Why Were the Graves of So Many Jewish GIs Marked by a Cross?
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Five unique people share the challenges, faith, and resilience it took to embrace a new identity, highlighting the spiritual fulfillment they found along the way.
It reminds me of the teaching of the Chida, who notes that the Talmudic language refers to a convert as “a convert who converted.” This phrasing suggests that such a person was already a Jew before the act of conversion. The conversion itself is simply the expression of what they already were. The Chida explains that the soul of every convert stood at Sinai, together with all Jewish souls.
To all the participants in the video: thank you for strengthening and inspiring us. We are deeply honored that you chose to join our people,
Thank you. As a rabbi, I found this truly eye-opening. It helped me better understand the experience of those who have converted—that in many ways, Judaism chooses them more than they choose Judaism. This insight will guide me to be more sensitive of their journey.
A convert to Judaism is the greatest honor for the Jewish community.
what an inspiratio! im lucky to be your sister!
Amen. What a beautiful interview. I wish this interview could reach the entire Jewish population. I can understand people being curious,but it's those insensitive moments that make you feel uncomfortable.
Baruch Hashem, I am an observant Jew. I strive to learn every day. I feel blessed to live in a warm community. Like the host said,it's a Return. Like I explain to my toddler grandchildren when they see me davening at home during the week,that I have the privilege to connect with ha'kodish,Baruch hu on a daily basis. All we ask for is to be embraced and respected for the choice we made, to Return.
I have a handwritten letter to me from David Ben-Gurion (4/28/1964). I am American. The topic? Would the children of a converted Jewish woman be considered Jewish in Israel? His answer was beautiful. ANU Museum has called it a foundational document for Israel. This is a teaser note because I will be donating it soon to BGU with the caveat that it be exhibited at Museums inside and outside of Israel. Am Israel Chai!
The one person was sooo right when he said: I am not a convert, I am a person who converted, and I am a Jew! Am Yisrael Chai!
Thank you for this beautiful, enlightening video. All of these people are brave, heroic and I am happy to know them as part of my "mishpochah"!
True converts strengthen the faith of born Jews - this is why we have a whole portion of the Torah called Jethro (father-in-law of Moses). The reason, but not a justification for suspicion, are interactions with insincere converts e.g. many (but certainly not all) Russian brought to Israel by the Jewish Agency who convert to get citizenship with no intention of living Jewishly. We also, sadly, have missionaries that try to infiltrate Jewish communities posing as converts. I feel sorry for genuine converts who experience hostility because some suspect them of being one of those "bad apples" in the barrel. But to put it in perspective, easily identifiable chassidic Jews can also face hostility because a few people who dress in the same way behave badly.
Yet, loving the convert is a Torah obligation, regardless of insincere converts from Russia & infiltrating missionaries. How does being suspicious help in the case of an insincere convert? Just be on guard, speak to the local rav. Is it okay tell others that you suspect a Russian is a convert & not sincere? I recently had such a student & I did my best to bring him closer to Judaism. In the end, where their Jewish most matters is at the rabbinate when they go to get married or after 120 years. How common are missionaries posing as Jews that you have to worry about them?
Ra’anan: Truthfully, most do not “love the enemy within your gates,” or “love the convert,” or “love one another.”
Russia infiltration? First of all, Russia was partitioned. Prussia-Poland. Austria-Poland. East Prussia-Poland. Prussia did not agree with Nazi Germany. Missionaries posing as Jews? Ridiculous.
LE CHAMBON SUR? This is French meaning of people who saved Jewish lives and are called “among the righteous.”
I started the conversion when I was a freshman in college . I went searching for my religion. I connected to it almost immediately. In 1967 I finished my conversion two months before I married my conservative Jewish husband.
I think our Jewish life was my destiny.
We were happily married for fifty years until my husband’s death. We raised four Jewish children and have six Jewish grandchildren.
Judaism is always where I always feel at home .
Thank you for this video about conversion. Many people are welcoming, but some people do not take converts seriously. They think, for example, I just converted to get married or that somehow I am not really Jewish. I have had some heartbreaking experiences. Sometimes people say the stupidest and most hurtful things, perhaps without even realizing it. I never really feel completely welcome or comfortable. It can be lonely too, not having any family support. I just keep reminding myself that i am here because of Hashem. In the end, I only answer to Hashem.
Jews who hurt other Jews with hurtful words have transgressed the prohibition of ona-at devarim. Not being familiar with with the dinim involved is not an excuse, it's negligence.
Welcome, we love you. After all you CHOSE to be one of us. We were justly born to it!!
Thank you so much for telling this. As a convert or returning was the greatest gift that I gave myself. My community has always welcomed me but yes sometimes there is that doubt of really not belonging. In my heart this is where I have always meant to be.
