Conversion to Judaism

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Naomi entreating Ruth and Orpah to return to the land of Moab by William Blake, 1795
A portion of the Pentateuch in Hebrew, British Library Oriental MS. 1,497 containing Numbers 6:3-10, dated 12th century. Lines of the Pentateuch alternate with the Targum ascribed to Onkelos (a convert to Judaism)

Conversion to Judaism (Hebrew: גִּיּוּר, romanized: giyur or Hebrew: גֵּרוּת, romanized: gerut) is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization.[1][2] The procedure and requirements for conversion depend on the sponsoring denomination. Furthermore, a conversion done in accordance with one Jewish denomination is not a guarantee of recognition by another denomination.[2] Normally, though not always, the conversions performed by more stringent denominations are recognized by less stringent ones, but not the other way around. A formal conversion is also sometimes undertaken by individuals whose Jewish ancestry is questioned or uncertain, even if they were raised Jewish, but may not actually be considered Jews according to traditional Jewish law.[3]

There are some groups that have adopted Jewish customs and practices. For example, in Russia the Subbotniks have adopted most aspects of Judaism without formal conversion to Judaism.[4] However, if Subbotniks, or anyone without a formal conversion, wish to marry into a traditional Jewish community or immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return, they must have a formal conversion.[5]

According to Israel Bartal, then dean of the humanities faculty of the Hebrew University, "conversions to Judaism had a major impact on Jewish history in the ancient period and in the early Middle Ages".[6]

  1. ^ Craig R. Prentiss (June 2003). Religion and the Creation of Race and Ethnicity: An Introduction. NYU Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-8147-6700-9. "Thus, by converting to Judaism, the religion, a gentile becomes not only a Judahist—one who practices Judaism—but a Jew. Such a one is then part of the Jewish community as much as of the community of Judaism"
  2. ^ a b "Converting to Judaism". BBC. 12 July 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  3. ^ Heilman, Uriel (6 October 2014). "So You Want to Convert to Judaism? It's Not That Easy". Haaretz. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  4. ^ "Russian Saturday!". Molokane.org. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  5. ^ "www.jrtelegraph.com". jrtelegraph.com. 25 November 2008. Archived from the original on 17 August 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  6. ^ Bartal, Israel (6 July 2008). "Inventing an invention". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 3 March 2009. Retrieved 22 October 2009. My response to Sand's arguments is that no historian of the Jewish national movement has ever really believed that the origins of the Jews are ethnically and biologically "pure." Sand applies marginal positions to the entire body of Jewish historiography and, in doing so, denies the existence of the central positions in Jewish historical scholarship. No "nationalist" Jewish historian has ever tried to conceal the well-known fact that conversions to Judaism had a major impact on Jewish history in the ancient period and in the early Middle Ages. Although the myth of an exile from the Jewish homeland (Palestine) does exist in popular Israeli culture, it is negligible in serious Jewish historical discussions. Important groups in the Jewish national movement expressed reservations regarding this myth or denied it completely.