Does Progressive Judaism have a view on matters like Abortion, Euthenasia and Genetic Engineering?

1. I am a bit confused.  Does Progressive Judaism have a communal view on abortion, euthanasia and genetic engineering? 
2. Rabbi Jonathan responds: The Progressive Jewish approach gives permission for people to believe and act as they think God wants them to - to make EDUCATED choices for themselves.  There is no particular position on these complex matters (or any other non-ethical ones) though we would tend to the liberal end).  So on abortion, many of my colleagues would be entirely permissive - women's right etc.  On this I disagree.  Of course it is a matter of a life, so it becomes 'ethical' - but when is a life a life?  And when is it a viable life?  Tradition says that if the foetus is threatening the life of the mother, it can be killed to save her life (it is considered as a 'rodef' or persuer).  But once it's head has emerged, it is a full human being and cannot then be killed as it has full 'human rights'.  On the other hand, reflecting pragmatic realities of times past, a baby who dies in its first month does not have a full burial as it has not yet proved itself to be 'viable'.  I look elsewhere for guidance: Noting that there is a clear division in the US between Pro-Life and Pro-Choice, I find the Torah's instruction 'Choose Life'  (Deut 30:19) to be useful - it is the mother's choice - but the choice should be for life (whether that means the mother's quality of life or the possibilities for the baby). I see this as a 'middle way of moderation'.  On euthenasia, the tradition is very nuanced.  Traditionalists would claim that only God gives life and only God can take it.  I reject the idea that God takes life. God does not kill us,  Instead I feel God gives us all finite life, and when we die, God is waiting to 'receive us back'.  Even in ancient times there are stories of letting people die when it is time, and not extending their lives unnaturally (eg by making loud noises or putting salt on their tongue).  Today, medical practices have the ability to keep people alive long after they may have had enough and wish to die.  And so I have been supporting the Assisted Dying legislation which has now come into law in Victoria and last month in Western Australia.  On Genetic Engineering, the basic approach would be to develop any medical approach which helps healing and quality of life, as long as it is proven not to be harmful.  In some ways it is a high tech extension of plant and animal husbandry.  Of course it needs rigorous safeguards and I beleiev that these are generally in place in Western research and academia.  China, Russia etc are different questions! 

Is circumcision necessary for Progressive Jews and conversions?

1. Why does Progressive Judaism insist on circumcision, and particularly for adult conversions?
2. Rabbi Jonathan responds: Originally, the leaders of 'Liberale' in Germany felt it was not necessary - what has foreskin got to do with God? But the weight of Jewish tradition insisted, and 'what would teh orthodox say' is a powerful concern about legitimacy, so it was never abolished.  However I would say we do not always insist on it so strictly.  I suspect that in some parts (eg US) it probably goes by the way in some cases, and even in Australia, if someone put a cogent case, I'd be swayed by it (though the decision would be made by the Bet Din - Jewish Court of three people).  Also we will waive it for good medical reasons (and that includes psychological).  Finally, I would argue that if we treat girls and boys the same, and a girl and woman can be a perfectly good Jew without any physical alteration, then why can't a man?  But at the end of the day, we are balancing emotion, feeling, logic and tradition. Circumcision is biblically introduced (starting with Abraham) and described as 'a sign of the Covenant between God and 'man'). It's a tough one! 

Is the Purim Story (Scroll Of Esther) True History?

What makes you so confident that the Purim story of Esther is fictional?  It  seems it would be comparable to so many other extreme stories in the Bible? (This has always been my favourite story!) 

Rabbi Jonathan responds:

There is no evidence that the Jews of Persia were attacked, or that there was a Jewish Queen.  The story was a well-known Persian one, but recast with Esther and Mordechai as the heroes.  These names were not Jewish ones, but are allusions to the main persian Gods, Ishtar and Marduk.  I think the message is that these were great heroes, but NOT GODS.  Only the invisible God is God (and so invisible that it is only alluded to: 'help will come from another quarter' and not even mentioned in the story - one of teh reasons we dress up and disguise our identities).    But though it is not TRUE, there are KEY TRUTHS: In every generation, those will arise who hate and try to kill Jews for no good reason!  This truth makes it quite an adult festival even though everyone thinks it is for kids

​Where does Progressive Judaism view Torah as coming from if not given by God?

