2005-04-30 - 7:45 p.m.
last wednesday i officially became Jewish. it was a great day. i went to the commnity mikvah in wilmette and had the bet dien, hatafat dam brit and mikvah immersions. i was not alone. there were two other candidates for conversion there as well. i was surprised, not many people convert. but they were very nice and we now share a unique bond that is very rare; i will never forget their presence. so the bet dien went well. the mohel later told me that he was impressed at how confident i was in speaking. i have to admit i did do pretty well, i even referenced isaiah at one point. and plus, how could i not do well? the questions they were asking me were exactly the type of questions that i wanted to answer. after that we all went to the mikvah. the mohel came in the lance the head of my penis. it wasn't bad. i barely felt it and the bleeding stopped in about 3 seconds. then i showered, took out my contacts and went to the mikvah. i immersed myself three times and said the approrprate prayers. i came out, and i was Jewish. It was truly a joyous occasion. i cannot exaclty describe what it was like emotionally. as i ascended the steps out of the mikvah i was beaming. i was not (and still aren't quite) in my normal frame of mind. i was and still am elated. so i left and appropriately went to danielle's. we got some thai food and hung out. it is always good to see her. i was surprised when she invited me to come with her to her parent's house. when i dated danielle (wow, over three years ago now) her family wasn't even allowed to know about it. but things are very different now, and i have been latently looking forward to meeting them for a long time. i met both her father and mother, and even her little nephew yakov. he is adorable, and very bright. so cute. danielle is going to be a good mother some day. when danielle's mom came home she offered to feed me. i instantly liked her. anyone who will feed me is awesome in my book. she made fried matzah and it was very good. i took danielle back to her apartment at about 9:30pm. we hung out for like seven hours. we're good at that. friday night i had invited a bunch of people to my temple because i was going to be reciting some blessings and such as part of the service. my dad and brother came, my friend bekah and her family, kenzo, capn d, debbie and stacey. i was so happy to see them all. especially one of them, but that's another stupid story. not surprisngly and despite my invitation, my mom didn't go. i don't know how this is going to ever be all right between her and i. i'm going to give her a lot of space. at the sevice i went up in front of the congregation and said a pledge to Judaism essentially. then, which i wasn't expecting, i was allowed to march the Torah around the congregation. i was so happy and smiling like a lunatic. it felt great. and at the end i drank my first kiddush (with grape juice, not wine) and the cantor even let me use her cup. bekah's family then invited me out to dinner with them and we went to greek islands on halsted. they have been so incredibly nice and generous to me throughout this.
so that's the story of how a man becomes Jewish. my hebrew name is Yisrael ben Avraham v Sarah
i am also now obsessed with Megadeth's Rust In Peace album.
"It might be your homeland." Holy Wars- Megadeth
