#one of the books i read talked about how all jewish souls were at sinai at least metaphorically

[ruffboijuliaburnsides]

Hi! Obviously ignore this if I'm asking something too personal, but you've mentioned that you're in the process of converting to judaism and I've been wondering how did you start? I've done a good bit of research and think it's something I'm interested in, but I have no idea what the actual process of conversion looks like, much less where to begin. Obviously feel free to ignore, or send me towards someone else, but thought I'd ask!

Hey no worries, anon! So, I will preface this by being forthcoming and saying I got partway through the conversion process, was forced to move, and ended up in a different part of the country with only one shul nearby whose rabbi (and community) are… very unfriendly to converts. They don’t SAY they are, but a few months of attendance and a handful of meetings with the rabbi with regards to conversion really hammered home that neither my wife nor I felt even remotely comfortable converting here, considering it’s a very personal and often vulnerable process, and wherein you have to actually like… trust and communicate with the rabbi you’re working with. So my conversion, while I still consider it “in progress”, is in an indefinite stall until we can move somewhere else or can reliably get to the next closest shul, which we currently cannot for various reasons.

ANYWAY. I started by doing a lot of research. Mostly I was just looking into… all kinds of religion, including Islam actually, because I missed the community and the structure and the spiritual anchors of my very conservative evangelical christian upbringing, but I didn’t like or want to return to the actual, y’know…. beliefs and tenets of Christianity. I found Judaism and just… the more I read and researched about the beliefs and the general culture of questioning and grappling with things within it, the more I felt like I’d found a people who I could understand, and a religion that understood me and would allow for me to be uncomfortable and question why things are taught certain ways and so forth. Which was one of many things that drove me away from Christianity, as I was not good at the whole “blind faith” thing. (they insist it’s not blind, but if you’re not supposed to question god then… what else IS it?)

At that point we were living in upstate new york, and the nearest reform shul was very small, did not have a permanent rabbi (there was one for a number of local communities that cycled around every few weeks), and really while they were officially reform they seemed to as a community have a practice and beliefs a lot closer to something like reconstructionist or humanist Judaism. I went to shabbat services on fridays there for a few months, and they were very nice but said they were very much not a usual reform congregation and that I should probably actually convert somewhere with a permanent rabbi and that was a bit more traditional, but that in the meantime they were more than happy to have me attend services and events with them. They were very sweet and I did appreciate that opportunity to accustom myself to the general pacing and content of a friday night shabbat service.

At that point we get to the part that you’re actually asking about, and I’m sorry if you’re just like “OH MY GOSH MAGS PLS JUST GET TO THE POINT” which is when we moved back down to Florida and I actually properly started the conversion process with a rabbi! I started out emailing the local shul and saying that I had just moved to the area, I was not Jewish but was interested in possibly converting and had been attending services at a very small shul up north, and is it all right if I attend a few shabbat services while I consider converting? I will say, I have never been told “no please don’t attend” about going to shabbat services, but especially with the world the way it is, and me being new and not knowing anyone in the community or having anyone to vouch for me, I prefer to ask beforehand so that they know to expect someone new who is reaching out and less likely to be a threat.

Anyway after a couple of weeks at that shul, I already loved the people and could tell I would get on pretty well with the rabbi, so I emailed her again about setting up a meeting to discuss converting. We had the meeting, talked about why I wanted to convert, what would be required of me, etc. She got me set up with a book list and some books from the shul library, gave me a reading assignment and asked me to write down any thoughts or questions I had, along with some other things that were kind of reading comprehension stuff, and told me to email her when I had finished so we could have another meeting. She also stipulated that she would have me live and practice through a full year of the Jewish calendar at minimum before she’d declare me ready to go to the mikvah, and we’d meet regularly, I’d do a lot of reading, I needed to attend a beginning hebrew class for adults that would be starting again over the summer, attend services (both weekly and holiday) as much as possible, and engage as much as possible in the community. (I really loved them. I was a soloist in the Purim spiel that year and I had friends and once I’d finished converting and could join the synagogue I’d already been needled to join their tiny choir and it was just a great group of people.)

Aaaand then we had to move due to things outside our control, and I couldn’t attend as often due to being a heck of a drive away (in a car with no A/C, in Florida, in the summer) so I tried to shift over to a closer shul whose rabbi my old rabbi knew, but it was High Holy Days and then he was travelling for some studies and couldn’t start doing anything like conversion until that was all over, and then we had to move again and now we’re here and have a very unfriendly rabbi and congregation, so we don’t attend services right now.

