[net.religion] Perlow on conversion

yiri@ucf-cs.UUCP (Yirmiyahu BenDavid) (11/26/84)

From: ken@ihuxq.UUCP (ken perlow)
Subject: Re: conversion to Christianity

--
>>	i am seriously thinking of converting from Judaism to 
>> Christianity, for many reasons...

So did the composer Felix Mendelsohn, but who remembers him as Felix
Bartholdy?  The Nazis still banned his music.  You may adopt all the
beliefs and rituals of the Goyim, but Jewish you can't convert from--
it's something you are.  Have fun, and remember: they'll come for you
anyway.

********************************
Yiri responds:
Over the centuries, persecutions, fear of life and discrimination which
kept Jews from earning the living they deserved has prompted many of the
weaker and more apostate Jews to convert, usually for monetary and
social reasons. To have any meaning you must show at least 3 things:
1. Mendelsohn was an observant Jew just prior to his conversion
2. Mendelsohn was observant of orthodox Judaism at that time
3. Mendelsohn converted for religious, not other reasons.

I don't know where you get your information that you cannot convert from
Judasim but you are all wet! Semitic is something racial. Being a Jew,
however, is more that being semitic. Tell us why you have taken such a
position on converting from Judaism. The fact that an insane man would
have continued to regard you as Jewish is hardly relevant.
*********************************

ken@ihuxq.UUCP (ken perlow) (11/28/84)

--
[I said]
...You may adopt all the
beliefs and rituals of the Goyim, but Jewish you can't convert from--
it's something you are.  Have fun, and remember: they'll come for you
anyway.

[Yiri responded]
>> I don't know where you get your information that you cannot convert from
>> Judasim but you are all wet! Semitic is something racial. Being a Jew,
>> however, is more that being semitic. Tell us why you have taken such a
>> position on converting from Judaism. The fact that an insane man would
>> have continued to regard you as Jewish is hardly relevant.

Yiri is right, I am indeed all wet.  Especially after motorcycling
home from work in the pouring rain.  From a Jewish perspective it
is easy to convert from Judaism, and I defer to Yiri's obvious
scholarship in this matter.  Whether the rest of the world accepts
such a conversion is another matter.  Does it matter?  Only if the
convert is doing so to run away from his Jewish heritage.  And in
that case, the fact that an insane man (and millions of his otherwise
sane sychophants) would continue to regard him as Jewish might be
highly relevant.  I have no reason to believe that this man wishes
to convert for this reason, however, and whatever he does, I do
wish him fulfillment and peace.
-- 
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