Jewish Converts Revitalize Non-Orthodox Synagogues – OpEd

Linda Rich wrote profoundly in her blog in the Times of Israel (July 1, 2024) "It was just another Shabbat morning service at a progressive synagogue on NY's Upper West Side. The first aliyah (blessing for Torah reading) was shared by a newly married couple, he a very recent Jew by choice. [We had a first-timer last week too, who was previously a Muslim.]

The second aliyah went to a nurse heading to Israel this week to volunteer at Hadassah Hospital. He's also a Jew by choice. And, the Torah reader is the spouse of a long-time Jew by choice.

The final aliyah included a baby naming, the child of a Jewish mother and a Native American father. "Basia" was named for her great-grandmother, a holocaust survivor. The week before we celebrated an African American child whose parents had decided to convert to Judaism together.

A few decades back, many Jews thought that intermarriage would destroy the Jewish people. We lacked the confidence to imagine that our way of life would appeal to others, that more would opt in, and that fewer would opt out.

Linda Rich is right. Just as Bat Mitzvahs saved many Hebrew schools in our last generation, converts (formal or not) are revitalizing many somewhat Jewish families. But the Jewish People must reach out and encourage non-Jews to join our community. That will bring closer the time when God tells Prophet Zechariah there will certainly be peace between Israel and Palestinians, Syrians, Egyptians, Iraqis, Iranians etc: "Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles." (Zechariah 14:16)

Meanwhile, about 42% of married Jewshave a spouse who is not Jewish. Among American Jews who have gotten married since 2010, that percentage rises to 61%.

According to a 2020 Pew Research Center survey, American Jews are becoming more diverse, especially among younger Jewish generations. Compared to 8% of all Jewish adults, 15% of those ages 18 to 29 identified with a nonwhite category.

Most of these non white Jews are converts to Judaism; and according to a very recent PhD thesis survey of 55 converts in the Los Angeles area by Dr. Stephanie Cubba (one third of whom converted in 2023) 7% were African American and 16% were Latinx.

Previous to becoming Jewish 10% were agnostic or atheist, 26% were spiritual but not religious, 25% were Catholic, and 39% were various types of Protestants.

Now as Jews 35% keep kosher at home, and 76% are members of a synagogue.

When asked about their motivations for formally converting, 67% said that they were seeking a religion with room for questioning, and 25% answered that they had discovered their Jewish Ancestry through genetic analysis.

Among the American general public, 24% say they believe in reincarnation. Less than one-in-seven American Jews believe in reincarnation; most of them Hassidic Jews, but also some Jews who identify with Reform and Renewal Judaism. For Jews this might be because many, perhaps most, converts to Judaism have a Jewish soul that they inherited from a Jewish ancestor who lived sometime in the last several generations.

Unlike Buddhism and Hinduism, the Jewish mystical tradition, the Kabbalah, does not teach that reincarnation (gilgul) occurs over the course of millions of years to millions of different sentient species. According to Kabbalah, only the souls of self conscious moral creatures like human beings reincarnate; and they reincarnate only when they have not fulfilled the purpose of their creation in their first lifetime.

Since Judaism is an optimistic religion, most Kabbalists teach that most people can accomplish their life's purpose in one or two lifetimes. A few souls may take 3-5 lifetimes or more. The bright souls of great religious figures like Moses or Miriam can turn into dozens of sparks that can reincarnate several times.

The tragic souls of Jews whose children were cut off from the Jewish people, due to persecution or forced conversion to another religion, will reincarnate as one of their own, no longer Jewish, descendants. These descendant souls will seek to return to the Jewish people.

A majority of people who end up converting (or reverting) to Judaism and the Jewish people have Jewish souls from one of their own ancestors. Thus, the Jewish mystical tradition, claims that most converts to Judaism are the reincarnated souls of Jews in previous generations that were cut off from the Jewish people. Through conversion to Judaism they are coming home.

Sometimes these souls are descendants of Jews who were part of whole communities that were cut off, like the Marranos or the Jews in Eastern Europe during the Holocaust and then the Communist oppression. Other times they are descendants of individual Jews who married out and whose children were not raised as faithful Jews.

