- Clergy
- Shabbat
The Rabbis taught: When someone nowadays presents himself for conversion, we say to him:
“Why do you wish to convert? Are you not aware that nowadays Israelites are careworn, stressed, despised, harassed and persecuted?”
(Babylonian Talmud, Yevamot 47a)
It breaks my heart to say that almost two thousand years later, we are still asking the same question. Countless centuries after this passage was written in the Talmud, we are still obliged to ask, “Are you sure you want to be part of the Jewish people? Are you aware of the virulent antisemitism that you may encounter? Do you understand that sometimes being Jewish is actually dangerous?”
We were sorrowfully reminded of this ugly truth two days ago when Sarah Milgrom, 26 and Yaron Lischinsky, 30, two young Jewish diplomats, who were attending a conference for bridge-building in the Middle East, were tragically murdered in cold blood in front of the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.
We are horrified, devastated and if we’re really being honest, exhausted. Really? Again? How much more can we take? Will this Jew-hate, this sickening, antisemitic virus ever end?
Sadly, not anytime in the near future. According to the most recent report from the Anti-Defamation League, there were close to 10,000 antisemitic incidents across the United States in 2024, the highest number on record. This includes 1694 incidents of harassment, vandalism and assault on college campuses, 5,000 anti-Israel rallies, and hundreds of bomb threats sent to synagogues and Jewish institutions. The states with the highest levels of incidents were New York (1,437) and California (1,344).
My grandparents fled Belarus to America to escape the pogroms. My father fought in World War II and believed that this was the greatest and safest place on earth for Jews. I grew up believing that antisemitism was a primitive relic of past and that the adage, “Never Again” would always hold true.
And yet here we are.
When you convert to Judaism you have to face a Beit Din, a rabbinical court where the potential convert is asked numerous questions, including that most important question mentioned above.
In the countless times I’ve been part of a court, this is what they almost always say:
“I know about it and I don’t care. It doesn’t scare me. In fact, it makes me want to be Jewish even more.”
“Really?” I wonder. “With that all that hate and violence out there, you still want to be Jewish? Why?”
Here are some of their answers:
Because of the importance of family and community, the emphasis on repairing the world and fighting for justice, and the commandment to remember the stranger. Because of the beauty of Shabbat, and the freedom story of Passover, and the power of Yom Kippur and the gift of forgiveness. Because of the emphasis on education, the obligation to do good deeds, and the mandate to be a light unto the nations. Because Judaism is concerned with how we live in this world, not in the next. And because Judaism sees all human beings as valuable and created in the image of God. Because Judaism speaks to me like nothing else.
Usually after that, I get all teary-eyed.
Even though we may know these things, when we hear it from someone on the outside looking in, we can’t help but be moved and strengthened. We can’t help but be reminded of who we are, what we stand for and why it’s worth fighting to preserve.
And when we remember who we are, we can’t help but be filled with resolve and pride and conviction. We will not bow out. We will not back down. We will not disappear.
Even in the darkest and most frightening of times, to be Jewish is a gift and blessing. It is a light that has guided us for generations and that we will never allow to burn out. The haters, the destroyers, the killers will never win and never defeat us. In the end, they are the ones who will disappear. Three thousand years of history have proven that.
Shabbat Shalom,
Susan