There is no way around it.

My blog is going to end up being, primarily, a place for me to store and share my thoughts on converting to Judaism. 

Of course it will still contain deposits of other adventures. For instance, today I sun burned the bottom of my feet while I was sunbathing. I didn’t even know that the bottom of your feet could get sunburned. Hence, lack of tanning oil/SPF 4. In other news, I’m working on a nice Aztec Tan everywhere else. Already looking a good ten pounds lighter. 

But when I’m not sunbathing, working my butt off and reading The Source… I’m at Touro Synagogue for Friday night services, Saturday services, monthly book club, weekly Torah Study, Tea and Talmud, Jewish Journeyers and LGBTQ community support panels, or at the JCC watching film screening about Lea Goldberg, or at home reading and researching. 

Somewhere in there I’m trying to work in yoga, pilates, meditation, and keeping up with my favorite TV shows. 

Choosing to be Jewish is complicated and dashes more exhausting than what I often feel I have the stamina for. But it’s what I want, where I need to be, and exactly what I’ll have for the rest of my life.

Of course, this big of a commitment doesn’t come without a lot of complications, conflict and a crappiness of all sorts of flavors. 

Like the classic, “Once you study the Torah long enough you’ll discover that Jesus is the son of God. He is God. And our Savior.” 

Wow, OK. Well, that’s certainly one way to be SO NOT SUPPORTIVE IN THE LEAST. 

I have to learn how to deal with this overwhelming fact. From here on out my belief in God won’t be good enough for a vast (and sometimes whackily whack) population on this planet. Thankfully I’m an educated person. Thankfully my mother and grandmother wisely decided that I would attend church and Bible Study so when I did make a choice it would be a smart and heart-felt one. So you can rest assuredly that I haven’t made this choice without considering what else there is that has been offered to me.

I respectfully decline. 

Thankfully I am capable as reading between the interpretations and manipulations of literature, society and culture. Thankfully the path that I’ve chosen believes in the spiritual and social evolution of humanity. I can do that for the rest of my life. Happily allow my spirituality to reside in a place that will not apply intellectual and emotional restrictions to my life. 

So, converting… yeah. There’s going to be a lot of angst. But more action because I have a lot to learn, so much to share, and a long way to go. 

Here’s a gem of angst for you. Speaking from a literary point of view—so much of what is written in the New Testament is political propaganda and multiple author revision and a manipulation of language/translation. 

But to be fair a lot of what happens in Genesis parallels creation myths from early pagan civilizations.