{"id":67654,"date":"2019-12-24T13:20:39","date_gmt":"2019-12-24T11:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=67654"},"modified":"2023-07-17T15:29:44","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T12:29:44","slug":"adopting-the-name-of-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/adopting-the-name-of-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"Adopting The Name Of Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[579],"acf":{"old_id":"67654","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":60755,"related_cahpter":"378","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The ins and outs, ups and downs, of conversion today\u00a0","content":"

Blessings come in many disguises. For some, a blessing is God’s response to a prayer, a gentle rain on a scorching summer afternoon, or a friend’s embrace when we are low. For others, it is the joy of finding a spiritual home, a community, a new family to call one\u2019s own. Our chapter affirms the validity of conversion, and the myriad ways that may lead a person to \u201cadopt the name of Israel.\u201d The Jewish people will grow, asserts the medieval Ashkenazi commentator Rashi in his remarks to today\u2019s chapter, when those who are “among the grass” turn towards the God of Israel,.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, when people become Jewish, often becoming a minority for the first time in their lives, they, too, frequently enter a period of anguish. Being a newcomer can be bewildering, forging a new identity that welds together the past and a meaningful future can be disorienting, and family and friends may be less than understanding. On the one hand, it is easier than at most times to join the Jewish world (and some people live happy Jewish lives without ever joining up formally). Gone are the times that converts are required to physically leave their birth communities, as was often the case during the European middle ages, when remaining might have put the individual and the receiving community at peril.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joining the Jewish community in the US for example means to enter a well-established community that is fully part of civil society, one whose presence is reflected on TV and elsewhere. Media and popular culture are full of references to Jewish culture and religion, and many non-Jewish children grow up twirling dreidls and eating latkes with Jewish friends on Chanukkah.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet, what does it mean for converts to choose Judaism at a period of rising antisemitism, of threats\u00a0 against our children\u2019s schools and institutions, and attacks on supermarkets? Like others, they wonder what to do when anti-semitic political parties seemingly become mainstream throughout Europe. Should we seek out allies? Take self-defense courses? Withdraw deeper into our communities, putting up high protective walls against the outside world?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Isaiah wrote these powerful and comforting words at a time of great distress for himself and his community. Converts, with their rich identities, with their optimism\u2014after all, they chose to live as Jews!\u2014remind their communities of the beauty and excitement of living a Jewish life, with all its contemporary messiness. Communities would do well to embrace this enthusiasm, and the newcomers in their midst who, years into their journey, might still yearn for a home, a place in their communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":67661,"id":67661,"title":"is44-feet wet","filename":"is44-feet-wet.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is44-feet-wet.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/adopting-the-name-of-israel\/is44-feet-wet\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is44-feet-wet","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":67654,"date":"2019-12-24 11:20:24","modified":"2019-12-24 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