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J O I N U S M AY 7, 2016
Featuring
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30 April 21 • 2016
kosher] with for his conversion, and I
offered. We are now learning Mishnah.”
Sarah spent six months studying with
Rachel Freedland, a Jewish law con-
version tutor and mentor for the beit
din. “Both Sarah and David were very
motivated,” she said. “Their desire to
convert came from a place of wanting
to truly be part of the Jewish people and
be connected to HaShem as Jews. There
was no ulterior motive and that is what
made it so special.”
Last fall, on a single day, the Barneses
experienced two life changes. “Our
conversion took place on Oct. 18, 2015
— on the morning of our wedding,”
David said of the ceremony officiated
by Kostelitz at Dovid Ben Nuchim.
On Dec. 3, 2015, their daughter,
Chana Elisheva, was born Jewish.
FAMILY VIEWS
“Even though my parents are still prac-
ticing, committed Christians, they have
always encouraged me, as long as I
am honest with myself, to seek what I
believe to be true and right,” David said.
“My parents have been very under-
standing and supportive.
“We still have discussions, compar-
ing and contrasting the fundamentals
of Judaism and Christianity, and
I think they find it quite interesting.
Additionally, my parents are under-
standing of our needs regarding kosher
and our inability to come to family
events if they fall on Shabbos, etc.”
Sarah, too, said her family has been
very supportive.
The Barneses have also found
encouragement from another type of
family.
“The warmth, support and friend-
ships we have made at Akiva are
incomparable to anything Sarah and
I had known before,” said David, a
middle school and high school science
teacher since 2005.
“Over the years at Akiva, I have had
the opportunity to learn with incred-
ible rabbis and teachers. Through
them, I fell in love with the Torah,
with Halachah, with the values of
Judaism.”
Sarah, a para-pro in Akiva’s Early
Childhood Center since 2013, said,
“Working with preschoolers was really
a great way to learn the fundamentals
of Judaism. I learned brachot [bless-
ings], parshah [weekly Torah portion]
and chagim [holidays] right along with
the kids. I also really enjoyed being
part of the excitement every week look-
ing forward to Shabbat, making challah
and singing and dancing at the Shabbat
assembly with the kids.”
The couple feels very included
and welcomed in their new commu-
nity, with David expressing immense
gratitude “to all who have invited us
for Shabbos and yom tov [holiday]
meals, even before, let alone during,
our conversion process.”
The Barneses will be a part of the
second Passover seder at the Lowys’
this year. For the first seder, they are
invited to the Oak Park home of Sarah
and Daniel Mizrahi. “We are very, very
close with them,” said Sarah Mizrahi,
an Akiva co-worker, whose children
are Akiva students. “They were at our
seder last year.” Clearly, this year will
be more meaningful.
David noted another change for this
year. Prior to Passover, food prohibited
for possession on the holiday may be
stored away but is required to be sold
temporarily to a non-Jew. “Ironically,
I have bought the chametz [leavened
goods] from Rabbi [Yechiel] Morris at
Young Israel of Southfield for the last
few years,” David said. “Not this year!”
The Barnes’ first-time Passover
preparation actually began in October.
“Right after our conversion, our friends
threw us a ‘kosher kitchen shower,”
Sarah said. “They made sure I had a
set of Pesach cookware, a hand blender
and some mixing bowls.”
David calls the changes that took
place in their lives since last Passover
“amazing, humbling and overwhelming
in the most wonderful way.
“We are so grateful to HaShem for
blessing us with our daughter, Chana,
and for everything — the timing and
the willingness of the rabbis to work
with us on our conversion.
“Rabbi Aaron Leib, elementary and
middle school principal at Akiva, who
has been a close friend and men-
tor over the last six-plus years, suggest-
ed that I view the conversion process as
being like the training period that one
goes through before a big sporting
event or competition,” David said. “It
takes discipline and, though there is
great joy in the learning and prepar-
ing, the true fulfillment is on game
day, when it counts.
“It is so true. There is no way to
describe life before and after the con-
version.
“Regarding Pesach, there is a combi-
nation of excitement and anticipation
coupled with the natural anxiety of the
preparation, especially for our first,” he
said.
“This Pesach, I cannot wait to remem-
ber and celebrate the fact that I, my
wife and my daughter, along with the
entire Jewish nation, were taken out of
Mitzrayim [Egypt]. And that not only
were we delivered from Mitzraim, from
slavery, but brought out for the very pur-
pose, the privilege and the obligation to
obey the mitzvot. It makes all the prepa-
ration very worth it.”
*