The Beit Din

What is the Beit Din?

The term Beit Din means house of judgement. It is compromised of three learned Jewish adults (orthodox require that they be male and all rabbi's). In the liberal movements it may be Rabbi's or laypersons, male or female. Appearing before this board is the final step in your official process.

When you appear before this board you will be presented with questions. The majority of these questions will be open ended. These questions are aimed to find out what has brought you to this point in your life, why you want to convert, and how you family is reacting to your decision. They may also ask questions about common jewish terms and practice.

Please note that the questions are not intended to stump or confuse you. They are merely asking to see that this has been a sencere and well thought out decision.

After they feel they have asked a sufficent number of questions (this may last anywhere from 15 minutes to over an hour) they will make the decision to either accept or reject your request to join the jewish people. They may ask you to step out of the room so that they may confer on there decision. This should not be a cause of concern for you. I have never heard of anyone being rejected. You rabbi would never conviene a beit din if he wasnt sure you were ready.

Once you have been given the beit din's verdict you official conversion has been completed and you are a Jew.

My Beit Din Experence

The date for my Beit Din had finally been scheduled. Its was finally starting to feel real! Because of limitations in the Beit Din members schedule, the Beit Din was to convene later in the evening. I decided to take the entire day off work so that I could sit back and relax.

I slept in late the day of the Beit Din. When I got up I sat around for a while, read some of my notes from the class and my copy of my final assignments. Then I hopped on the internet, just to chat and surf Jewish websites. I thought I would be nervous but I couldn’t be more calm.

My Grandmother decided to pick up a pizza for the two of us on her way home. I ate and then hopped in the shower. I picked something nice out to wear and found a matching Kippah. Then I started on my way to the synagogue. A lady in my class was having her Beit Din that day as well. Her appointment was half an hour before mine but I was always early so I got there in ample time to wish her luck.

The lady from my class and the members of the Beit Din turned to walk into our synagogue the Rabbi turned to tell it may take a little more than the half hour we had planned on. I told him not to worry about it. I had brought some reading material to fill the time. One member of the Beit Din turned and told me not to let my heart rate get up to much. I yelled after him, “To Late!” As much as I may tell others not to be nervous, I was a wreck.

I sate in the care and read and re-read my glossary of terms. My Rabbi had mentioned that a basic understanding of Jewish terms would be important. Finally, a member of the Beit Din came out and told me to wait in the Rabbi’s office.

About five minutes later the Rabbi and the two other Beit Din members came through the door. We shook hands and greeted one another. The man who had told me not to let my heart get up jokingly grabbed my wrist, like he was checking my pulse and laughed.

We all took our seats and the Rabbi spoke to me, assuring me that I had no reason to be nervous and also thanking me for my devotion to the synagogue and conversion class thus far. I greatly appreciated his kind comments but it really wasn’t calming me down. He asked me if I was ready to start the interview. I took a deep breathe and said yes.

He explained that they had looked through my glossary and had some questions about some of the terms on my list. He asked me to define the meaning and what each term means to me as they named the terms. I cant remember every term that they asked me, however a few do come to mind. I was asked about tzedakah - commonly translated to mean charity - and how I planned to make it part of my life. I was also asked about Aseret HaDibrot - the ten commandments - and En Sof - which means without end.

This section of the interview went rather well. I don’t know how, but I somehow managed to know every term they asked. Even I was impressed. We soon moved on to the section of the interview that is all about me.

They asked me:

What brought you to this decision?
When did you first know that this was going to be your decision?
How has your family taken the news?
Was I sure that Judaism was going to be my final choice?
They also asked questions to see that I had given up my pervious Christian beliefs (trinity and etc).

This went on for some time. Finally, they said they felt they had enough information to make their decision and asked that I step out of the room while they confer. I stepped out and sat in the lobby. I was out about three minutes when they called me back in. When I came back in they were all standing. My Rabbi said that they had considered my answers and dedication to Judaism and was happy to welcome me to the Jewish people. He asked that I step into the sanctuary of the synagogue for a short ceremony.

We stepped into the sanctuary and the Rabbi handed me a Tallit. This was very important to me. I had discussed, at length, how I hopped my conversion would be completed by the High Holy Days so I could wear my Tallit to the services. The blessing for putting on a Tallit was at the top of the Tallit. I couldn’t read Hebrew so the Rabbi read it and I repeated.

We then stepped onto the bimah and opened the ark. I was asked several formal questions such as “Did I promise to raise any future children that I may have as Jew.” After each question I answered “I do.” Then the Torah scroll was taken from the ark and placed in my arms. It was heavy but I was thrilled. He read several passages (a few from the book of Ruth) and then I put the Torah back into the ark. There were several “Mazel Tov’s” from the Beit Din and my conversion was officially sealed.

HOME >>>