Conversion

While the early Reform movement presented selected universal, liberal moral teachings as the core of Judaism, the contemporary Reform movement is rediscovering many particularistic Jewish practices.

Orthodoxy maintains a strict legal approach to conversion, while Conservative Judaism has responded pragmatically rather than ideologically.

Excerpts from the Reform Movement's Guidelines for Working with Prospective Converts

Excerpts from June 2001 Conference

Conversion requires such a big life change that the motivations must be genuine and psychologically well grounded.

Israel's responsibilities toward converts begin with equal protection, but ultimately require the full integration of the convert into the family of Israel.

Male converts to Judaism are traditionally required to undergo circumcision or, if already circumcised, a ritual removal of a single drop of blood.

This legal opinion from the Masorti (Conservative) movement in Israel takes the lenient opinion that a convert should not explicitly reject any Jewish law.

Rabbi Uziel holds that as long as the judges first attempt to break off a projected marriage to a non-Jew, they are obligated to convert the non-Jew, even if the motivation is marriage.

For the Israelites, acceptance of the covenant was twofold: identification with the people through circumcision in Egypt and acceptance of God at Sinai.

Kabbalat ol ha-mitzvot (acceptance of the commandments) combines faith and action with an intent to evolve as a practicing Jew.

Plan ahead to enhance the spirituality of the immersion experience; a mikveh or mikvah, a ritual bath, tends more toward the functional than the spiritual.