Cute photo from the website.

Orthodox Conversion to Judaism is the new, official website of the Rabbinical Council of America Geirus (Conversion) Policies and Standards (GPS) Network. It’s clean, sleek and to the point. Hopefully, I’m not the last one to find out about it.

I haven’t had a chance to view the site in depth and I’m more than a little curious as to whether it’s as informative as the good old books, “Becoming a Jew” by Maurice Lamm and “Choosing to Be Jewish: The Road to Orthodox Conversion” by Marc Angel, the latter which is not on the listed RCA recommended reading list. The recommending reading list itself is quite illuminating, chock full of books I’ve enjoyed and books with titles that sort of just make you groan. (Don’t judge a book by its title, I suppose.) And hey, how come no one had me read the entire books of the Prophets? Something tells me that Job and I could have been BFFs. But anyway, lest, I be found lacking, I am adding some of the books I haven’t read onto my Amazon wishlist.

Meanwhile, further illuminating points on the website include a “Frequently Asked Questions” list that’s good but not too ambitious. (I happen to know there are a lot more frequently asked questions buzzing in the heads of prospective converts.) I think more skittish converts confused by the new GPS guidelines will welcome the list of “Participating Batei din,” though I can’t fathom why the list is so darn short. I hope the required two years of study isn’t due to a backlog of getting conversions processed.

The best part of this website is the obvious work that’s been done to make sure that prospective converts make an informed decision. Kudos to Rabbi Michoel Zylberman, Director of GPS Conversions, whose email and extension have handily added to the site.