soyouwannaconverttojudaism:

Book recs!

jewish-education:

Hey anon! It’s best to take things slow, especially if you haven’t got a lot of local resources. Since I don’t know where you are, I also can’t know if converting to Judaism (or even taking an interest in it) would be dangerous – another reason to take your time. As a born-Jew who fell in love with Judaism I understand how much you want to dive in, but conversion (even more so than my own increasing involvement) can require an exhausting self-journey and challenging life changes. 

I don’t know how much you already know about Judaism, but just starting out with some basics if you don’t already have them yet is a great idea. There are lots of books that give an overview of Jewish practices & perspectives. Given your locational hurdles, if you haven’t learned the equivalent of a book worth of stuff about Judaism, I’d definitely keep learning. Even if you have, you still could keep going. I’m not the best person to recommend books for conversion students specifically, but @gerintraining posted a list awhile back of some books she recommends. I’d also recommend some of the really great conversion blogs I follow like @jewishconvertthings and @soyouwannaconverttojudaism and the many smaller but equally amazing personal conversion blogs. If books aren’t an option, haunting myjewishlearning.com is good too.

If you’ve gotten a basic understanding of Jewish perspectives and practice and are still drawn to Judaism, I’d strongly encourage you to reach out to the synagogue you know of in your country. Before you reach out, you should be able to articulate why you’re drawn to Judaism and why you want to be Jewish. I know this synagogue is far, but conversion really requires an in-person community. The rabbi might be able to do somethings long-distance.

It’s possible that the rabbi might turn you away. This might be due to a lack of communal resources, due to concerns about his (or in some places her) own ability to work with a conversion student, or due to concerns about antisemitism in your area. It’s also possible, however, that the rabbi will turn you away three times as part of a common Jewish tradition. I don’t know the custom in your community or area. By the time you’re talking to a rabbi, you should be able to explain why you want to be Jewish which is a great response to being turned away. But depending on the community/rabbi and the local climate around Jewishness it might be worth asking the rabbi why. If the rabbi is concerned about their ability to work with a conversion student, ask if there’s still some way you can get involved in learning or communal life. Getting involved even outside a conversion process would be a good way to see if you really do want to convert and if you do will give you a leg up once it’s possible to get started.

Once you’re in the community, see if you can get a feel for what practice and perspectives exist in this community and whether it overlaps with what you meant when you were thinking “I want to be Jewish.” There are lots of different ways of living Jewishly, and often one community will include only a slice of these ways. Especially if your community is not European/Ashkenazi, you might not recognize some of their traditions from many mainstream introductions to Judaism (especially culinary and specific holiday practices). If the first community doesn’t work out for any reason, I’d also recommend you keep looking and ask Jewish people (if you know any). You may find your country has a second synagogue; Jewish communities sometimes like to stay below the radar. If you feel comfortable asking (on anon still is fine) with the name of your country jumblr might be able to help. We’re pretty diverse when you count all of us (though maybe not enough?).

If your country’s community really isn’t working for you, I’d consider looking into Chabad or potentially Reform Judaism. Both of these communities do outreach to rural places (though Reform mostly in the U.S.). If one of these groups sounds compatible, try getting in touch. Chabad especially does lots of cool outreach in places where most people assume Jews don’t live (though they would likely ask you to move somewhere in the conversion process).

You’ve also mentioned that you live far away from your country’s only synagogue. Conversion might mean moving. That’s a sad fact and one you’d have to weigh against all the other reasons you might want to be Jewish. No matter how far you might end up needing to move or what in your life could change, no rabbi should ask you to cut yourself off from your family. Judaism holds really strongly that you should honor your parents (cue me getting an anon from someone else asking about abusive parents – and I have stuff up my sleeve for you, anon) and while conversion does mean giving up prior religious beliefs/practices it doesn’t mean leaving your family in all those other ways. 

If you decide not to convert, (at least in my mind) don’t feel like your learning was a waste. It really helps out the Jewish community for folks to know more about us. We’re a pretty tiny group (<<1% of the world) and have faced a lot of antisemitism due to misconceptions. So your open-hearted and open-minded efforts to learn more about us are really meaningful ❤