I NEWS I
Converts To Judaism
Including Non-Whites
BEN GALLOB
Special to The Jewish News
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 199Q
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"ilmanusw,
Give every
NEWBORN
the
advantage
March of Dimes
ontrary to popular
belief, converts to
Judaism are not in-
variably white and of
European background.
Many Japanese, Chinese,
Hispanics, Koreans, blacks,
Polynesians, native
Americans and Indians from
the subcontinent have
become Jews by choice.
Egon Mayer, a Brooklyn
College sociologist, said that
while precise figures are not
available, his "best informa-
tion" was that between 900
and 1,000 of the estimated
15,000 conversions to
Judaism in North America
each year — about 6 percent
— are non- white.
He also estimated that
Reform Judaism attracts 65
percent of the non-white
converts because of its
outreach efforts toward non-
Jews marrying Jews, efforts
not duplicated in the other
branches of Judaism.
Lydia Kukoff, director of
the Joint Commission on
Outreach of the Reform
movement, said the patterns
of conversion "usually con-
form to the demographic
patterns in a given area.
"In New York,
Washington and Cleveland,
for example, I encounter
black converts," she said,
but in her hometown of Los
Angeles, "we have had a
significant number of Asians
because of the large Asian
population there.
"In Hawaii, I was in con-
tact with men and women of
Polynesian ancestry who
have converted. There have
been native Americans who
have converted to Judaism,
although I personally have
not worked with any," she
added.
Kukoff suggested that "as
members of recently-arrived
ethnic groups such as the
Vietnamese and other
Southeast Asians become
absorbed into American
culture and come in contact
with Jews through school or
work, we can expect the
number of those who convert
to grow, too."
Rabbi Joel Meyers, exec-
utive vice president of the
Conservative Rabbinical
Assembly, said that
Koreans, Indonesians and
Japanese are among
members of non-white ethnic
groups converted to Conser-
vative Judaism.
--- -
Rabbi Benjamin Walfish,
executive vice president of
the Orthodox Rabbinical
Council of America, said
there are Japanese, blacks
and possibly Vietnamese
and Indians who have been
converted under Orthodox
auspices.
According to Rabbi
Mordechai Liebling, exec-
utive director of the Federa-
tion of Reconstructionist
Congregations and Havurot,
a growing number of Asians
are converting to
Reconstructionist Judaism.
Many childless Jewish
families are adopting non-
white children, and those
children are also undergoing
conversions.
Rabbi Susan Abramson,
rabbi of Temple Shalom
The patterns of
conversion usually
conform to the
demographic
patterns in a given
area.
Emeth in Burlington, Vt.,
told JTA that adoption of
non-white children by
Jewish families goes back
several years and has been
increasing in recent years.
But Abramson, who is
rabbinic adviser to Stars of
David, a support group for
parents of adoptive children,
believes the number will
decline.
She explained that Korean
children were the largest
category of Asians adopted
by Jews because the Korean
government did not oppose
such adoptions. But Korea
recently changed its policy
and Jewish adoptions of
Korean children will soon
end, she said.
Abramson organized Stars
of David five years ago when
a congregant complained she
could not find help adjusting
to family life with her two
adopted Korean children.
The support eventually
expanded to serve Jewish
couples in the Greater
Boston area and now has 30
chapters.
Abramson said the
chapters are linked through
a newsletter edited and
published by a volunteer in
Alexandria, La.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
K