…………all this to say: you’ve done some research and you think you’re interested. Next step is to find the nearest shul that is of the movement you want to convert in, and call or email them and just let the rabbi know where you’re at and ask if you can attend some services respectfully to see if you still feel drawn to Judaism when engaging with it directly. If so, let the rabbi know, set up a meeting, and go from there. It’ll take time, a year at the LEAST and usually longer even if you DON’T have the sort of issues I’m currently having, but if HaShem is calling you home, it’s worth it.

(and if your rabbi requires to you take any classes or what-not, most organizations that run them that require you to pay some kind of fee offer scholarships or reduced tuition if you’re not financially able to enroll in them initially, so be sure to reach out about stuff like that, too.)

[hervekposts]

Who are YOU Sir ?

Who are you sir? Extract of "The Book of Prophet Kacou Philippe", published by Edilivre, France www.philippekacou.org . Kc.62:10 Any anointing that would cause a poor soul in search of healing or deliverance to fall is of the devil! [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]. Before the enemies or opponents of God, Fire was called down! Before Sodom and Gomorrah, Fire was called down! Before the fifty men of Ahaziah, Fire was called down! But whoever will call fire upon a poor soul in search of healing or deliverance is a devil incarnated! [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]... 11 Well, what did Moses do before this great Revelation? He asked the voice that spoke to him: who are You Lord? Amen! And on the way for Damascus, when this light shone, Paul fell down. Paul fainted, he fell unconscious. He saw that it was the end of his life! Paul faced death but when he regained consciousness, what happened? Did he say: this is too supernatural, thus it’s God? No! Did he say: this must be the God who came down upon the mountain of Sinai! You see? But he put the old and ultimate question which Moses and the fathers have always put. Paul said: I’ve seen Your great glory, I’ve seen your great Might which threw me on the ground, I’ve heard your voice of thunder … BUT WHO ARE YOU? [Ed: the congregation says: Amen! ]. … You defeated me that’s true but who are You? You see? 12 Who are you sir? Here is the question mankind failed to ask. If there is a multitude of prophets today, it is because mankind failed to do it. Look all over the earth, how many Jews are seduced by Osborn, Billy Graham, Morris Cerullo or Yongi Cho? There is none, they are not distracted. You see? If there is an Israeli embassy in our country, it is because there are Jews here but how many of them are in our churches? There is none! You see? If Benny Hinn made a real Jew fall, this Jew would yell at him: I see that you are a powerful man but who are you? [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!] 13 See the case of John the Baptist in... I read John 1:19-23: " And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites that they might ask him, Thou, who art thou? And he acknowledged and denied not, and acknowledged, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he says, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No. They said therefore to him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. ". [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!] . You see? 14 When the Jews learnt all John was doing, what did they do? Did they send the priests and Levites to go and see whether the things they had learnt were so? No! Did they send these priests and Levites to see the prosperity of his ministry or the numerous Converts and what he was dressed of? No! Did they send these priests and Levites to ask for collaboration or to request John the Baptist’s adhesion to the federation of churches? No! You see? Did they send these priests and Levites to see whether John … But the Bible says that the Jews sent the priests and Levites to ask John, who he was? [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]. 15 John said: I am not the Christ! They said: all right, but who are you? He said: I am not this or that but they said: all right, so who are you? Tell us who you are! You see? Even if John said: "I have three thousand faithful on this side, I have got some assemblies in every city, I have got some assemblies in France, in Belgium … I’ve worked such and such miracles… I have a twenty-year experience … "These Jews would not be distracted! What they are interested in is who he is! [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]. 16 Does the Bible say that at this moment, in this place, a man will do what you are doing as it was the case of the prophets of the Bible? [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!] You see? In spite of their error, despite the fact that it was said in John 8:44 that they were sons of the devil, they had, at least, the wisdom to ask John who he was because the Jewish blood was flowing in them. [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!] Do whatever you want before a Jew, have the fame, raise some dead people, have the world for you, he will ask you: WHO ARE YOU? [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]. Because that is what mankind failed to do, that is why we have hundreds of prophets of nations today. 