The contemporary welcome for converts represents both a new chapter in Jewish history and a return to the very beginning of Jewishness, to Abraham and Sarah and the souls who accompanied them, leaving the world of their parents to begin a new chapter in world history.

Judaism defies definition as a religion pure and simple. Unlike other religions, Judaism also refers to a civilization and a culture. The Jews have been called a nation, a tribe, a race, a folk, an ethnic group, and the “people of the book.”

When my wife and I decided to marry, I thought that we’d just join a Unitarian church, where we could celebrate all kinds of holidays. But the rituals and rest and beauty of Shabbat—the wisdom of Shabbat—made me want to be a Jew.

Choosing to be a Jew means that you become vulnerable to a form of bigotry to which you were previously immune; in the process, you may become even more sensitive to all forms of prejudice and discrimination, and more motivated to pursue justice—tzedek—for everyone.

A man went looking for Rabbi Hillel and said to him, “I want to become a Jew. But only on the condition that you teach me the Torah, all of it, while I stand on one foot.” Hillel looked at this smart-aleck and said, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow man. That is the entire Torah—all of it. The rest is commentary. Go and study.”

Since Judaism is pluralistic, democratic, and even contradictory, the more numerous your teachers, the better.

From synagogue pulpits of every denomination, the message is repeated so often that it has become a truism: “We are all Jews by choice.”

Becoming a Jew means choosing to enter into that covenant through which, in turn, God chooses you. It is a mutual, voluntary embrace.

Family is the paradigm for Jewish peoplehood, an anchor of belonging, recognition, and love.