One of the most defining aspects of Passover happens before the holidays begins – when Jews rid their homes entirely of chametz, or foods with leavening agents. Because the Jews were forced to flee the Egyptians before their bread had time to rise, they left Egypt with only matzahon their backs – the flat, unleavened crackers that…
The second meeting with the Beth Din came and went in late November, and was more or less similar to the first meeting. There was a greater focus on halachic knowledge, and the rabbis really got into the specifics of things like how one properly separates (or, more commonly, does not separate) items on Shabbat,…
Yikes - it's been almost five months since I last wrote! I went out of town to visit my family in June, and then caught Covid, and everything was so hectic for a few months that anything that wasn't of great importance fell to the wayside. Just before I visited my family in June, I…
Finally it happened - the first meeting with the local Beth Din! This wasn't one of the three meetings that the Beth Din requires for conversion, but rather an initial meeting to assess my viability as a candidate. Because of COVID-19, the Beth Din still isn't hosting meetings in person, so the meeting took place…
Waiting to hear back from your rabbi, who's waiting to hear back from the sponsoring rabbinical court, who are busy dealing with their own congregations and coronavirus, is like sitting on hold with the IRS. You have to provide very specific information, and you have to remember it because the outcomes hinges on you having…
Although the Jewish calendar is full of important holidays, Passover is arguably the most important. The Jewish exodus from Egypt to freedom in Israel is the seminal event in Jewish history, and as Jews re-enact their ancestors' oppression, living through the plagues, and eventually reaching their freedom in this climatic story, they reiterate the importance…
This week, I did a really special thing: I brought in Shabbat by myself for the first time! I've been preparing for - and bringing in - Shabbat for many years with the various Jewish families I've worked for, but doing it by myself was different. There were no little kids running around making noise.…
The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of weirdness. Since I last wrote, the entire United States has essentially shut down to try to slow the spread of Covid-19. Putting all political and social analysis of the virus and its impacts aside, the process of my conversion seems to have been little affected thus…
I'm a few days late because I went home to Utah to visit my family over the weekend! I had a fantastic trip. I don't get to see all my brothers at the same time very often, and this was the second time in less than a year that we were all together. Mike, who…
I had such a great week! I was crazy lucky to bring in Shabbat with M and her daughters (M is the mother of the family I currently nanny for, and she is a true goddess of a human). For the foreseeable future, I'll be with M and her family on Friday evenings, in addition…
