Rabbi's Week in Review Blog

I recently taught the Jewish calendar to the community-wide conversion class. For some of the conversion students, it was not the first time I had been studying with them. They have been pretty regular participants in Kol Ami study and worship, beginning earlier this summer.

Having made the choice to become part of the Jewish community (and hopefully Kol Ami), they bring a sense of commitment and energy that is transformative for our Kol Ami community and family. Much like our most famous convert, Ruth, they bring a thirst for connecting with community, a thirst to soak up Jewish knowledge, and a zeal to ask the most incisive and challenging questions.  

As we, as Jews, have taken inspiration from Ruth, we can be inspired by those conversion students who have sought out our community, to create for themselves lives of spiritual meaning and a Jewish community that welcomes them for their authentic selves without judgment or critique.  

They are an example for me, and hopefully for all of us, of what an engaged and persistently curious Jewish community can be. As we enter the new year of 5783, let their energy and commitment be translated into a striving for all of us for a renewed commitment to Jewish knowledge, to the pursuit of a more just world and a caring community.