What Draws People To Become Jewish In Today’s World?

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks said, “Judaism is an extraordinary this-worldly, this-life-focused religion.” Rabbi Sacks argued that other religions stress rewards and punishments of the afterlife, Judaism focuses on practices and deeds in. this life. Rabbi Sacks also maintained that whereas other religions stress the importance of beliefs, Judaism values action over dogma. These insights about Judaism nourished a hunger for many souls to become Jewish.

Why do thousands of former Christians become Jews each year in Israel, Canada, the U.K. and the U.S.

I think many of the reasons outsiders find Judaism to be attractive are very similar. First and foremost, many people who grew up in a Christian church, cannot understand or believe that Jesus is or was a part of a Divine trinity; and almost all had since their youth, consciously rejected the doctrine of original sin.

Thus they were attracted to Jewish concepts of God’s unity; and the basic goodness of human beings who were created in God’s image.

Others are drawn to the warmth of Jewish extended family life, and the importance of being part of a three thousand years old, ongoing traditional religious community.

Shayna Estulin, who wrote a master’s thesis on singles converting to Judaism, found that some did it because they discovered that a grandparent or other relative was Jewish and they wanted to reconnect to their heritage. For example, Gwyneth Paltrow the Oscar-winning actress, says her decision to raise her children as Jews came after discovering she had a Rabbi ancestor when she appeared on NBC’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are?” program a few years ago.

The show, which explores the genealogy of its guests, revealed that her father, late film producer Bruce Paltrow, was descended from line of east European rabbis, and her Polish great-great-grandfather was the well known Rabbi Simon Paltrowich.

But each of these various reason had the same underlying theme: All these people experienced a deep connection to Judaism and to Jews. As an example Estulin writes about Kelly. “She told me that she had wanted to be Jewish since she was a little girl growing up in Canada.

“The homes of her Jewish friends seemed like warm, loving places, where everyone got along, and holidays were always being celebrated.

“Her home was very different. Birthdays and holidays were rarely celebrated, and the house felt cold, her parents distant.That feeling of coldness followed her into the neighborhood church that the family would attend occasionally.

“I was always freaked out by Jesus on the cross. Aesthetically it’s just dark and scary, worshipping a dead man on a cross,’ Kelly said.

Muslims will find many similarities to Muslim converts in this account. But there are also some practical differences that need to be understood.

I have taught Introduction to Judaism classes (Reform-Liberal) for more than thirty years in Los Angeles California, and during that time I got to know hundreds of non-Jews who were interested in learning about the Jewish religion and culture.

Most, but not all, of these people had been raised in Christian homes, and had drifted away from the Church in their teens or in their 20’s. For years they considered themselves to be Christian only by tradition or culture.

They still believed in God, but they did not believe that Jesus was the Divine Son of God. Indeed, some of them, even in their youth, while they were still attending church, prayed only to God, the father; and not to Jesus, the Son.

Most of them also believed in the value and importance of religion for themselves and their future children. When they found themselves involved romantically with a Jewish person they decided to learn about Judaism as a good way to unify their marriage and their family.

The transition from not being Jewish to feeling and thinking Jewish is a gradual one. In Islam and Christianity God comes first. The proclamation that “Allah is God and Muhammad is his Prophet” makes a person a Muslim. Accepting Jesus, the son of God as your savior, makes a person a Christian.

But for most people who become Jewish; God is at the end of the process, not at the beginning.

This follows the pattern established by the Biblical personality Ruth, one of the most famous non-Jews to become Jewish. She states, “Where ever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people, shall be my people. Your God, shall be my God.” (Bible Ruth 1:16)

Why does Ruth list God at the end of the process, and not at the beginning?

Judaism does not teach that everyone needs to become Jewish to be saved or to go to heaven.

Judaism does not teach that everyone has to believe in monotheism in the same way Jews do.

For Jews, behaving like a very kind and moral person is more important than believing the correct theology.

For Jews, feeling love for the Jewish people, Jewish culture, Jewish music, and living a Jewish life is more than believing the correct theology.

Most Rabbis would agree with the above teachings. Most Reform and Progressive Rabbis would add that the desire to study and discuss Torah; combined with the desire to do both ethical and ritual Mitsvot, is more important than believing in God, because studying Torah and doing Mitsvot lead people to God.

Thus, love of God is the goal, not the starting point, for Jews and all those who choose to join us on our path.

When you fall in love, you meet the person first and go out. Then you start sharing your life and living together. When you marry you become part of another family and with children create another family.

When, after living a loving life with your partner and your family, you at last you die, you will know that you have in truth lived a life blessed by God. As Ruth says, “Where ever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people, shall be my people. Your God, shall be my God. Where you die, there will I die. And there will I be buried.” So help me God. (Ruth 1:16-17)

When Andres Mustafa, a Muslim, watched the news on October 7th, 2023, and saw the Hamas invasion of Israel, he says, “My heart was breaking. I actually started crying.” He ended up watching every single video of Hamas atrocities that was available. “I had never been more angry,” he says. “I said, what are we living in? Holocaust 2.0?”

Trying to process his own emotions, Mustafa, who now goes by Ariel, reached out to a Jewish friend who recommended that he speak to a rabbi. Thus began Ariel’s journey to Judaism. Ariel is now studying for his conversion.

He explains, “I did a lot of research because I couldn’t understand why I wanted to convert, why I felt connected to the Jewish people, why I felt connected to God through the Jewish people. Now, I would say that I had a Jewish soul all along, and that’s what really pushed me.”

So if a German or an Arab seeks to join the Jewish people, even if he is the son of a fierce anti-Semite, we should accept him and love him like any other Jew. Moreover, we should love him even more than other Jews, by keeping the commandment to “love the convert, for you too were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:19).