Oh no! Maruchan Ramen Noodles aren't Kosher!

One of the first steps I took after deciding to convert to Judaism was to keep a Kosher-style diet. After about six months of doing this I have learned a lot about it and about people's reactions to it. I've gotten to the point where this diet has become second nature, but it did not come easily. There have been many difficulties and learning experiences along the way. 

The first difficulty that I encountered was giving up Maruchan Ramen noodles. As a college student Ramen Noodles were a staple. They are cheap, quick, and easy to make. They don’t taste too bad either. When I decided to try keeping kosher I went through my dorm room searching for all of the non-kosher foods so that I could get rid of them. When I came to my Ramen I was not able to find a hechsher (Kosher symbol) on the packaging. I looked at the ingredients to see if there were any non-kosher ingredients, then I saw that it may contain shellfish. My heart nearly stopped. I figured bacon and cheeseburgers would be the hardest foods to give up, but in an odd way this was. 

When confronted with difficult choices like this it's easy to cheat or give up, but for me, it was an opportunity to think about why I wanted to do it in the first place. I chose to keep a kosher-style diet because the laws of kosher are in the Torah. Those laws to me are G-d's requirements as a part of his covenant. They are what he expects of those who love and fear him. Whether or not I can understand or agree with the laws is not necessarily the point. The point is the covenant itself. 

I don't like to think of keeping kosher as things that I can and can't eat. I like to think of it as things that I will and will not eat. When I explain it to people I like use the marriage analogy. A marriage is a covenant of love and life between two people. One spouse may have certain requirements, such as you must not cheat on him or her. If presented with the opportunity to cheat, to say that you can't is technically false because most people very well can and would want to. But to say that you won't despite wanting to speaks more to the covenant of marriage and your willingness to honor it and be bound to it. Contrary to what many may think I find pleasure in doing my part in moving into a special covenant with G-d. It is very rewarding. 

It's also rewarding to be able to explain why I choose certain foods when dining with others. It's an opportunity to share a little bit of Torah with them. I am very happy with having chosen to keep a kosher-style diet, and intend on keeping it up for the rest of my life.

My Jewish Birthday (28 Adar)

Yesterday, March 30, 2014 was my Jewish birthday as calculated by chabad.org. I was born on the Adar 28, 5751 on the Hebrew calendar. Just for fun my friends and I got together to celebrate it the Saturday night before with cake and punch. In the picture below my friends wrote, "Happy Jew B-day" and drew a Star of David. The "1" was there because it was my first time celebrating my birthday according to the Jewish calendar.

Celebrating my Jewish birthday was a good time and made me feel special. The experience made turning 23 not as uneventful as it normally would be. Perhaps next year I'll learn more about how Jews celebrate birthdays differently from what I've done in the past.

After some of my friends sang happy birthday in Hebrew we did a Havdallah service (using the birthday candle) to mark the end of Shabbat. Shavua Tov!

Coming Out of The Jewish Closet

First off, I would like to apologize for not posting for quite a while. School, extracurricular activities and my social life have taken up quite a bit of my time lately. 

Anyway, I would like to update you all on me telling my family about my choice to convert to Judaism (some of my friends and I call it "coming out of the Jewish closet"). At first I was very nervous. As I mentioned in a previous post, I thought that the situation would include guilt trips, dissuasion attempts, anger, frustration, and ridicule. I am happy to report that I was completely wrong. The opposite occurred. 

One evening during my Thanksgiving break I sat down with my mom and I just told her that I was converting. She didn't really understand what I was telling her at first, then she had many questions. I anticipated many of the questions she had in order to prepare for the conversation. Luckily, I was able to answer every question she had. 

Back then and even until now she has some issues with my beliefs and practices, but for the most part she respects my decision. I believe that her respect for my decision comes largely because I have taken time to think it through and I was able to show her that this was something that I seriously wanted to do. 

My favorite time in my conversion since letting my mother and brothers know about my conversion process was on one weekend I came home to visit. I came home on Friday and when my mom got home from work I showed her how to light the Shabbat candles. We also had challah and had dinner and I talked to her about some Shabbat practices. The next day I showed her how I do Havdallah (the ceremony to end Shabbat). She and my brothers were very interested in learning about it.

This type of reaction to my change in religion was unexpected. What I can take from this situation is that I've grown and my mom now sees me as a man capable of making my own decisions. She now respects me as a person and no longer sees me as a child. I am exceedingly happy about that. Now the next step is to tell my dad and pretty much everyone else in my family.