We're sorry you're not as good as us :(
Thank you to the anonymouse on wank_report for this one.

This post on

dream_king asserting (among other things) that one cannot be a mother and pro-choice, and that it’s up to women to deal with the problems of sex, i.e. pregnancy. It gets posted to stupid_free.

pester is a stupid_free member who also likes being patronising, often with emoticons. It turns out that her husband is dream_king.

The result is lots of fun for everyone, including bonus gossip about the happy couple!

A few choice links:

Abortions yay!

Why would anyone live in a trailer let alone an unheated one?

Penises yay!

You're not a real Jew!

What say you, Canadians?

Very important question! Would you choose Jews or circumcision?

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khym_chanur
2007-05-02 04:19 am UTC (link)

I am not a theologian, nor do I play one on the internets, but I was always given to understand that Judaism as a religion is not evangelical in the least, and that conversion is often extremely difficult or outright discouraged.

I'm not Jewish, but I've done some reading on the subject, and this is my understanding:

Proselytizing isn't explicitly or implicitly favored in
the Tanakh (the Old Testament that the Jews use). It doesn't explicitly say "You must go out and convert", and it also doesn't say that a person must convert to be moral and/or avoid going to Hell, which would be a cause to go out and convert even without explicit commands. However, there isn't anything saying that you can't go out and convert. Long ago, there were certain groups of Jews who were fond of proselytizing, but this practice got stamped out during the anti-Judaic phase of European history. Currently conversion is discouraged because:

1) a non-Jew can be moral by simply by following the commandments God laid down to Noah, which is much easier than the rules of Judaism, so why make things hard on yourself?

2) once you convert, you can't unconvert, so you should be really sure about doing it

3) The rabbis don't want someone converting and then doing a half-assed job of it because they aren't fully committed.

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	chibikaijuu 2007-05-02 04:48 am UTC (link)
	Also, converting to Judaism, especially Orthodoxy, is not in the least like converting to Christianity. It's a long, involved, complicated process, mostly designed to make sure those who convert really mean it. It's not like just "letting Jesus into your heart" - you actually make a covenant with God. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ayezur 2007-05-02 05:18 am UTC (link)
	That, and you're also being initiated into a whole cultural thingy. It really reminds me of a saying about how to become Cajun I wandered across once - you can only do it "by blood, by marriage, or by the back door," not just by announcing you are. The community as a whole has to accept you. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	seiberwing 2007-05-02 04:18 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah. We have the mikvah at our house (by which I mean ritual bath, by which I mean Melton Hill Lake) and there's a whole lot of stuff that goes into it even before they go skinny-dipping. (Reply to this)(Parent)

janegraddell
2007-05-02 01:13 pm UTC (link)

My husband converted a couple of years ago (Reform), and ultimately I was the one who had to convince the rabbis that no, really, I *don't care* what religion he chooses, and no, really, I *don't care* what religion, if any, my daughter is raised in. If it makes my husband happy, and my daughter gets some kind of consistent code of ethics/morals, I'm all for it. Honest. But they wanted to be sure that I was going to support him, and that he wouldn't convert and then never be seen again because he was having to fight me over it. Once the rabbis realized that I had no problem with raising my daugher Jewish, I guess they figured I must really be okay with it. :)

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