Conversion

Argentina's Sephardi chief rabbi reaffirms 100-year-old ruling on conversions, sparks controversy

A controversial ruling in Argentina reaffirms a 100-year-old conversion ban, fueling tensions between Orthodox and non-Orthodox movements.

|ByJUAN MELAMED/JTA
Facade of Templo de la Libertad synagogue, Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 2, 2018
A supporter of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro holds up a portrait of him in Caracas, Venezuela, January 3, 2026.

Maduro has claimed Jewish ancestry, here is what is known - explainer

Maduro has cited Sephardic Jewish roots, but his own statements and the public record leave his Jewish status unconfirmed.

|ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
DESPITE BEING fully recognized by the Chief Rabbinate, many Orthodox converts are living in legal and social limbo, denied citizenship, as they face systemic bureaucracy and discrimination at the Interior Ministry. Here, women pray at the Western Wall.

Recognized by the rabbinate, Orthodox converts trapped in legal limbo over Israeli citizenship

RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS: “Why do I have to keep proving myself? Am I a second-class Jew?” said an Orthodox converted Jewish woman in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

|ByBATSHEVA SHULMAN
Kai Balin on a journey to explore Orthodox Judaism

When is it enough?

"But the more I pushed toward Orthodoxy, the more I realized the driving force wasn’t spiritual longing, it was the pressure to satisfy an external standard."

|ByKAI BALIN

Sephardic Jewish ancestry certificate now open for millions of applicants

Recent research has demonstrated that as many as 200 million people in the Americas and Europe have Jewish ancestry who were forcibly converted.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2022ByZVIKA KLEIN
Certificate of Sephardi Jewish ancestry.

Are too many Germans converting to Judaism? - analysis

In a DW column titled “Why the increasing number of converts is a problem for Judaism,” Avitall Gerstetter charged that too many people in Germany convert for the wrong reasons.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022ByTOBY AXELROD/JTA
The German flag is pictured at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, November 7, 2017

Conversion in Israel: The tug of war between the state, rabbinate

How did conversion to Judaism get caught in up the midst of an Israeli political controversy over the Law of Return and identifying who is a Jew?

AUGUST 27, 2022ByRAPHAEL SHUCHAT
A WOMAN stands before the rabbinical court.

Cardinal with Jewish ancestry honors Jewish-born nun murdered in Auschwitz

Born Edith Stein in Breslau, Germany to an Orthodox Jewish family, Stein converted to Catholicism in her 30s.

AUGUST 11, 2022ByJACKIE HAJDENBERG/JTA
THE GATE to Auschwitz, photographed in January 2021, 76 years after the camp’s liberation: There are still countless Jews who say about the Shoah, ‘If this could happen, how can anyone still believe in God?’

The journey from Jewish convert to accomplished artist, scribe

Neriah Israel's journey from South Africa to Dimona

JUNE 16, 2022ByBRADLEY MARTIN
Neriah Israel writing a page of a Sefer Torah scroll.

'Covenant': Creating a Jewish conversion spectrum - review

Turning some of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s ideas toward resolving the Jewish identity crisis

JUNE 11, 2022BySHUKI FRIEDMAN
REFORM JEWS hold up broken hearts as they demonstrate outside the Knesset in 1997 against pending legislation by ultra-religious parties to tighten their grip on conversion issues.

The irony of Jewish conversion in Israel - opinion

"They want mass conversion. This won’t happen," Rabbi Yosef said about the deputy religious affairs minister.

JUNE 8, 2022BySETH FARBER
SEPHARDI CHIEF RABBI Yitzhak Yosef speaks out at a rally in Jerusalem against conversion and kashrut reforms, in January.

Shira Ben Avraham's spiritual 'Journey' to Judaism, motherhood

“It’s a collection of songs that were written as part of this journey that I’ve been on for the past, say, 10 years, that really started in South Africa where I grew up.”

MAY 30, 2022ByBEN BRESKY
SHIRA BEN AVRAHAM in the Nahlaot neighborhood.

Judaism must learn to welcome outsiders to its traditions - opinion

Non-Jewish people should be able to explore Jewish traditions and elements without having to commit to converting.

MAY 21, 2022ByBENJAMIN SPRATT, JOSHUA STANTON
Ambassadors and senior diplomats join Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon at a mock Passover seder

Israel grants basketball player Jared Armstrong temporary residence

The decision has temporarily ended a months-long saga of rejections, petitions from influential figures and accusations of racism.

MAY 9, 2022ByANDREW LAPIN/JTA
Jared Armstrong, left, on a Birthright Israel trip in 2021. Armstrong, a basketball player who had received an offer to play for an Israeli club team, petitioned the Israeli government for citizenship for months.