Thank you so much for this!
Thank you for taking the time to put this together. As a south African Indian woman, who joined the faith many years ago, or returned as you put it, you expressed a lot of how I feel and what I have experienced. It's a pity that people have in mind what a Jew should look like instead of just approaching everyone with an open mind and heart
Come to ISRAEL! You'd blend right in!!! Especially in JERUSALEM!!!
I am so proud that you are a part of our nation
I never understand why some converts, like those in this video, are perturbed by others' curiosity about their story. Halachically, we are not supposed to remind converts in any way about their conversion, but they should sympathize with the fact that they are very interesting to us, in a good way. Being curious is not a bad thing.
It can be similar to people asking Baalei Tshuva (those Jews who grew up not practicing Judaism and came back) about their background: Is your family watching TV on Shabbat, driving etc., Those questions are many times crossing the personal boundaries and people are uncomfortable being asked.
Also, a transgression of ona-at devarim (a sub-category of lashon hara'). We have both friends who weren't born Jewish (but are now) & others who weren't born to religious families. We NEVER tell others about. The Chafetz Chayim says saying this about a ba'al teshuva is lashon hara', though I frequently hear people in certain circles doing so repeatedly. Why BENEFIT is there in this? I don't understand why he didn't apply this to this to those who've converted when they are far more vulnerable.
I don't see how this would be crossing boundaries. I was raised in a semi-observant home, and I am slightly more observant now. I would take no issue to being asked what kind of Jewish home did I grow up in. What's to be sensitive about? The narrator of this video is so typically Millennial/Gen-Z, and she's so politically correct/overly-sensitive. I find that aspect extremely annoying.
Why do you think everyone has the same feelings as you? Can you appreciate that different people experience life differently than you? Can you understand that if you force, say, an introvert on stage in front of a lot of people that could traumatize them? Nor is conversion comparable to someone becoming stronger in observant. Nor does it matter how YOU view it, it's how the person who converted views it. You're playing with fire.
You really don't have to understand it. If it's the reality, then you'd better be very careful that you don't transgress the extremely serious prohibition of hurtful words, a subcategory of lashon hara'. WE have an obligation not remind converts of their past, THEY don't have an obligation to satisfy your curiosity. Being curious is a VERY BAD THING if it hurts others. Imagine me probe intimate details about you that make you feel vulnerable. Would my curiosity be a justification for such an interrogation? There was once a midget who lived in Benai Beraq who moved to a different town because he was sick of people picking him up & waving him to make the blessing meshanei et haberiyot, said upon seeing a person with very unusual feature. DON'T BE THAT TYPE OF "LIFTER!"
Wow this was very interesting. I always found that someone who converts knows more about the religion than we who are born into it as they have studied it and we just take it for granted.
Thank you for sharing. All of you are amazing! and in Hashem's eyes, you are even higher than a jewish born person as you chose to become jewish. Secondly, if someone asks about your lineage? or where you come from, it is not at all (I think) because you are not accepted jewish, but, because, a jewish person might find it interesting to hear your story... inspiring truthfully. I love hearing inspiring stories which make people choose certain paths, it is not at all because one might question you being jewish, but, more about embracing you and wanting to hear your lovely story. It helps to connect. There are many jewish born people who are of colour.. the Ethiopians, the Yeminites...if one asks a lineage, it is more about getting to know you..(I feel).
What if I asked you about your mother's drinking problem to be inspired? What about how your parents recovered after your father's cheating? Or your adoption? Or how you were abused as a child? Tell me, it will connect us! I want to get to know you!!!
These are all young people. Today, Judaism is a religion. When I converted 40 years ago at the age of 19, the world was very different. The Jews were a club and outsiders were not welcome. It is interesting we are never asked to tell our stories. Joining the Jewish people is something I wanted from the time I was in second grade, and the best thing I have ever done. It was not easy. Ironically, I was accepted in Lakewood and treated like I was little more than human garbage by the rabbi in Richmond, Virginia. Along the way, I have studied in the U.S. and Israel. I have met people who have converted from every country and background. They are all amazing. I have met people from Iran (Iran/German), Tunisian and "Palestinian", South America, India and Europe, Simply amazing.
Life is a test for us, and even in Judaism, one is tested.. we are all working on ourselves, and conquering our animal soul, that is why we are here in this world to do Tikkun for our souls. There are good and bad people within the jewish world, sadly...and even Rabbi's who might not behave well, as you encountered. I too had a Rabbi not treat me well.. this is his test, and my test was to stay on the good path, and not allow a badly behaved person take me away from my connection with Hashem, after all a Rabbi and other jewish people are all working on their Tikkun and conquering the Yeitzer Hara, some fall.. and some do not.. Warmest wishes to you...