And why is this so important?

Progressive Judaism regards the Torah as unique but written by many HUMAN hands rather than handed down 'DIRECTLY FROM GOD' to Moses (as the orthodox believe).  

This is the 'fundamental' difference between us - and it is a big one! We don't accept that God says 'stone to death your rebellious sons' or 'burn your daughter in fire if she charges someone for sex' or 'kill the Canaanites when you enter the land'.  We don't find prohibition about driving cars or turning lights on in the Torah!  We might understand how, in their time, these things got in - but they are not the fingerprint of a caring, loving, kind, forgiving God!

On Conversion, Marriage and Status of Children

Hello,
My name is Deborah, I am Jewish, however my partner who I have been going
out with for 8 years is not. The option of him converting has been discussed
over the last few years. I think his conversion needs to be done through a
liberal/progressive movement though, as we have looked into and spoken to a
orthadox rabbi and it's honestly just too hard.

My question is, if my partner converts through a liberal/progressive shul (synagogue) I
am aware we would ultimately end up getting married by a liberal/progressive
rabbi. Therefore, is our marriage considered Jewish? And when we ultimately
have children and we gave them bar/bat-mitzvahs do they take on the
liberal/progressive identity or would they still be considered orthadox
because of me no matter where they were given bar/bat-mitzvahs and no matter
where we got married?

Please let me know.
Many thanks.
Deborah

-------------------------------------------

Rabbi Jonathan responds:

Many thanks for your message and honesty, Deborah.

The bottom line is what you want conversion for?

If your partner is not interested in converting to Judaism, we can't convert him.  If he (and you) wish to be orthodox, we're not the right address for you.

If you both want to have a meaningful Jewish life that believes in welcoming sincere converts without making it too difficult, then we may be the right place.

However you have given no information as to where you are located.  To convert you have to be able to be part of a Jewish community.

Conversion takes a minimum of a year - realistically it usually takes more like two - and includes circumcision (for males) and mikveh (ritual immersion), which concludes the process.

I would point out, though, that we run an Introduction to Judaism course (which can be done on-line), which is the 'academic' side of the Conversion course.  Your partner (or you both) would be welcome to undertake this, and would both then know and understand more about Judaism and our perspectives, and would be better equipped to understand Judaism, discuss with family, raise children in a Jewish home, and know whether or not he wished to continue to conversion at some point.  You'll find details here:

http://pjv.org.au/education/introduction-judaism-online

Regarding your wedding questions:

The Progressive Movement in Australia, New Zealand and Asia only does marriage between two Jews.

If your partner converted with us, he would sadly not be accepted as Jewish in the eyes of most orthodox, and therefore you would not be able to get married in an orthodox synagogue.

However, since the orthodox observe the matrilineal rule, if the mother is accepted as Jewish by the orthodox, then so are the children.  Therefore, from the narrow point of view of the Jewish status of the children, it makes no difference whether your partner does not convert, or converts through the Progressive movement, or converts through the orthodox system.

Wanting a 'Chuppah' (a Jewish wedding under the canopy) is certainly not a good enough reason to convert and take on an entire framework and world view of belief and practice.  However, if a couple are both born Jewish, or if one converts through our Bet Din (Jewish court), then of course we'd be delighted to conduct a Chuppah.  A past orthodox Chief Rabbi of Great Britain and the Commonwealth, Rabbi Jakobovitz, ruled that if a couple could have been married by the orthodox, then the children are counted as Jews, whether they are married in a Progressive or orthodox ceremony.   

Therefore, they could if you chose celebrate Bar and Bat Mitzvah in orthodox synagogues (though your husband would not be able to be involved, whereas in a Progressive congregation they could).

I hope this is helpful.

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any further questions, or to make an appointment to come together to chat about it all, without obligation of course!  And if you might be interested, why not come along to a service or two to see if you feel comfortable with our lovely, friendly community in East Kew?

