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Another question from our Readers... I am a lesbian - what do I do?

1/25/2013

From J: I am interested in exploring the Jewish faith. I am a lesbian.

Dawn's answer: I am happy to help you explore Judaism. First, I want to put any possible worries to rest. You told me that you are a lesbian, that is not a barrier to conversion should you decide to become a Jew. Now tell me more about yourself -- what got you interested in Judaism? Have you read any books on Judaism? Have you taken any classes? Do you have Jewish friends who can be a help to your journey? Finally, where do you live? I will need to direct you to resources in your own community.

Just for your information - conversion requires a year of study with a rabbi. At around a year you should know enough to determine whether Judaism is right for you. If it is, your rabbi will guide you in the formal steps towards conversion.

Best wishes,
Dawn

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Questions to Becoming Jewish: I want to do what the Heavenly Father wants me to do...

1/16/2013

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We get many questions on becomingjewish.net, and we try to give thoughtful answers. We decided to post several of these, from time to time, to give others the benefit of these replies. Do you have a question you need answered? Write us!

"I am not sure if I am considering conversion or not. I am just looking for truth (not man’s truth, but Heavenly Father’s truth). I would love to have someone point me in the right direction and maybe answer some questions from me. My goal is to live my life the way Heavenly Father wants me to. I am very interested in reading things on keeping Kosher as well."

Dawn's answer:
Let me see if I can help out. Judaism does not believe there is one single truth, not even God's truth, that can be known by humans. So we as humans struggle to do our best to understand as much as we can and to act according to that which we can grasp. But Judaism is very forgiving of human foibles. Additionally, we are guided by our rabbis and sages who themselves do not agree on everything so a Jew, in order to live an observant life, must learn and study from many points of view to determine what he or she will take on. Are there lazy Jews who don't bother or atheist Jews who see no point? Yes. Are they going to be punished or go to hell? No. We don't believe in hell. The consequence of not making an effort to live according to the commandments is simply a missed opportunity. Those people are probably satisfied with their lives but in my opinion they have missed the chance to live a life of greater kavanah (intentionality).

Judaism does not perceive God to have a gender. However, Hebrew, like Spanish, is a gendered language so the references to God are often translationed use a male pronoun. Rarely would a Jew refer to a Heavenly Father. An observant Jew would refer to God as HaShem, which in Hebrew means The Name. It is an honorific title like Majesty.

As for keeping kosher, that is complex and varies in numerous small ways from community to community since every community will keep to the ways of their parents and grandparents. So for example, take the practice of waiting after a meat meal before eating a dairy food - one of my local rabbis is from Egypt and his Egyptian community's practice was to wait 3 hours. But he came to America where most Jews are of Eastern European descent and wait 5 hours. He had to change in order to be consistent with the practice of his American congregation.

If you want to pursue learning about kashrut (keeping kosher) there's a book that was recommended to me --

How to Keep Kosher: A comprehensive Guide to Understanding Jewish Dietary Laws by Lise Stern

You can probably ask for it through your library system if you don't know yet whether you want to own it.

If you would like to learn about the diverse ways that Jewish sages have thought about God this is a good book --

Finding God: Selected Responses by Rifat Sonsino and Daniel B. Syme

Here's a description of it - Finding God, by way of essays on significant Jewish thinkers, attempts to answer the questions looming above us all: What is God? Is there more than one God? How can we know God? What does God "want" from us? How does God relate to me?

Does this help? If you have more questions just let me know. I wish you success in your journey.

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Another question from our Readers... I am a lesbian - what do I do?

Questions to Becoming Jewish: I want to do what the Heavenly Father wants me to do...

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