This was so deeply meaningful! Listing to the various perspectives made me realize again that while we are inherently so different as humans, as Jews, we share a profound background and destiny. Ko HaKavod to this group for so openly sharing your path. Todah Rabah, ve'chol tuv!
i,m happy for them but i disagree with them when they say people profiling them I do believe its an all-out lie listen to them talking using gang language like cool this cool that
Talking "gang language" invalidates a conversion? Is that a halakha? David, you need to get a rabbi to teach URGENTLY! I hear gang language every day amongst charedi high school boys in Jerusalem. Do you think that makes them non-Jews?
Beautiful, thank you for sharing.
Thank you, that was beautiful.
Everyone is welcome to convert to Judaism --as long as they're not Palestinian: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestinian-converted-judaism-shot-dead-by-israel-reservist
Not true. Many Arabs including "Palestinians" have joined the Jewish people.
I think you do not have the full story, and to be fair, the reservist, I am sure did not do it on purpose.. sadly, it sounds like a huge mistake from fear.. very sad indeed
JEFF! Your link SUPPORTS the Palestinian convert who was accidentally killed. Haman TRIED to murder every Jew in the world, but was executed himself with 10 of his sons, HOWEVER, the Talmud says that SOME of his sons learn Torah in Benai Beraq! Rebbi Meir was descended from the Roman non-Jew Nero. The Romans destroyed the 2nd Temple & exiled the Jewish People for 2,000 years. Do you think the holy tanna Rebbi Meir wasn't Jewish because he descended from our enemies? Same question with the last of our prophets, 'Ovadiyah, a Roman convert. What about a Jew with a Palestinian father, is he also a non-Jew to you? Researcher Tsvi Misinai has found evidence that MANY "Palestinians" in Israel are descended from Jews & urges them to return. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsvi_Misinai
Thank you. I have always wondered why more people do not convert to Judaism.
The Talmud (M. 'Avodah Zarah 3b) brings a criticism of Babylonian gentiles who witnessed Jews sleeping in the streets to learn Torah for a month after the harvest twice a year, yet weren't inspired to convert. The criticism was made by the ministering angels, so you're in good company!
This is in the biblical, “New Testament,” who witnessed Jewish people learning Torah, “into the next day” of the Hebrew holy day studying all day and evening.
It Isn’t rabbinical, mandatory. It was obligatory, loving kindness. Two different schools of thought of “how to teach.”
That is the criticism.
Welcome our brothers and sisters, may Hashem bless you and keep you.
This is a wonderful clip... I think that the easiest way to avoid 'annoying / humiliating' questions to simply assume that the "new man / woman / family" that just came in -- is a new face who just moved to town and greet that man / woman / family the same way that you greet ANY stranger who has just moved in... After all, that "new person" is NO DIFFERENT from any other Jewish Stranger that you may meet....
I think that the only time something might come out is asking about a "minhag" or where there are "options" in Halacha. E.g., do you daven s'fard or ashkenaz? Keep chalav yisrael? Who is your Posek? These are NOT specific to converts but that is when the person might reveal being a convert.
Amazing! Eye opening! Beautifully and delicately produced. Should be a must save for every Jew.
In Uganda when you become part of a synagogue the members become a family for 20 years now we have a great family.
We are asked several question even.locally if a black.person is considered a Jew. We have 22 Jewish Communities currently in Uganda.
Baruch HaShem for these souls and their explanations resonates with my Jewish Community in Uganda
Such a moving idea that even for a convert it isn’t really a choice.
Actually I think it is a choice just some made it before being born. Others decided to be born differently and work towards their Judaism consciously - a very brave choice. Similarly with Ba’alei Tshuva.
Before being born, we choose our parents & our future situation, confident that will obey the Torah in that situation. HOWEVER, many fail. Such failures would equally apply to NOT returning, despite our choice before being born.
I had NO CHOICE!!’ My rabbi kept saying then don’t convert. My whole Havurah said I could be Jewish with them. And not on the outside.
I was afraid of antisemitism and I did NOT want to be a minority. After several years my pain of not being Jewish was greater than my fear of antisemitism. I told him then that I was converting against my will.
I had NO CHOICE.
I converted in my 50s. All my children were grown. So I am the ONLY Jew in my family but they are COMPLETELY supportive.
One year Xmas and Hanukkah were at the same time. When we got to my son’s place the whole front was Xmas decorations. When we went I was surprised to see that the whole back was decorated for Hanukkah.
I am a Jew by Choice. I have been a Jew for over 30 years. I LOVE ❤️ BEING A JEW!!
WOW!!! "I HAD NO CHOICE!!!" I once read in a chassidic piece that in such a case your Jewish soul hovered over you, "pressuring" you until you could no longer bear it & converted, causing your Jewish soul to unite with your body.