Most of the time people who become Jewish do not find out that they have a Jewish ancestor until years after their conversion. Every human on earth has 8 great grandparents and 16 great great grandparents. Each of these 24 individuals contributes an equal amount of genetic material to their descendants.

Nevertheless, brothers or sisters who share the same 24 ancestors do not have identical genomes. Unless they are identical twins; their physical, mental and personality traits always differ, sometimes greatly, from siblings who share the same physical genetic heritage. This difference is the result of the unique physical combination of genes that occurs at conception; and the unique soul that enters the body sometime during the second trimester.

Every year many hundreds of people find out that one or two of their most recent 24 ancestors might have been Jewish. For most of them this discovery is an interesting fact of little significance. For many of them it might be an embarrassment to be ignored. But for some of them it becomes a life changing discovery.

They feel drawn to Jewish people and seek to learn about Jewish music, food, literature, culture and religion. They feel more and more attached in some mysterious way to the Holocaust and the struggle of Israel to live in peace in the Middle East. Many of these people eventually are led to become Jewish either by formal conversion or by informal reversion within Reform synagogues.

According to a mystical 14th century Jewish Kabbalistic teaching found in Sefer HaPliyah, those people who do feel this powerful attraction to Jewish things and Jewish people, have Jewish souls that are reincarnations of one of their own Jewish ancestors from 3-7 generations in the past.

That explains why they react to the discovery of some Jewish heritage in such an unusual way. It also explains why many people who do not even know that they have Jewish ancestors follow a similar path; and only discover a Jewish ancestor years after they have returned to the Jewish people.

The Hebrew word for reincarnation is gilgul which means recycling. Most people are born with new souls and are here for the first time. Others have a soul that has lived on this planet before. Most people do not reincarnate after their life on this earth is over. Most people who end up becoming Jewish, especially now, after the Jewish people have experienced several generations of assimilation, marriage to non-Jews, hiding from anti-semitism and outright genocide, are descendants of people whose children, in one way or another, have been cut off from the Jewish People.

Among their non-Jewish descendants a few will inherit a Jewish soul that will seek to return to the Jewish people. If you think you might have an ancestor who was Jewish, but no one in your family seems to know, you can use an introspective personality and character test to give you some hints.

1- Do you like to ask questions, especially about religion? But when you asked them as a child, you were told faith is a gift from God and you shouldn't question it. This never satisfied you, although others didn't question it.

2- The trinity never made any sense to you even as a young child. You prayed to God the father more easily than Jesus, the son of God, even though you were told to pray to Jesus. You never could believe that people who didn't believe in Jesus couldn't go to Heaven.

3- On first learning of the Holocaust you reacted more emotionally than your friends or other members of your family. You feel some sense of connection with the Jewish struggle to defend Israel.

4- You have an attraction to Jewish people, or to Judaism and Jewish culture. You have always been more open to people who were culturally, nationally or religiously different from your own family, than your friends or classmates.

If you answer yes to three of these four items you probably have Jewish ancestors. Many, but not all, people who answer yes to all four items will be interested in learning more about their Jewish roots. If you become very interested in studying Judaism you might have a Jewish soul.

According to Jewish mystical teachings (Kabbalah), many (not all) people reincarnate after they die. This is especially true for Jews who died and had no Jewish children who survived them (Sefer HaPliyah). Their souls reincarnate in one of their non-Jewish descendants who is drawn to: Jewish things, Jewish people and Judaism. If the following item also applies to you, you certainly have a Jewish soul.

5- When you start to learn about Judaism: the ideas and values seem reasonable to you; the traditions and heritage are very attractive to you; and the non-Jews around you as well as you yourself, are surprised that you slowly come to feel that you are coming home.

For most Jewish converts an attraction to Jews as individuals, as families, or as a historical community that has survived many severe challenges for over 3,000 years, is a more important factor than heaven or hell religious beliefs. As the Talmud states (Avot 4:18): "Better one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world, than all the life of the world-to-come".