Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Get A Better Grasp Of What It Means To Achieve A Proper Jewish Conversion

By Rabbi Celso Cukierkorn


The question to convert or not, starts off when a person has interest in another religion. There can be a number of different reasons for this, one of them being for relationship purposes, where a person has the desire to convert the whole family, to people looking to get a spiritual boost and then start to study Judaism. There are many people who look into Jewish conversion, as it is a subject of great interests.



An interest in this religion can come from literature, attending a religious ceremony with a friend, having interested family members, renting a video and also at times it can be heard at a lecture. The reason for interest in converting to a religion does not matter; it always starts with exploring the particular religion. It can at times start out as simple curiosity.

There are a millions of people around the world who have decided to follow this religion. The United States, Israel and the Soviet Union are the most known countries that have quite a lot of followers.

Monotheism is one of the beliefs which the Jewish religion is based on, with the meaning to believe in one God. A lot of religions got their roots from Judaism. Jews are not likely to approve of people who have converted, unless the person wanting to convert can prove that they are loyal and true to followers.

According to this religion, God made a deal with Abraham, which is called a covenant. Followers believe themselves to be descendants of Abraham. The agreement between God and Abraham would mean that they will receive affection and protection as long as they abide by the rules of the religion.

The Jews have a belief that a Messiah, meaning the anointed one, will come to earth and gather all the Jewish people so that they can be lead under a Kingdom of God on earth. Synagogues are congregations that mostly functions independent of others.

Most Jewish congregations have a spiritual leader known as a rabbi. This person is in charge of running his own religious community. Unlike other religions, Judaism does not have only one international spiritual leader, like the pope for instance. Universities are set up all over the world to educate and help rabbis. The Jewish law includes a lot of specific traditions, rules and beliefs that have to be followed, and each congregation also has its own ways.

Children can also undergo a Jewish conversion, as in some families where the mother is not of the religion but the father is, the child will be considered a Jew and will engage in activities that relate to Judaism, although some congregations will not redeem the child as legally Jewish. Depending on the rules and laws of the specific congregation, parents of these children can convert them if they wish to do so. Some can convert by having a rabbi perform a naming ceremony and others will have to go through more physical measures such as circumcision.




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