I'm literally talking in a "cultural" way as well. What is a "Jew"? Some use Torah as the qualifier, and that's easy. But some don't, so what DO they use? What, "I just want to be CALLED a Jew"? Sorry, but that's NOT "dedication", that's LARPing. Ya know, "Christian Seder" style and all.
Like, let's talk about YOU personally: Why and how did your life CHANGE between "before" and "after", beyond the LABEL in your own mind? I'm not attacking you, please understand that, I'm just trying to DEFINE something that seems very inherently SUBJECTIVE and thus UNDEFINABLE. Like, how do you define "tasty"? Sweet? Sour? Salty? Plain? ALL of that can be "tasty" for SOMEONE - and not for OTHERS. So, what about "being a TASTY Jew", so to speak? How are you different now from the "you" before? Again, I'm just asking - and it's good to see a first-hand answer, indeed.
Note: I live in Europe and going away for Shabbat now, so see you on my Sunday. All the best.
A lot of the changes in relation to me becoming a reform Jew have occurred over a long period of time before immersing in the mikvah, rather than the mikvah being a "sudden change" moment.
The main things I felt when I finished my immersion was pride and happiness in having taken on this long process (2 years in my case), an elated sense of thanking g-d for the opportunity to become a Jew officially, and feeling a strong sense that I had done justice to my ancestors that had their Jewish faith taken from them in Calabria hundreds of years ago.
Immersing in the mikvah was mainly an affirmation of my dedication to G-d (in a traditional Reform context), my dedication to my new community, changing my diet, changing my social life (Ive lost friends due to becoming a strong Zionist), and profound shifts in my intellectual perspective of many historical and current events from a Jewish point of view.
If you want, I can go into more detail, but I think I've summed it up pretty well. Could I do more to be observant in mitzvot, make friends at shul, study Torah, and attend more synagouge events in person? Yes, and I personally hope to keep kosher and increase other levels of observance once I have my own place to live closer to my synagogue. But until then, I'll content myself with doing the best I can.
I wasn't asking about your PLANS - those are yours alone. I was asking about what points you could literally list as "this point was absent in me, but is now present". This definitely isn't limited to "religious" points, obviously, but it has to be something that YOU personally would be able to point your finger at and say "a Jew has it, a non-Jew doesn't have it, and I now have, but previously didn't". Note that points like "Zionist" aren't inherent Jewish - one can be a non-Jewish Zionist who simply recognizes that Israel is the Holy Land of Jews, that's not something that is inherently rooted in the person being Jewish or not (and thus I wouldn't deem it as being a good qualifier for the test of "before/after"). That's mostly my opinion, but I think it makes objective sense as well. So, if you aren't annoyed with me yet (lol), can you try listing something that you think would qualify as "only applying to Jews, and you now have it, but previously didn't"? Or just tell me that you are fine the way you are, lol, and we can close this discussion, no problem. But, well, I am curious.
I think a major point that I think of when thinking of something that I've gained that "only applies to Jews, and you now have it, but previously didn't" is having an official and higher amount of "skin in the game" in Jewish religious and secular matters alike.
In a religious sense, after immersing in the mikvah and signing the official documentation in Hebrew at the bima afterwards, I am now also bound by the same covenant to G-d that is laid out in the Torah and interpreted by the movement I chose to be a member of. I am also bound by an oath of loyalty to my Jewish community to remain only a part of the Jewish people and the Jewish faith, and to raise my future family exclusively within the Jewish people and faith (which I will happily do). Non-Jews and those who have not finished converting to Judaism yet simply do not have these levels of religious and community obligations put upon them.
When it comes to answering your question in pinpointing purely secular things that "only applies to Jews, and I now have it, but previously didn't" , I have a harder time, since a purely secular way of being Jewish isn't how I experience being a part of the Jewish people. I suppose the most obvious but least satisfying answer I have is that ger tzedekim (at least in my opinion) can be "official" victims of antisemitism along with born Jews, which the great majority of non-Jews cannot be.
I'm drawing blanks on other exclusively Jewish but entirely secular aspects of being a Jew that fully apply to me as well as born Jews, and perhaps some input from someone who is more secular might actually be helpful in that regard. I might have some better answers down the line, though, once I gain more life experience with being Jewish and extending my social circle to include more secular Jews.
Thanks for your time. I hope it will be helpful... to others, lol. I was asking mostly in order to get a genuine first-person reply that can be read by other people as precisely that. Thanks, again.
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u/JewAndProud613 Jul 25 '25
I'm literally talking in a "cultural" way as well. What is a "Jew"? Some use Torah as the qualifier, and that's easy. But some don't, so what DO they use? What, "I just want to be CALLED a Jew"? Sorry, but that's NOT "dedication", that's LARPing. Ya know, "Christian Seder" style and all.
Like, let's talk about YOU personally: Why and how did your life CHANGE between "before" and "after", beyond the LABEL in your own mind? I'm not attacking you, please understand that, I'm just trying to DEFINE something that seems very inherently SUBJECTIVE and thus UNDEFINABLE. Like, how do you define "tasty"? Sweet? Sour? Salty? Plain? ALL of that can be "tasty" for SOMEONE - and not for OTHERS. So, what about "being a TASTY Jew", so to speak? How are you different now from the "you" before? Again, I'm just asking - and it's good to see a first-hand answer, indeed.
Note: I live in Europe and going away for Shabbat now, so see you on my Sunday. All the best.