Not sure how to feel about the latest Jerusalem Post piece on conversion, “Conversions down by 20 percent in 2009”.
First, wow. I didn’t realize there were thousands of people converting to Judaism every year in Israel. I wonder if anyone’s keeping track of those numbers in the States. I would be interested to hear these statistics.
Second, after my bit stint in Israel at a haredi (ultra-Orthodox) conversion school, I can definitely hear the argument that the system needs to be more transparent without lowering standards. The same can be said of the system here. I know plenty of converts here who are anxiously awaiting their conversion paperwork to show up a year after the actual process was completed.
Third, I wonder if less people were interested in converting this year and does that have to do with the complicated process it is in Israel? It would seem that the article is pointing in this direction.
Honestly, it sounds like no matter how complicated the process, people will be putting themselves through the ringer anyway to convert. But they shouldn’t have to be. Can’t say it wasn’t painful to hear that many prospective converts I know were rethinking or had given up on conversion altogether when the Israeli Rabbinate got involved with the RCA (Rabbinical Council of America) to “streamline” the process. I hope that since things eventually settled down, these prospective converts will give the Jewish community a second chance. I think they deserve one.
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 
Yes, because many of them are patrilineage cases from the former Soviet Union.
In the states, I read somewhere it’s about 300 conversions a year. That sounds about right. OZ does about 60 a year. KJ maybe does 10, ya think? Queens is small numbers, about 10 a year for the whole borough. However, the beis din in Queens was doing conversions for people in other areas and well… then there’s the rest of the US. However, New York City is the largest Orthodox community.
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No they do five a year. People are not considering conversion anymore because they are not treated like human beings but like puppets. The process is emotionally draining and saddistic in nature. I dont know if I will ever convert, sometimes I wonder why I am still doing it. Maybe because deep down in my heart, it is worth it. Or perhaps because I love Hashem so much that I am willing to do anything for him. Man sometimes I cry and feel like giving up. THe people are and have always been secondary to me. I dont think they deserve me or deserve converts in general. We do so much to be treated as equals but instead we get treated as second class citizens and that’s not fair. If I dont finish, I will always remember Judaism as the best thing that has ever happened to me and that’s about it. May Hashem help you all find your way home and cope with all the pain these rabbis or the people in general may inflict upon your soul.
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