Re: [Pan-users] Re: OT: freedomware vs... Was: Building Panon Windows?

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:26:33 am Joe Zeff wrote:
> On 03/09/2010 03:39 AM, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> >   even if you convert,
> > which most rabbis don't allow and even those who do make it very
> > difficult, you'll always be a Jew by conversion and not a "real"
> > Jew.
>
> In general, rabbis discourage conversion and make it hard because
> we're not a proselytizing religion, and being a properly observant
> Jew is not exactly easy.  That being said, a convert is just as much
> a Jew as one who was born to it.  In fact, their Hebrew name is
> ben/bas Abraham, son or daughter of Abraham, not to show they're a
> convert, but to tie them into our heritage.  You, as a gentile may
> not consider them "real" Jews, but we do.

I hate to tell somebody they're wrong about their own religion... oh who 
am I kidding, I love it! *wink*

Cohens are prohibited from marrying converts, making converts 
second-class Jews:
http://judaism.about.com/od/jewishweddingsmarriage/f/cohen_convt.htm

"My mother converted to Judaism for the wrong intentions [...] I need to 
know if I am really Jewish?"
http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_o/bl_simmons_conversionreal.htm

And converts get a special name, different from everyone else, singling 
them out as a group and making sure that in religious ritual everyone 
knows that they're a convert.

Of course, as one of my Jewish friends says, if you gather three Rabbis 
in a room together and ask them what the weather is like outside, 
you'll get four different opinions. I have absolutely no doubt that you 
will be able to find other authorities who disagree with the above, so 
how about if we just say that treatment of converts varies?



-- 
Steven D'Aprano