Is it hard for African Americans to convert to Judaism ?
I am an African American that has been studying Judaism for awhile now. I have read Choosing a Jewish Life and Becoming a Jew, I have read many online sites about the matter. The one thing that I have noticed is that all the books talk as if the only reason one converts is to get married. For me that is not the case, I really just love the religion and the Jewish people. Do any of you know if I will be treated different: 1. Because I am Black
2. Because I am converting because my beliefs, and values, not because I am a dating a Jewish Girl.
Also I know that there are Black Israeli from Ethiopia but are there in African Americans living in Israel in an American-Israeli expat community ?
It doesn’t make any difference what race you are. Jews come in all colors.
The truth is, many conversions that are made for the sake of marrying a Jew are turned down. It’s not considered a good enough reason (after all, with a divorce rate as high as it is, what would stop that person from dropping Judaism if the relationship ended). Sincerity about the religion for its own sake is the best reason of all. It’s just that the reality is that many people do convert for love, and the books reflect that.
There are some African American Jews, but to my personal knowledge, all of them are converts or their recent decendants. After all, with the history of racism in the U.S., I don’t know what black person in their right mind would have wanted to add being targeted by anti-Semitism on top of the racial discrimination they already suffered. And the Ethiopian Jews pretty much all emigrated to Israel – so you don’t find them here as much. In my own experience, I have met more black Jews in Sephardic congregations than Ashkenazic ones – I don’t know why that is (possibly because the Jews who live in North Africa and the Middle East were predominantly Sephardic), but it might be worth looking into whether there is a Sephardic synagogue in your area and if you would like to make a Sephardic conversion.
I wish I could say that you wouldn’t be treated any differently than any other Jews – I know I don’t treat anyone diferently – but to get a truer perspective on that, you would do best to speak with other black Jews. No synagogue would treat you differently and I can’t imagine you wouldn’t be welcomed. But the more subtle kinds of racism are harder to define and may be out there, the way they unfortunately are in most of society.
Good luck!
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