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Jonathan 

Do you welcome converts - and how should conversion students keep kosher?

Dear Rabbi,

I wonder about how Progressive and Reform Judaism handles potential converts, and kosher eating. Do converts have any dietary guidelines or commitments to hold to?

Thanks for your questions.

In terms of our approach to potential converts, we welcome them and support them as best we can, depending on where they are geographically  - in fact we had a Bet Din (Jewish Court) today in Melbourne and welcomed an excellent person who I'm sure is already a brilliant asset to the community and will become even more so.  He has been interested in Judaism since he was seven, and moved from rural Australia to Sydney to become part of a community and complete his conversion.  He understands more about God, Judaism and Progressive Judaism (and himself) than many born Jews, I have no doubt at all, and this is quite often the way!

Your question about kashrut is apposite.  The answer is no, we don't currently have particular expectations and standards, because we believe in 'Educated choice'.  However I believe there is a fundamental flaw with this concept as it is (as, in fact, I am increasingly thinking about democracy!).  The key word is 'Educated' and how do we get people to have the time, interest, ability and knowledge to make 'Educated Choices' for themselves (and all the more so when it affects others, or society, as well)?

I feel more and more that we should have a 'Progressive Shulchan Aruch' (Guide to Jewish practice) so that there are clear suggestions, expectations and a framework, developed and used by long term, knowledgeable educated Jews, which are 'Guidelines' (not laws).  By following these, candidates would have a good idea of what many Progressive Jews do (shop, cook, eat etc), or how they celebrate Shabbat and what they do and don't do... Having tried to adopt and live by these guidelines over some time, and during their studies, they may in due course decide after study and consideration that they want to modify their practice one way or other, but that would be in a more 'educated' setting, and the revised choices therefore more valid and legitimate, and they would be able to explain to themselves and others why they have chosen as they have.  

ECO-KASHRUT

So having said that, let me give you some basic information about my own practices and that of my family, but let me first mention 'Eco-kashrut or kosher'.  If one intention of kashrut is to minimse animal cruelty and exploitation (and this is in line with the established principle of tz'ar ba'alei chayim - minimising pain to animals), then there are various new issues not directly addressed by traditional kashrut - factory farming, raising veal in crates, hormones and artificial feedstuffs, and extending to cruel practices such as inversion pens for easier kosher slaughtering, employing illegal workers etc. Another related issue is environmental - emissions, both from raising meat and 'food miles', ie bringing food from long distances, unnecessary packaging, destruction of rainforests etc. Eco-kosher would therefore mean avoiding factory farmed eggs, chickens and other animals, veal, caution with the sourcing of milk and dairy products and palm oils, buying local and in season, looking for less packaging, less processed foods, and probably less food - ie smaller, healthier portions.  We say 'God provides sufficient food for all' ('noten lechem l'chol basar' in Birkat hamazon, grace after the meal), but the truth is that the developed world uses (and wastes) a hugely disproportionate amount, leaving many millions hungry or starving.  All of the above are, or should be, Jewish and kashrut issues. Judaism is about putting 'prayer into practice'! 

HOW WE KEEP KASHRUT

So, my family and I are vegetarian.  We also only eat free-range eggs (and we'd love to have our own chickens!).  We are aware of the problems in industrial milk and dairy food production, but have not (yet) discovered an easy answer to that, short of having or knowing a cow and butter/cheese maker! We try not to eat cheese with animal rennet (made from enzymes from an animal stomach), though we don't exclusively buy vegetarian cheese etc.  It is however much easier to buy foods with the vegetarian symbol on them.   

We never ate prohibited foods (pork products, or rabbi, camel, kangaroo, dog etc - kosher animals need to both chew the cud and have cloven hooves), or shellfish, eel or shark (deceitfully known as 'flake' here in Australia and common as fish and chips!) - kosher sea animals should have both fins and scales.  

When we ate meat, we tried not to eat foods cooked with meat and milk together, or the two in the same meal - but we might say grace after meals after the main course, go to sit in the lounge and then have a milk coffee or an ice cream, having deliberately made it a 'different meal'!

