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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Any converts here?  For many years I’ve felt inexplicably drawn to the religion.  Yesterday I picked up “Choosing a Jewish Life” by Anita Diamant and am reading with interest.

What books/resources are recommended?  I’m nervous to start attending services but know that will be a natural next step.  Many thanks in advance.[/quote]

I'm not sure you realize what you're getting into. Being drawn to the religion is not seen as a credible reason to convert to Judaism.[/quote]
What [i]is[/i] a credible reason? [not OP][/quote]

Marriage and clear commitment to the community. Like another PP says Judaism is an ethnicity more than a religion. It's very different from Christianity.[/quote]
Plenty of people convert "for" marriage, but I wouldn't say it's seen as a "credible" reason to convert. Marriage is often seen as a suspicious sign among born-Jews, like converting for marriage is not a commitment to the religion/community, just to one person, and that's not good enough. That said, we often also treat people who come to Judaism completely on their own with only a "clear commitment to the community" like their desire to join us is utterly bizarre and we can't possibly understand the appeal of our own community. It's a weird little Catch-22 quirk that we all have.

I wouldn't say Judaism is an ethnicity MORE THAN a religion. The two are certainly intertwined in ways that can make them difficult to navigate at times, but we have always accepted converts. In fact, Jewish law goes out of its way to negate your claim:

1. We are commanded to love the convert and not oppress the convert. Constantly reminding the convert that they can never be fully Jewish, because they aren't ethnically Jewish (which is essentially what your claim does), violates this commandment.

2. The tradition of giving a convert the Hebrew parents "bar/bat Avraham v'Sarah" in their Hebrew name is explicitly designed to insert converts into our shared lineage/descendancy.

3. We share the belief that every Jew who is/was/will be stood together at Sinai, including converts to Judaism. We are also only four weeks away from the holiday in which we are commanded to see ourselves as the Israelites in Exodus. These mental exercises are a great opportunity for us all to practice different ways of seeing ourselves and others within our shared history and community.[/quote]

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