Comments | amawahibiki: Conversions again

amawahibiki

Conversions again

Aug 31, 2007 10:44

An e-mail I got today:

Dear Daniel
... One last question: if I have a Japanese friend who is interested in seeing what Rosh Hashanah is like, do you think he'll [the Chabad Rabbi] be OK with having her come to services? ... she's actually Christian,　and would like to learn more about Judaism. What do you think?...

My response:

Oh dear... I've ( Read more... )

Comments 19

_josh August 31 2007, 09:46:10 UTC

It's true, though. For gentiles in general, that is. I don't know much about the Japanese in particular.

amawahibiki August 31 2007, 10:38:26 UTC

Yes, but because of limited personal experience I can only speak about Japan with any authority. And I want it to truly come from the heart otherwise no way he will listen to me.

hannahsarah August 31 2007, 10:52:57 UTC

I have to agree with you on this one. The High Holidays are not exactly Judiasm 101. Start her out with books and see if she has any interest on her own. The big question, is if she was NOT dating a Jew, would she still want to convert for the sake of shamyim?

amawahibiki August 31 2007, 12:08:42 UTC

I'd say the possibility of that is sufficiently low as to be negligible. I don't know the exact reason (although I have theories), but the percentage of Japanese people who say they want to convert who actually convert and become gerei tzeddek is minute... the Rabbanut has one Japanese convert each year on average. On the other hand, the "JCC" which is the Reform club in Tokyo sells conversion documents for 200,000 yen (around 2000 dollars), which are good enough for a lot of the boyfriends ( ... )

_josh August 31 2007, 15:08:08 UTC

> the Reform club in Tokyo sells conversion documents

Seriously? There's not even an interview process?

amawahibiki August 31 2007, 15:12:59 UTC

There may be an interview. I'm not "up to speed" on how the process goes. But the bottom line is that corrupt "Rabbis" are selling fake conversion documents to idiots and getting rich.

Thread 11

rosegold_ruby August 31 2007, 12:34:43 UTC

I've been invited to shul before, but i think that's mostly because I've an exceedingly high interest in judaism, and would never think of going to a rosh hashanah or other major holiday service unless the rabbi came up to me and said '*you* should be there'. And how likely do you think that would happen? not very. lol

amawahibiki September 2 2007, 09:16:39 UTC

Well, but at least in your case I'm pretty sure you'd never undergo a fake conversion. It's different from the silly Japanese girls who want to make their boyfriends happy, without understanding or caring about the bigger picture.

rosegold_ruby September 2 2007, 12:41:38 UTC

I would never convert to any religion without actually wnting to be of that religion. If for whatever reason I started dating someone of a dfferent religion than I and they were to start teaching me all about their religion and it were very important to them, I would at least give it a try (go to their place of worship to see what it was like, listen to their person of god as to what the religion was about, etc) and see if it was for me. But if I didn't fully believe in it, or hated it or whatever, not only would I not convert, but I would break up with the person because I'm not converting to something I don't believe in, and I certainly am *NOT* raising children in a two religion household, something I find very stupid and to be very confusing.

amawahibiki September 3 2007, 07:15:07 UTC

I think "converting" for a boyfriend etc. (the quotes being because in pripciple a Jewish court will not accept such conversions) is one of the worse blunders one could make in life. First, when there's an argument, or if one eventually breaks up, what happens to that conversion? Also, it causes arguments in the relationship, because she game *everything* for him and he didn't reciprocate ( ... )

Thread 6