{"id":43564,"date":"2024-02-23T01:51:58","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T09:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=43564"},"modified":"2024-02-22T09:39:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T17:39:00","slug":"the-choice-to-convert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2024\/02\/23\/the-choice-to-convert\/","title":{"rendered":"The choice to convert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam is one of the potential converts interviewed in the documentary Converts: The Journey of Becoming Jewish, directed by Rebecca Shore and Oren Rosenfeld, which is part of this year\u2019s Vancouver Jewish Film Festival. (photo from convertsmovie.com<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

A religion that encourages questions, one in which people can speak directly with God. A religion that\u2019s thousands of years old, which so many have attempted to wipe out, yet still flourishes. A religion that\u2019s intellectual and communal, which involves both the head and the heart.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Danya (photo from convertsmovie.com)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These are just some of the aspects of Judaism highlighted in Converts: The Journey of Becoming Jewish<\/i>, directed by Rebecca Shore and Oren Rosenfeld. The 70-minute documentary is part of this year\u2019s Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, which runs April 4-14 in theatres and April 15-19 online.<\/p>\n

Converts<\/i> follows Adam, Danya and Bianka as they go through the conversion process. Each have their own reasons for wanting to become Jewish.<\/p>\n

Adam, a student at York University when we meet him, grew up in a violence-filled neighbourhood in Toronto. His father used the family\u2019s savings \u2013 that could have gone into moving the family elsewhere \u2013\u00a0<\/span>to establish a church, which failed. Adam was attracted to Judaism because, unlike the Christianity he grew up with, Judaism gave him the space to ask questions and to speak with God directly, though giving up belief in Jesus was hard, he admits.<\/p>\n

Danya, a businesswoman from Costa Rica, found out in high school that she has Spanish-Portuguese Jewish roots, that her ancestors were forced to convert to Catholicism from Judaism centuries ago. She feels that ancestral pull and uproots her life, traveling to Israel with her daughter in the hope of converting and living there.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Bianka (photo from convertsmovie.com)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bianka, a PhD student in chemistry at the University of Warsaw, lives in Radom, Poland. She immerses herself in a few other religions before finding comfort in what she considers Judaism\u2019s scientific approach, but also in the warmth of the Jewish community, which she discovers by attending synagogue and holiday events.<\/p>\n

Well-constructed and well-paced, Converts<\/i> is a fascinating look at identity, family, community, religion, the search for meaning and the possibilities of change and self-actualization.<\/p>\n

For tickets to the film festival, visit vjff.org<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adam is one of the potential converts interviewed in the documentary Converts: The Journey of Becoming Jewish, directed by Rebecca Shore and Oren Rosenfeld, which is part of this year\u2019s Vancouver Jewish Film Festival. (photo from convertsmovie.com) A religion that encourages questions, one in which people can speak directly with God. A religion that\u2019s thousands […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43576,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[3157,725,6967,4330,218,4582],"class_list":["post-43564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-canada","tag-conversion","tag-documentaries","tag-israel","tag-judaism","tag-poland"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}