what is it about converting to judaism that makes it difficult?

Question

does chabad do conversions?

Answer 1

Since Judaism is not only a religion but a way of life as well, there is a lot more to learn than other religions. We also have more commandments that we as Jews must follow than any other religion (613 in total, though not all are followed with the destruction of the Temple). Basically, it's a lot more to learn and commit to. Once you are a Jew, you can't turn back. It's a HUGE commitment, both on your part and on the part of the rabbi who decides to convert you. There is always that chance you will back out, and then the rabbi will have wasted years studying with you. You will also have wasted years of your life studying. For this reason, rabbis are hesitant to convert you until they are absolutely sure that you will go all the way and for the right reasons. Now, the reason it is difficult is best worded by this web page:

http://www.beingjewish.com/conversion/becomingjewish.html

A small excerpt:

"Becoming Jewish means that most of what you were taught about spirituality until now will be irrelevant, and in many cases wrong. You must drop the religious beliefs taught you by whatever other religion(s) you once followed or read about. People sometimes ask me, "Can I convert to Judaism and still believe in Jesus?" The answer is no. This is not something negotiable in Judaism. Jewish doctrine about G-d is core and inviolate. Non-Jewish beliefs about G-d invalidate a conversion (and Jesus is a prime example of a non-Jewish belief about G-d, no matter what anyone tells you). So this could be a major change for anyone contemplating conversion to Judaism. If this is difficult for you, then you should not be considering conversion at all.

You must also accept the fact that it is Hashem's Torah that defines what is right and what is wrong, what is spiritual and what is mundane, what elevates a person and what lowers him. Human beings do not make those determinations, and every such decision that a Rabbi makes is based on Torah precedent, i.e., established Jewish Law.

Your life style will also change, as well as the way you think about many things. Even the meaning of some words will change, especially if you have been Christian: words like "confession," "heaven," "patrilineal descent," "Messiah," "savior," and others.

It also means that your relationships will change. Not all your friends will be happy that you've become Jewish. Worse yet, your family members might disown you, as often happens.

When your parents, your siblings, even your children, sit down to eat a meal, you will often not be allowed to join them. You won't even be able to attend some of their joyous occasions. It is forbidden for a Jew to enter most non-Jewish places of worship. If your own baby sister gets married in a church, you will not be able to attend. If you have non-Jewish children from before you converted, you will not be allowed to attend any occasion they make in a church or any religious gathering. (If this occurs, make sure to consult with an Orthodox Rabbi before making any decision. There may be a solution.) Nor will you be allowed to celebrate Christmas or Hallowe'en, or any other religious holiday except the Jewish holidays."

For more examples, read the page.

Chabad isn't really big on conversions but I'm sure you could ask them and they will either say yes we do conversions or refer you to someone who does. Just note that they are Chassidic, a brand of ultra-Orthodox, and hence more strict than many forms of Judaism.

Peace, and b'hatzlacha (success to you)

Answer 2

OK- to start with- Orthodox Judaism does do conversions, and that includes Chabad. BUT, we do not accept everyone into conversion programmes since we do not believe that people need to be jewish in order to be righteous. On the contrary, a non-Jew only has 7 commandments to adhere to (the seven Noahide laws), while a jew has 613 commandments, and many of those are headings under which numerous things are included and around which Rabbinical "fences' have been built to safe guard them and to prevent people from erring accidently.

So what do you think is easier- to follow 7 commandments, or 613? Not a difficult question to answer- and that leads to the next issue- there is a commandment to "Not place a stumbling block before the blind". Sounds obvious- but its got a metaphorical meaning as well which is applied in numerous way- one way is to not tell somebody that is doing something wrong that what they are doing is wrong if you know they will not listen, by doing o you have just made them liable for a sin they were not liable for before!

See how this applies to our case of the convert? We are making them liable for 606 commandments for which they were not liable before! So, if we want to avoid ransgressing one of those commandments, we have to be certian the convert is serious and will observe the laws they are taught. Thus, the first step is to try and convince the potential convert to NOT convert- but to rather follow the 7 Noahide laws.

If the persondoes want to convert after pur attempts to put them off- they may still not be allowed to if is believed that the person is converting for some materail gain rather than because they wish to be Jewish- thus duroing the time of King David and King Solomon no conversions were allowed as being Jewish was seen as being prestigious and thus the converts motives were suspected. Similarly, the Rabbis teach that in the Messianic era the rest of the world look up to Jews as priests to them- but they they do not become Jews, but rather righteous followers of the Noahide laws since, as in the tome of David and Solomon, people would be converting for other than pure motives.

So now, we get to the point of converting- if it is an Orthodox conversion- the classes necessary to learn hebrew, how to pray, the laws necessary for everyday life, for observing Shabbat and the festivals etc can take anywhere up to 5 years (depending on how fast you learn and how much you knew before.)

The next step for men is to be circumcised (done to adults under general anaesthetic). If the person is already circumcised, a symbolic drop of blood is drawn.

The final step is to be immersed in a mikveh (ritual bath) and the conversion must be observed by two kosher witnesses.

Answer 3

All branches of Judaism welcome converts. The only "difficulty" is that it involves a period of study, usually about a year or so. There's also the fact that it's nice to learn Hebrew which, of course, has a whole different alphabet than English, Spanish, etc.

Answer 4

I recommend the following video

Why is it so hard to convert to Judaism?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eok9Gm8OJw

Answer 5

All-on-yo-av-is-most-observant-in-that-yo-study-text-on-hebrew-ta-yo-av-artscroll-wroking-on-av-parchat-ha-hav-vu-ah-ha-on-av-all-on-yo-av- kadosh-kadosh-kadosh-adonai-saba-savy-on-yo-av-beautiful-artscroll-yo-savy-chesed-nuances-on-yo-av-because-judaism is an ancient and sacred language in as much that syriac language was by far the most widely used and understood and this includes aramaic which the people at the time would have spoken and 'not hebrew' as some people try to tell you and a nonsense because syriac was universally accepted and spoken even in india and parts of china in ancient times and that is the truth -syria was larger than it is today and was the holy-land and included palistine and in truth the israelites were a from a pharonic caste-system - hey - that is 'my intuition' and that belongs to me - anyway who on earth is this person anyway ? that he is saying is simple stupid - something - about - is-ra-lites ??? who came from the land of el-kem...via-the-lovely... ka-ba-la- to-ra-ra-ra and danced all the way only to become lost people -ok dude- yeah shalam 'jes' jerusalem 'jes' he is having a bit of fun - only lighten up with some humour folks - funny ha-ha-ah-ha was this 'their holy city'??? only in that they adopted a new way of life and judaism was popularised among the people living in the holy-land - however - to my understanding -hebrew was spoken in the temple-schools by the higher scholastic tradition and also other traditions were also studied by religious sects - great was the knowledge of all religions and much respected were books as this contained sacred knowledge and many people could read contrary to modern thought as you would think ancient peoples were somewhere short in terms of their education - anyway to my understanding - much importance was placed upon teaching holy-scripture whatever your faith this is a virtuos and worthwhile study and is the reward of enlightenment.

Answer 6

If you are male, I think it might hurt a little. Also you have to study Hebrew.

Answer 7

Jews are the chosen people of God. If you're not already chosen, can you choose to be chosen? It doesn't make much sense, does it?


I don't know if that's really the reasoning, but it sure makes sense to me.

Answer 8

the hacking and spitting?