Introduction to Judaism - Converting to Judaism

Today starts a new chapter not only in my personal life, but also in my blogosphere life. I am converting to Judaism and had my first conversion class today at the American Jewish University. We are encouraged to keep a log of our thoughts throughout the process. With that being said, my thoughts are going digital!

Introduction to Judaism Books

To Life! and A Short History of the Jewish People

  

These two books will be supplemental to my learning, among class lectures and other readings, for the next 18 classes.To Life: A Celebration of Jewish Being and Thinking is apparently quite a good easy read while A Short History of the Jewish People: From Legendary Times to Modern Statehood is dense and jam packed with history thus harder to read...grrr. 

Converting to Judaism

The introduction to Judaism started with just that--introductions. We all spent some time discussing with each other why we were there. Some people were there to simply learn more about Judaism because they have forgotten, some are supporting their partners, and some are there to learn and convert to Judaism for themselves and/or partners. 

What I found fascinating today was how many different kinds of people there were. There was a gay couple, married couples, engaged couples and singles. Most were there to get acquainted and get prepared for conversion. The conservative conversion is an 18-week process at AJU, and for those converting, we have some guidelines to follow. Over the course of the conversion I will be practicing Shabbat and keeping kosher more often. I'm already a veggie so kosher won't be hard to follow. I'm most excited about the community aspect of Shabbat dinners and of course the amazing food.