November, 2008

NiSh’ma – Families & Conversion

Featured Artists: Janet Shafner, Adi Nes, Amy Sunners, and D. Jeanette Nichols

Ruth from a Convert’s Point of View

Sarah Luria
When I am called to the Torah, I am called as Sarah bat Avraham v’Sarah. While my birth name signals the Sephardic roots of my father, Carlos Luria, announcing my Hebrew name before the congregation outs me: I am a convert.

Abraham and Sarah’s Tent

Edgar M Bronfman & Beth Zasloff
Whether people choose to make a commitment to Judaism has a lot to do with the quality of the welcome they receive…It’s not enough to say, “Come in and sit”; we must say, “Come in and sit with me.”

Converts: Power and Consequences

Jess Olson
The last two years have been a trying time for converts to Judaism in both the United States and Israel. With very little warning, the status of individuals who make the highly personal and private decision to convert to Judaism has become the lynchpin in a massive shift in Israeli rabbinic authority and, through a new kind of religious imperialism, a robust assertion of power over both Israeli policy and the American rabbinate.

The Journeys to Judaism

Laura Wiessen
Began this film project by talking to people who had decided to become Jews. Sharing their journeys gives us a new appreciation of what the newest Jews bring to the Jewish people.

Encountering the Homeless

Jason Kimelman-Block
As part of my work, I regularly introduce Jewish high school students to homeless people on the streets of Washington, DC.

Discussion Guide – Families & Conversion

How does our understanding of Judaism — as a people, an ethnicity, a religion — impact the process of conversion?
Can Judaism be more solicitous of the hyphenated identity of Jews-by- Choice?
Is the “doorway into Judaism” a welcoming experience? How so, or if not, why not?

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UPCOMING NEXT MONTH: American Jewish Loyalties

  • Michael Kimmage on the Fifties
  • Noam Pianko on Mordechai Kaplan
  • Arie Dubnov on Hannah Arendt
  • Steven Nadler on Baruch Spinoza
  • Eli Lederhendler on lines that can't be crossed
  • Roberta Seid and Hadar Susskind weigh in on Israel
  • Amy Eilberg on embracing difference
  • Shaul Magid on dogmas in American Judaism
  • Shlomo Fischer on Israel’s army
  • And an array of short personal reflections on convictions outside the pale