We have never had separate crockery or cutlery.  We believe that washing up, or the dishwasher, cleans any meaty or milk bits away - and even if it doesn't, that was the intention!  But of course we'll explain our practices to guests who might be concerned - and if necessary we'll get disposable (paper or bamboo leaf) plates (still bad for the environment), etc.

Generally all fruit and vegetables are kosher (parev, meaning neutral - they can be eaten with either meat or dairy), although technically even some of them are not kosher - for example if they are grown in Israel during the sabbatical year!  There was a suggestion that one shouldn't drink orange juice unless it had a hechsher - kosher seal - because Israel produces much citrus and some of it may have been frozen and made its way - perhaps years later - into any orange juices ('produce of more than one country')!  These complications do not worry us - it is the intent that counts, and anyway, there is a handy law called 'shishim' which basically says that if by accident there is a small part (less than a sixtieth) of a prohibited product in what you eat, that is fine - it is still kosher!    

Whatever the rules are for home, we apply them as far as possible when out as well.  It seems to me to be inconsistent to have one rule for home and another out! 

And we DO keep kashrut.  But if someone says do we, depending on the intent of the question, we'd say yes, but to our own understanding.  If we are going to them or they to us, or we're going out to eat together, of course we'd explain as necessary.

Sometimes people say 'that's crazy - either you do or you don't'.  But that is their problem - they are wrong.  The rules of kashrut are many and derive from nay different parts of Torah - and of course later tradition: do not eat blood, do not eat these animals or those, do not seethe a kid in its mother's milk, do not eat the cow and her calf together, shoo the mother bird away before eating the eggs, do not eat tithed food, do not eat food grown during the sabbatical year....  

There is actually no one agreed set of laws for kashrut.  On Passover the Ashkenazim (Middle European origin Jews) have quite different rules from the Sephardim (Spanish/Portugese).  And year round, some people wait one hour between milk and meat, while others wait 3 or 6 hours!  Some people determine that some fish are kosher whilst others say they are not!  And then there is 'glatt kosher' or 'super-kosher' - for some people kosher is not kosher enough - and for some groups, even glatt-kosher is not sufficient - only food approved by their own rebbe!

So to conclude, you too can keep kosher, and it's a good idea - but over time and with study and thought, you'll decide just how and what it looks (and tastes!) like.

L'shalom

Rabbi Jonathan

Can you help a non-Aussie?

Hello,

I'm a Canadian living in Asia, nowhere near a non-Orthodox Jewish community, and am highly interested in learning more about (progressive) Judaism in support of a possible conversion in the near to mid-future. It appears you have online Intro classes.

My questions are obvious. Do you take non-Australian tutees residing outside of Australia? Also, are there any significant differences between your presentation of Judaism and that presented by the Reform movement (in Canada, in case that's a significant point)?

Thanks,

Sarah

Hi Sarah,

The basic answer is yes - we certainly welcome students from outside Australia, and Progressive Judaism as taught on our course is a 'close sibling' of US/Canadian Reform (we are all members of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, wupj.org).  The US/Canadian movement covers a spectrum from more traditional to very liberal, and we tend to be towards the more traditional in practice and learning, but more liberal end in terms of beliefs etc.

The more complex answer is that ours is an 'Introduction to Judaism' course.  It would prepare you well to complete conversion in Canada (or with us).  But to convert, it is necessary to have a developing relationship with a congregation, so you can attend shabbat and festival services and become part of a community.  It is very hard to be a Jew on your own - and virtually impossible to convert on your own.

We had an excellent student from deepest New Zealand - she completed the course and attended our December open weekends in Melbourne twice running several years ago.  But she then decided to move to Melbourne six months ago and has become involved with the community and attending several times weekly - and went to the Bet Din (Jewish Court) and was accepted last month.  

I hope this is a useful response. If you have not already done so I would refer you to https:// progressivejudaism.blogspot.com to read my responses to a range of other queries, and to http://pjv.org.au/education/introduction-judaism-online

where you can do two free trial introductory sessions and then get registered and started if you wish.

If you could give me a bit more background about yourself, family/partner, where exactly you are located to see if we have a community in the vicinty etc, it will help me give you better guidance.

