At Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, the community has rallied around each other and Israel since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas. They have also experienced a dynamic that is comforting in times of tribulations for Jews across the world, said Rabbi Benjamin David.
“It does feel like since Oct. 7, a number of people who were sort of vaguely on the fence about [converting] came off the fence — they felt compelled to join our people,” he said. “While I normally work with maybe one or two people a year, really the floodgates have opened, and I’m working with five or six people a year.”
At a time when antisemitism is on the rise, Keneseth Israel is seeing an increased number of people joining the faith, for a variety of reasons. Some cite Oct. 7 as what spurred them, while others are converting for other reasons. Regardless of why they are doing it, these newly initiated Jews are welcomed all the same.
“These are people who see the pain of the Jewish community, the needs of the Jewish community and the plight of the Jewish community,” he said. “They feel drawn to the cause of Judaism, and to their credit, at precisely this moment in time, they’re speaking up. They’re standing up.”
Christina Kim is one such convert. She is married to a Jewish man and is raising a Jewish son, and while she was raised in a Christian household, she said that she has been observing Jewish customs and living in a Jewish household for years.
“I decided to convert because I have always felt like I was a part of the community, but unofficially,” she said. “Then Oct. 7 happened, and I felt like it was the right time.”
Kim had traveled to Israel before, but a trip after the Hamas attacks helped crystalize her decision for her.
“Going there after Oct. 7 and really understanding the resilience of the people there and how everyone came together really spoke to me and made me feel more like this is the right time for me to make that commitment,” she said.
For Alyson, who preferred to not give her last name, being raised in a largely-religious house by a Jewish father and Christian mother meant that she never felt fully Jewish, even though she gravitated more towards that part of her lineage as she got older. Her father is no longer alive, and she felt compelled to preserve his tradition.
“It felt really important to keep that part of myself going for my father, and then Oct. 7 is really what propelled me to convert. I watched the world around me openly become antisemitic, and people that I know my whole life were just defining Judaism and antisemitism without listening, and I just thought, ‘Oh, I really have to protect this and preserve this.’”
Alyson said that she was shocked to see how quickly antisemitism grew in the United States following the attack on Israel. She said she wasn’t naive to the existence of discrimination against Jews, but that it was alarming to see how quickly “the tide can turn.”
For some, this may make them glad that they are not a part of the group on the receiving end of the hate. For her, it was a seminal moment in her decision to convert.
“The way I described it to my rabbi was it felt like a lightning bolt went through me,” Alyson said.
David said that, for many, Judaism is an attractive option because of what it stands for.
“A lot of these people feel spiritually drawn to Judaism. They feel moved by the causes that we Jews care deeply about; issues around poverty and coming to the aid of the less privileged and being there for marginalized groups. They see the importance of Israel in our complicated world,” he said.
For Dennis Johnson, who grew up near Cherry Hill and is familiar with Judaism, as some of their ancestors on their mother’s side were Jewish, the resilience of the Jewish people meant a lot. Johnson is nonbinary and gay, and said that their gender identity and sexuality has required them to be brave, too.
“It just seems like it’s always the Jewish thing to continue living and not be scared,” they said. “Yes, [antisemitism] is going to happen, but we’re not going to stop living our life. The Jewish community has always dealt with something that is hateful and shown that they never give up.”
Johnson was worried about converting and being even more stigmatized than they already are, but ultimately felt that this was a chance to “reclaim [their] identity.”
David said that the process of conversion shows who is really serious about conversion, as it is intensive and difficult.
“There’s stories in our Bible that are hard stories, and challenging no matter who you are. [Converts] struggle, as we all do, with hate in the world. And what does it mean to join a minority, people who are misread and misunderstood once and again?” he said. “Our tradition places a great emphasis on those who choose Judaism, knowing that being Jewish can often be very hard.”
Kim said that it was enlightening to read the stories of the Torah with a new lens.
Discussing biblical figures as people and not holy entities was something she enjoyed, and she said the Jewish tenet of questioning what you are taught is valuable in her mind.
“In the past, when I read these [stories] we were always taught that what is in the bible is the one single truth and to not question anything at all,” she said. “I was always taught about these figures like Abraham and Moses and how perfect and holy they were, but when you reread it, you realize that they’re flawed, just like all of us. That brought me a lot of comfort. I think if you asked me 20 years ago, I may have been uncomfortable with that … but I think as I got older, it just made me fall even more in love with [Judaism].”
Alyson said that the journey has not been easy, and there are even people who are no longer part of her life now that she’s converted. She said her eyes have been opened to the challenges of life as a Jew in today’s America.
“For me, it was watching people who have stood up for every other minority either be silent or complicit in this rise of antisemitism. Did people ever really accept me or was it just conditional?” she said. “There were some painful ones to lose, but ultimately, I would pick this any day.”
That sentiment of a newfound belonging is the same for many converts. Johnson didn’t grow up with an extended family, but now feels as if they have one.
“Now I say I have a million aunts, uncles, cousins … and now I have bubbes, which I didn’t have before,” Johnson said.
