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How do you come to terms with never being Jewish enough for some people?
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I'm almost done with my Reform conversion and it seems I'll never be Jewish enough for some people. Like my family calls me the "fake Jew" for not being born Jewish. I'm part of an online Hebrew learning discord server and they wouldn't consider me Jewish because I would only ever be a Reform Jew. I was told there's basically no Reform Judaism in Israel. Judaism is a big part of my life as a queer person, I wouldn't want to move to the world's only Jewish country and then not be able to attend a Reform shul and meet up with fellow Reform Jews. I'm a trans woman who likes women, but even if I did somehow became an Orthodox Jew I wouldn't be Jewish enough for some people because I wasn't born a Jew. I could become fluent in Hebrew and that wouldn't be good enough. It just feels like no matter what I do it will never be enough. I feel loved and accepted in Reform spaces, but outside of Reform spaces everyone sees me as a "fake Jew". It's like at best Reform Jews are treated as Jewish lite. I put in a lot of time and effort to become Jewish and for some people to just dismiss that feels really disheartening. It's just..... tiring.

Comments

Well, the Talmud equates shaming someone with murder, and it’s also forbidden to differentiate coverts from other Jews or, under nearly any circumstances, ask if they converted. A second OU source, since those seem to hold extra weight with gatekeepers.

People who ask your status or shame you are breaking Halacha, and really that should be their problem. But also: do these people NEED to know you converted? Are you marrying them? Orthodoxy won’t count women in a minyan anyway, so no issues there. I think you would not be at fault for not handing people information you suspect they’ll weaponize.

Similar to being trans, I just expect people to behave, and if they don’t, act surprised and return awkwardness to sender.

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2 months ago