Shabbat Shalom (the greeting leading up to shabbat)

Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black

Death - and what comes after

Dear Rabbi Jonathan,

Sadly, my Father passed away recently, after his long illness. As a result, I have been thinking a good deal about what happens when one dies, and I was wondering if you could provide a Jewish perspective on that part of life? I have received the copies of A Judaism for the 21st Century, and the Mishkan T'filah - World Union Edition prayer book from your office. I look forward to begin reading them when I return home in the next week or so.

L'Shalom,

Jane.

Rabbi Jonathan responded (at length - sorry!)

Hi Jane,

Thanks so much for letting me know.  I am sorry to hear about your mother's death and the loss it must be to you - but at the same time it doesn't sound as if her last months were very comfortable, and sometimes there is blessing along with sadness, and especially when the dying person and the family have come to terms with the inevitable and said their goodbyes with love and mutual support.  It is course true that we will all die - and that there are better and worse ways of doing so - but animals, nature - even rocks and mountains, eventually die or wear away (even before we advanced humans so selfishly started helping the process along!) - and that only God is truly Eternal.

You ask for a Jewish perspective on 'that part of life' and I hope you draw some comfort from the following - in Judaism we believe that the soul too is eternal - that in some sense it returns to 'the shelter of God's wing'.

Other than that we have a variety of beliefs - but overall I would say that we don't know what, if anything, is after death, and that our emphasis is on living this life as well and fully as we can.  If we have some concept that we may be judged when we die, we at least know that God will not be unreasonable:  God will not ask me 'Why was I not like Moses?, but 'Why was I not like the Jonathan I had the potential to be?  But, because we don't believe that anyone has actually died and come back (and I don't mean to decry stories of peace, white lights and other 'near death or temporary death experiences), we simply don't know what, if anything, is after life.

Biblical Judaism (say 1500 BCE to 70 CE) seems fairly pragmatic.  Over and over, Torah repeats, our ancestors got old or sick, they lay down, they may have had a chance to call the family together and tell them they loved them - or other home truths - and then they die.  Sometimes the phrase 'gathered to meet their ancestors' is used but in all probability that means that, once their flesh has gone and only bones remain, they are pushed into the collection with their ancestors bones. or gathered into a pot (ossuary) and put with the other pots (and perhaps believing, along with that action, the 'obvious' idea that the 'life force' that animated their body had returned to join the life force that had also animated their ancestors before them).

Rabbinic Judaism (starting say 586 BCE and taking over from Biblical on the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE) had a variety of problems to resolve, and the idea of life after death, familiar from the Egyptian tradition, seemed to address a key challenge - that of reward and punishment. It might seem that God was not always rewarding the observant, as Torah repeatedly promises, or punishing the wicked - but just wait till they died!  Then the virtuous who had lived a life of poverty and illness would be rewarded in perpetuity - whilst the rapacious sinners who seemed to spend their affluent lives by their pools and travelling in luxury to far flung, verdant oases would suffer for ever after they died!

It is true that they taught that life after death was not only the soul but body too, and the idea of a physical resurrection (the literal meaning of 'M'chayei metim') led to burial of bodies facing Jerusalem, so that, at the appropriate time (perhaps the day of Judgment?) they would all travel to Jerusalem where they would emerge alive again. This is also the reason why Judaism has traditionally been opposed to cremation - not only is it disrespectful to the body that has been the container and carrier of the holy (the soul), but that God (who can do anything) can apparently not recreate a person if their 'luz' (cockyx) has been destroyed?  (If one was to argue against cremation for Jews today, I think that the disposal of so many of our people by this means in the Shoah - Holocaust - is a stronger argument, though it should be noted that many Shoah survivors choose to be cremated, so that their bodies are disposed of as were so many of their family members).  Though by no mains 'mainstream', I should also mention the kabbalistic (mystical) belief in 'gilgul' (rolling), transmigration of souls.  Once a person dies, their soul is reborn as a new baby (with the opportunity to cleans it of past sins).  If you look hard enough, you can find many things in 4000 years of tradition!

