Conversion Process
Procedure
Before beginning the conversion process, it is important to really think about what you are getting yourself into very carefully. The Torah teaches that you can become a righteous gentile by keeping only seven mitzvoth (commandments). Therefore, if you are not completely committed to becoming Jewish, it is preferable to remain a righteous gentile, rather than converting without being able to fulfill the obligations of a Jew one hundred percent. If you have thought carefully about the option of becoming a Bat Noach, keeping the seven Noachide laws, and you still desire to become Jewish, here is the procedure and requirements for applying for conversion through Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin:
A Year in the Jewish Community
Before beginning the conversion course, you will need to have intensive contact with a Jewish community for one year. It is recommended to strengthen your connection with the Jewish community by going regularly to the Synagogue and taking weekly classes with the Rabbi and Rebbetzin. Within the year of building your relationship with the Jewish community, you may visit and study temporarily in our institution.
Two Letters from Orthodox Rabbis
When your year is completed, you will need several letters of recommendation from Rabbis and others that know you well. At the very least you need two letters from orthodox Rabbis that testify that you have been involved in the Jewish community for at least one year, and that you are sincere in your intention to convert and live an observant Jewish life. We will need these letters to help you open a conversion file with the Beit Din for conversions in Jerusalem once you arrive.
Application to B’not Ruth
At the end of your first year connecting to the Jewish community, you may begin the application process to get accepted at B’not Ruth. You can download the application and medical form, which you need to submit including a personal essay of why you wish to convert and the application fee. You will then be invited to a telephone interview with the director, Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum. Within a week after your interview you will receive email notice regarding your status of acceptance into B’not Ruth conversion program.
Opening Your File at the Beit Din of Conversion/
If you become accepted as a conversion candidate into B’not Ruth, you will need to learn full time our program for one year. Within your first month of learning in B’not Ruth our conversion Rabbi will accompany you to the Beit Din for Conversions of Jerusalem in order to open a conversion file. This meeting needs to take place before your three month tourist visa expires. The Rabbi of the Beit Din will ask you a few basic questions; most often about your family background and the reason why you are interested in converting, and your connection to the Jewish community. He may also ask you a few elementary questions in Judaism, and he will look carefully at your passport and your letters of recommendations and make copies for your file with the Beit Din. If everything goes smoothly your file will be opened with the Beit Din of Conversion in Jerusalem.
Approving Your File by the Israeli Ministry of Interior
The next step is to get your file approved by a panel of Rabbis from the Beit Din and Representatives from the interior ministry. Your visa can only be extended after your file as been approved. Our conversion Rabbi will follow up with the Beit Din and call them weekly until your conversion file has been approved. Yet, it may happen that a conversion file is only approved a while after the conversion candidate’s three month tourist visa has expired. While it is highly recommended to always have all of your papers in order and your visa up to date; in this case the officials will be understanding if your visa has expired, since you have done everything possible to be able to renew it. In rare cases this stage may be prolonged and it may be necessary to leave the country briefly, (students in the past have taken a bus to Jordan), in order to renew the three month tourist visa, until your file is approved by the interior ministry.
Once your file has been approved, it will take ten month before you are invited to your Beit Din appointment for your final conversion. In order to avoid being in Israel without a valid visa, certain conversion candidates may chose the option of coming to Israel to learn for two months while opening the file with the Beit Din, then returning to their country of origin, until their file has been approved by the interior ministry. This option will prevent the pressure of getting the file approved. Yet the disadvantage of this option is that the student would lose the continuity of our learning program, and we recommend learning in our conversion program for a full year without interruption.
Your Year in Our Conversion Program: B’not Ruth
During your enrollment at B’not Ruth you will learn full time both the practical Halachot (Jewish laws) and fundamental principles of the Jewish Faith. You will also improve your textual skills and learn to read and comprehend the Torah (Bible) in the Hebrew language. You will be set up with an adoptive family within our community with whom you will develop a relationship. Your adoptive family will open their home to you for Shabbat and holiday meals and you may also drop in occasionally to talk or to help out. Tutors will be available to help you learn and practice saying the prayers and the appropriate blessings for food. Once a month you will meet with the conversion Rabbi who will test your progress. You will also meet with the Director with whom you can discuss things that come up on your personal journey. Midway through your conversion you will meet again with a Rabbi from the Beit Din of Conversion in Jerusalem. He will ask you questions in Judaism to see if you are progressing in your learning.
Completing your Conversion
After ten months have passed since your file has been approved, the panel of Rabbis and representatives from the interior ministry will meet again to approve your file for final conversion. If everything goes smoothly, you will be invited again to meet with the Rabbi of the Beit Din representing you. You will need a letter of recommendation from our institution and from Rabbis who know you, testifying that they believe you are ready to convert and take on all the mitzvoth of a Jewish woman. It is recommended to bring as many letters as you can to this meeting, including letters from women in the community with whom you have developed a relationship. The Rabbi will add your letters to your file and then test you to find out if you are ready for the final Beit Din. He will ask you questions in Halacha, in the Jewish Faith and about your personal Mitzvah observance. If with our recommendation the Rabbi finds you ready for conversion, you will receive a date for your final conversion when you will be tested by a panel of three Rabbis from the Beit Din. The conversion Rabbi and the Director of B’not Ruth, or one of them, will accompany you to your final Beit Din. It is also recommended to bring one of the members of your adoptive family and a couple of your closest friends. Each of them will be asked to testify about you at the Beit Din. The Beit Din will then test your knowledge and commitment to Judaism, if the Rabbis find you ready to convert, they will ask you to recite the declaration of faith to the Jewish religion and recite the Shema Yisrael prayer in front of the Beit Din. After your have been accepted by the final Beit Din you are no longer allowed to break Shabbat, even if you have not yet immersed in a Mikvah. At the Beit Din you will receive your date for your mikvah appointment. You will finalize your conversions with immersion in the Mikvah on the set date and become a full-fledged Jew.