17 Go down into a burning Thorn-Bush as Moses did, any Jew or son of God, small or great, will ask you who you are! ". Make a Jew fall down in a vigil of prayer, still on the ground like Paul, he will yell at you: " who are you sir?" But a son of the devil will say: "oh! See how powerful he is! " … Even if an Angel comes down, it is the same! You see? 18 In Luke 1, a man said strange things to Zacharias. And Zacharias did not know that he was an Angel. After having heard these things if he asked directly who this man was, he would not be mute! You see? It was confusion for a priest as him. 19 Let’s read it now in Luke 1:19 " And the Angel answering, said to him, *I* am Gabriel, who stand before God, and I have been sent to speak to ... " Zacharias did not have to consider the old age of his wife but he simply had to say to this man: " what you are telling me is strange! A man cannot say that, so who are you? "But instead of that, he who is a Jew and moreover a priest, worries about his old age. To the point that Gabriel answered the question saying: "I am Gabriel, who stand before God ". 20 If Zacharias had asked that, he would not have been mute! You see? Read through all the Bible and you will see that it's that. When John the Baptist himself sent his disciple towards Jesus, it was not to see if the rumours of miracles which reached him were so; but the question was: WHO ARE YOU? Are you really the Christ? You see? 21 And Jesus Himself in Mat.16, at seeing his disciples, felt compassion. People were following Him because He spoke of God, of Moses, of the law and of the prophets; He healed the sick, raised the dead but none of the disciples dared to ask who He was. For them He was a true man of God, that’s all! And one day, Jesus Himself asked the question in their place. I am going to read it in Matthew 16:13-14: "But when Jesus was come into the parts of Caesarea-Philippi, He demanded of his disciples, saying, Who do men say that I the son of man am? And they said, Some, John the Baptist; and others, Elias; and others again, Jeremias or one of the prophets ". [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]. You see? 22 They do not even know who they are following! The important thing for them is that Jesus talks to them about Moses and about the prophets. That’s what mankind failed to do today. You see? 23 If you see that T. L. Osborn, Yongi Cho, Chris Oyakhilome, David Owuor, Emmanuel Makandiwa, Uebert Angel, T. B. Joshua, David Oyedepo, Ewald Frank, Morris Cerullo or Reinhard Bonnké is supernatural, the biblical logic orders that he should be questioned : " sir, who are you? Does the Bible say that you will do what you are doing? Did the Bible announce you like John the Baptist? Does the Bible say that the time in which we are living a man of your race will rise in this generation to do what you are doing? Has GOD called and commissioned you like Moses, Paul or one of the prophets? ... We see all your miracles, your anointings, your knowledge but who are you? Tell us who you are! ". If you see that Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Doug Batchelor, Billy Graham, Edir Macedo, Valdemiro Santiago, Silas Malafaia, Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Alberto Mottesi, Claudio Freidzon or Dante Gebel is supernatural, that is the question you should ask him if you are a son of God. If you see that Benny Hinn, manasseh Jordan, Joaquim Gonçalves, Donald Parnell, Alejandro Bullón or Guillermo Maldonado is supernatural, the bible logic orders that he be asked: " sir, who are you? Does the Bible say that you will do what you are doing? Did the Bible announce you like John the Baptist? Does the Bible say that the time in which we are living a man of your race will rise in this generation to do what you are doing? Has GOD called and commissioned you like Moses, Paul or one of the prophets? ... We see all your miracles, your anointings, your knowledge but who are you? Tell us who you are! ". They are sorcerers and magicians under Joel 2:28 and 1 Co.2:4-5. [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]. 24 Who are you sir? You, Benedict XVI, … You, presidents of churches, … You, reverends, bishop, … You, anointed prophets, … You who open churches , missions and ministries, who are you? You, in big hairy tuxedos, you whose good scent before men is stinking before God like the odour of hairy goats in Daniel 8, who are you? You whose posters and photographs are strewn on walls, who are you? WHO ARE YOU SIRS? Answer, sirs! Who are you? 25 Tell us who you are so that we can give an answer to those who will ask us . Are you Matthew 25:6 made flesh? Are you the Christ? Are you the prophet? Are you the light of the world? Are you the one who has got the keys of the Kingdom today? ... So who are you Sir? Tell us who you are? ... O God! Thank You and the honour be to You, to the ages of the ages [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]. 26 Let’s stand up in a spirit of prayer … If you are here for the first or second or even the third time and you have not yet accepted this Message, raise simply your hand to say that you accept It now!... 27 And this evening, after you have listened to this preaching, if you believe that I am the prophet who has to come for our generation according to Matthew 25: 6 raise your hand and ask whatever you want grounded on this faith.