I believe that just as Biblical Judaism transitioned into Rabbinic Judaism over some hundreds of years as the world and Jewish situation changed (between the destruction of the first Temple and the Babylonian exile in 586 BCE to the destruction of the Second temple by the Romans in 70 CE), so now we are several hundred years into a transition to what we might call 'Autonomous Judaism' which started with the 'Enlightenment' and where Rabbis, if they are to survive at all in the long term, must transition to being teachers and guides and companions on the journey, rather than the 'authorities' of Judaism.  That is the way I view myself and my colleagues.  And in regard to your question, what do we believe about 'Life after death', or rather, 'Death and what follows'?  Drawing on the vast and wide range of beliefs I have mentioned (especially now with the help of the internet!), a Jew today can believe what they feel is most genuine and convincing to them.  In the area of belief, as long as it is not viewed as the sole and exclusive truth, a Jew has a lot of freedom and no one to tell them they can't believe - though they can engage in discussion about where the belief stems from, whether it is a fair deduction from Jewish teaching and experience, and whether they wish to invite them into their home and community!  So, for example, Jews who chose to believe in Jesus as God or son of God, distinct from every other human being, are well outside normative Jewish belief, which acknowledges Jesus probably existed as a charismatic Jewish healer living in the Galilee, a child of God like the rest of us.  To return to the question - and my response:  I believe that the (p'shat) straightforward reading of the Torah rings true.  We are born, we live, we die.  Life after death (or life after we have died) is influenced by our life, our children, our friends and families, our good as well as our bad deeds.  The world (and the unknown future) is not the same as if we had never existed.  We will live on in our children, and/or those we have touched and influenced, and their memories of us.  But I feel comfortable that when I finally close my eyes and cease to breathe, I will be in permanent oblivion, more restful than the deepest restful, dreamless and unaware sleep, and safely 'in the shelter of God's wings' (of course this is a metaphor - God does not have wings or any other bodily parts - God is an all embracing invisible spirit permeating the entire creation).     

When a loved one dies, it is traditional to say the words of the Mourner's Kaddish (page 598 in Mishkan T'filah - World Union Edition, and see also the English readings from page 592 leading up to it).  The Mourner's Kaddish (Sanctification) praises God, maker of the universe.  It does not mention the dead - effectively what it is saying is that, even at times of great pain and loss, when are hearts are breaking, we still acknowledge God, who created the rhythms of the universe, including the cycles of nature and life.  

The funeral is done as soon as possible after death (out of respect for the body and the knowledge that living with your loved ones unburied is the most painful time, and practically, because decomposition in hot climates and without cooled morgues commences very quickly.  I am not sure how Christian burials started being done later, but believe that is why it became necessary to have the perfume of flowers accompanying the burial).  For the first week, the mourners traditionally stay at home, and sit on low stools (to be near the earth, either reminding us of our own mortality and/or of being closer to our loved ones) - this is called 'sitting shivah'.  Because they stay at home, but need a 'minyan' (quorum of 10 which makes a minimal community rather than individuals, so sometimes this service in the home is known as the 'Minyan') to say the Mourner's Kaddish, people traditionally come round to hold at least the evening service with them, and bring food so they don't have worry about mundane things like shopping and cooking, and to keep them company and talk about their loved ones. If you don't know what to say, the tradition offers you the formula 'I wish you long life', though I'd be cautious about saying that to an older person who has just lost their lifetime partner.  It may be the last thing they want at that moment.  If you don't know what to say, say nothing.  Just being there is important.  Hold their hand if appropriate, or give a hug. That's just as effective - certainly better than some of the terrible and trite comments like 'God took them early because they were such a wonderful soul'. Let them speak if they want to, or not. 

At the funeral and shivah or minyan, the formula 'Adonai natan vAdonai lakach' is said.  This literally means 'God gives and God takes'. Since I believe that God gives us all finite life, and sometimes terrible natural or human tragedies happen, but God never 'takes' life, I prefer the interpretive translation that you'll find in our prayer book after the prayer for lighting the candle after a funeral (with the prayer for lighting a yahrzeit candle), on page 619, by Rabbi Frank Hellner: 'God has given, and now God has received back'.  

