I’m about the ten-month mark in the conversion process as of Dec 2021, and it’s been an amazing journey, full of learning, prayer, reading, growing, studying, and practicing. It has been something I would not trade for anything and has brought our family closer, brought us peace, and filled our home with love. I read incessantly, listen to Jewish music incessantly, watch videos on Judaism and Jewish history incessantly, and am altogether fully enmeshed in all things Jewish, every minute of my day. 

Our house is fully established as a Jewish home, our kids attend Jewish school on Sundays, we NEVER miss a Shabbat and Havdallah, we celebrate the holidays, and my wife and I are Torah study buddies!

We have a small Jewish library of books that we’re constantly building on, we apply the mitzvot as much as possible daily, and I become more and more observant daily. We just got a second (paperback) Tanakh, as to not ruin our beautiful ArtScroll stone edition Tanakh due to heavy reading. We also have a special hardbound copy of just Proverbs from the Tanakh, to make it easier to read and search through them when necessary. 

So, what’s left? How much more is there to go? Let me explain…

When we’d decided to convert, the yearly introduction to Judaism course was already halfway through, so we missed going through that required course. The course starts back up in January, so we’re ready to take it this time around, and after it, we’ll hopefully be able to go before the Beit Din (at least 1 rabbi, cantor, or lay-Jews) and then Mikvah (ritual submersion) and boom conversion completed. We are a Jewish household through and through and there’s nothing I want more than to see to it that we’re converted and recognized as a part of the current Jewish tradition.

Why didn’t we convert through Orthodoxy, everyone recognizes their conversions, why Reform? I get this a lot actually, but the more liberal Reform movement just fits our family best, as each of our kids has dietary needs that wouldn’t meet Kashrut standards, we are more science and religious minded, and don’t believe that anyone owns the proverbial keys to the gate of Judaism. We believe that women and men have equal roles in the synagogue and that the two should not be held separately or to differing standards. We are also very much so allies to the LGBTQ community, having a bisexual son ourselves.

We’re very excited to go through the intro to Judaism course, which is a few months long and gets you a great base of knowledge in all things Judaism from what we’ve heard. So, we’re really excited to learn even more and to keep growing, which we know will be a lifelong endeavor.