The thing about converting, like any journey, is that it is not exactly a transformation, a leaving of one self to embrace another. Instead, it’s adding another ingredient to the mix. I have Catholic, Midwestern roots, and I’ve added a little New York Jew. Harrison and Olivia started school two days ago. I remember what [...]

by Sylvia Lichtenger My youngest son, Wyatt, just had his bar mitzvah this past Saturday. Yes, I converted when I married my husband David. And no, I’m not”religious”.  I converted because I felt a pull towards Judaism, I wanted to contribute something — I had no real idea what I was contributing, but I had such admiration for [...]

You know a bit about my conversion: a Catholic girl from Wisconsin, moves to New York, marries a Jew, and does not convert. Actually, she does convert, but not until 8 years into her marriage when, after having doors closed to her, she discovers the beauty of the Judaism. But that’s not every convert’s story. [...]

“No, I didn’t convert for my husband.” It is a sentence that had spilled from my lips countless times. That my motivation for converting was for marriage would be a seemingly safe assumption, given that I had married a Jewish man. But my conversion was the result of a nearly decade long spiritual quest. So [...]