Edit June 19th: No jury duty. The lump on the tongue got smaller; no biopsy. Mikveh was great!
On June 19th, I’ll kind of become a Jew.
Technically, my conversion isn’t official until June 20th, after I talk with three rabbis at a Beit Din (a Jewish court) and—unless I am found wanting—they wave their magic wands and accept me into the tribe. Normally, the order goes: Beit Din first, then mikveh—the ritual immersion in water that seals the deal.
So why am I doing it backward? Well. That’s where jury duty comes in.
To get a date with the rabbis, I had to turn in three essays—on God, on Torah/Jewish learning, and my identification with the Jewish people. I asked Rabbi Shifra how far in advance to submit them. She said, “Six weeks.” Great, I thought. I’ll aim for a July 15th Beit Din. I turned them in on June 1st. Rabbi Shifra replied the same day and said, “Perfect! The rabbis are available… on June 6th.”
Well, damn! I was on call for federal jury duty from June 5–18, and I had already had one postponement, so there was no getting out of that. Because Rabbi Shifra really wanted us—me and my fellow convert Dawn—to be welcomed into the community at Rock Shabbat on Friday, June 20th at the Temple, we had to squeeze the Beit Din and mikveh into the 19th and 20th, so the order got shuffled.
Rabbi Shifra is not worried—I’ve done my homework, and she is confident that I am supposed to be there. In fact, that’s the deal: no rabbi brings someone to a Beit Din unless the person is considered ready. It’s not a trial or a test, but a conversation. For the Beit Din to reject me at this point, I would, truly, have to say something like: “Actually, I believe that Jesus is the Messiah and I will now be a Jew for Jesus.” I will not be saying that.
So the mikveh—which I think will be really fun and, yes, emotional—is where I immerse myself three times in a warm pool. The closest one is in Los Gatos. I have to be very clean! No dirt under those fingernails or toenails—which, if you know my fingernails and toes, is not a strength of mine. And nude, of course. When I immerse myself, I can’t touch anything and must be completely covered by the water. There is an attendant there to make sure I do it properly!
I’ll say—or sing—three blessings:
The Berakhot HaMitzvot with al ha-tevilah (concerning the immersion) as the ending
The Shema
The Shehecheyanu
Here is a helpful rabbi saying them with a link to their meaning, for those who care.
Then, as I step out of the water—shazam—I will be reborn a Jew (with an asterisk, until Friday’s Beit Din).
At Rock Shabbat, Dawn and I will go in front of the congregation and say the famous lines that the first convert, Ruth, said to her mother-in-law Naomi (Ruth 1:16–17): “Do not urge me to leave you, to turn back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.”
Then we sing, we dance, we say blessings at Rock Shabbat—and later we nosh at the oneg. And okay, after the oneg, we drink! Maybe that night—maybe later—I’ll get the official certificate (Shtar Giur) that confirms I am now a Jew. I am thrilled.
So, a biopsy? On my mikveh day? What??
I have a damn lump on my tongue, and I went to an ENT on Wednesday to check it out. She thinks it is either precancerous (dysplasia) or, possibly, cancerous. The first opportunity to get the biopsy is on a Thursday afternoon—the only day she does this sort of procedure. And she thinks I should do it now. Not a good feeling, but it is what it is.
Most people know that I had tonsil cancer many years ago. In fact, it was 14 years ago to this day that I was in the hospital from an infection due to the chemo zapping my immune system. (My Tonsil Cancer Blog.) Anyway, my ENT says it’s not uncommon for the radiation I received in 2011 to bite back after more than a decade with its own cancer. That’s her worry. Her concern is my concern; where she tells me to go, I will go.
But now jury duty has provided one silver lining. As of this writing, I haven’t been called yet, but if I were, I had no idea how to get out of it ethically. I sure as hell wasn’t going to postpone my Beit Din! I considered lying, but it seemed like a bad idea considering the situation. (“Forgive me, rabbis, for I have sinned!” Oops, wrong religion. Well, there is a mitzvah—aka commandment—against lying, which is “Distance yourself from falsehood.” But as in most things Jewish, there’s a lot of nuance there. That’s for another post. Still, it would be a bad beginning any way you look at it.)
So, wonderfully, the biopsy is my get-out-of-jury-duty card. Yay!
Anyway, I will go to my Beit Din with a couple of small chunks out of my tongue. I sure hope it doesn’t interfere with my ability to talk with the rabbis!
I will keep you all posted.
I switched to a different blog as I just couldn't get my new one to work - or this one really, but it is easier for me to deal with. It will not win awards! Anyway, when I switched, I lost the earlier comments on this one, so here they are (click to see them clearly.)
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