The month from death is known as 'shloshim' (thirty), when they can go out and the mourning is a step less intense, and then the reminder of the year it is a step up again.  

The Mourner's Kaddish prayer is traditionally said for a year after the death, until the first 'Yahrzeit' (Yahrzeit is Yiddish for 'year-time'), anniversary of the death, when the formal mourning is said to be over, and the final step is made back into normal life, albeit without your loved ones physical presence. Some years ago, research showed that this mourning pattern, marking the end of the first week, the first month and the first year, was the optimal way to recover from bereavement. The first and subsequent anniversaries are marked by a 'Yahrzeit candle' which burns for 24 hours or so, on every anniversary, as we particularly remember our loved one, and mention their name and say Kaddish in synagogue.  These traditions can be observed by someone who is Jewish even if their loved one was not, of course.  It is to help the bereaved to manage and come to terms with their grief - and gain some reassurance and support from the idea that both God and their community are still there for them and in some way share their loss - they are not left to grieve on their own. 

I hope that is useful.  It was longer than I anticipated, and I am glad to have had the chance to lay it down in these terms.

Finally, a Progressive version of the tradition is to say to a mourner 'Hamakom y'nakhem et sha'ar ha'avelim' - May God grant you consolation along with all mourners.  

Rabbi Jonathan

I've started - can you help me finish?

Dear Rabbi . I have been in touch with a colleague of yours in the Union for Progressive Judaism as I am living in Australia.

They advised me to get in touch with you re conversion requirements.

I have done an on-line course with an organisation based in the U.S.A but I don't know if it's the real thing.

I haven't been before a bet din (Jewish court) there or been to a mikva (ritual bath), but I have done all the study modules.

Sorry to trouble you but I am anxious to convert in a way that will be acceptable and allow me to become an active member of the Jewish community in Australia.

 

Hi Jessica,

Can you send me the overview of the modules and study that you have done?

Also have a look at the questions I have sent you.  If you feel you can answer these confidently then it would suggest you have done the basic 'academic learning' we require. If not, we'll need to arrange some topping up.  If you'd like to try to answer them as best you can, using work and learning you've done, plus books and internet, then I'm happy to review them to identify what we'd need to do.

In particular it would be useful for you to get an overview of progressive Jewish concepts in our region, for which I recommend our course book 'A Judaism for the Twenty-First Century'  which I adapted from the British Progressive movement. You can get it on line from Amazon or I can get one sent to you for Au$25 plus postage (call the office to order by credit card +61 3 9819 7160).

Before you go before the Bet Din you will also need to take an 'Inventory' for which you'll need to go in to one of our congregations and complete a paper without books, internet etc.  There is no pass mark for this but it does give us an idea of how much you actually have retained in your mind as opposed to in notes - for example what is the Hebrew year; what is the next main festival?

And before this, you'll also need to be able to read hebrew - hebrew gives access to Jewish ritual such as blessings.  This is because the Inventory asks you what certain blessings are for - easy ones, except that it writes them in hebrew, so you won't be able to answer unless you can decipher them!

I assume that you learned to read hebrew as part of the American course, but if not you'll need to find a Hebrew course, or else I have written a self-teaching, self-checking hebrew primer called 'Hebrew from Zero'.   Again you can get this on-line or we can send it to you for Au$20 plus postage, or if you get both books we will waive the postage charges.

Before the Bet Din you will also need a relationship with a congregation, and to have attended regular shabbat services as well as festivals, and in particular the main ones including Passover Seder and High Holydays.  You will need your own copy of our prayer book (Siddur) called Mishkan T'filah - World Union Edition. You will be able to get this from the congregation if you do not yet have one.  It costs $65.

I do apologise that this looks like a list of extra costs - that is not my intention and I have minimised the costs as much as possible.  What I am trying to do is to assist in completing your conversion by a recognised and reputable Bet Din in the shortest appropriate time frame.

You might also be interested to know that we hold a Shabbat weekend in December here in Melbourne, specially aimed for those going through the Introduction to Judaism course.

Please feel free to contact me with further questions. 

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Jonathan