Derekh Torah
Last night was my first day of my 30-week Derekh Torah class. My boyfriend of 8 years is Jewish and, until recently, I hadn’t really considered converting, although I agreed years ago to raise any children we would have in the Jewish tradition. Of course, I never saw myself as someone who would EVER have children – I’ve never heard my biological clock tick - although I always said “If it happens, it happens!” I just kind of figured my cats would be all the children I needed.
Then an odd thing happened – I started thinking about children and realized that I want one. Actually, I want twins but I can’t count on that. Heck, I can’t count on having ANY kids at this point, even though anything is possible. So, once I started thinking about children, I realized that I have no clue about Judaism so how in the world was I going to raise a child in the Jewish tradition?
And then I started working in a predominately Jewish office and met some women who are very secure in their faith and aren’t weighed down by what I always thought of as a patriarchal/separatist religion. I realized that I really didn’t know anything about Judaism at all.
posted by Nemeria @ 2:07 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Twins? I'd have never guessed. Although I've always believed that if you are going to wish for something you might as well be as specific as possible. (It is the unspecified wish that tends to go awry.)
Mazel tov! Hope your class goes well (as in interesting, informative, a great place to meet other people--how this all turns out as a converting/not-converting question is totally up to you)!
I'm considering taking this class-are you finding it helpful? I've been with my boyfriend for 4ish years. I've always known that if I wanted to marry him without his mother disowning I would have to convert.
Bushwhacked - I found the class very helpful and interesting. My husband dropped out after the first class but I went the entire time and did end up converting. It's been difficult since then, though. My husband (and his family) are non-practicing. I went to Temple alone every Friday night for a year and, after we got married, I ended up not going anymore because I just didn't have the support of my spouse. It's sad because I find the Judaism to be a beautiful religion and the traditions really called to me. If we had had children, things might have been different. I would have had a strong reason to become more involved and to create traditions for my children. Sadly, my cats couldn't care less about lighting the Sabbath candles!
I definitely recommend the class, if for no other reason than to learn about Judaism. I would do I take it again, in fact, because there is still so much to learn.
All the best!
~ Nemeria
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