Tuesday, June 26, 2007

So, I have had some questions bothering me for a while. I e-mailed them to Rabbi Dan the other day, and he wrote to say he was working on it, but didn't have answers yet. My questions are:
1. I have read the three books at the top of the list and now I am not sure how I should go about starting or doing the rest of the list. I am going through the 39 melochos with Adara on Saturdays; will completing the set with her be sufficient, or do I need to do it with a rabbi/rebbitzen?
2. I cannot read Hebrew really well yet (even just phonetically), so I often use transliterations. When I read these prayers, I realize that many of them are not meant for non-jews, and so I don't know if I am praying in vain when I say them. Should I always substitute Hashem when I pray, like when I pray from the Siddur, say brachos, or bench?
3. I have been told that I cannot keep Shabbos fully, so I always make a point of doing something every week to break Shabbos. If I am breaking Shabbos, should I still say the prayers to start/end Shabbos?
4. I am moving into the aruv on July 1. At my old apartment, I bought only Kosher food and tried to keep Kosher as best I could. When I move, I plan on trying to make my kitchen completely Kosher. However, I know that because I cannot be shomer Shabbos, and probably for some other reasons, my kitchen won't be considered actually Kosher for anyone Jewish. I also watched Rabbi Gene kasher Caleb & Edgar's kitchen. Would there be any reason to ask a Rabbi to help me kasher my kitchen initially?
5. I feel really lost as far as what I should be doing. Is there anything you can suggest?

As soon as I get answers, I will post them.
In other news, I seem to have been accepted into the community with warm arms. There aren't many people my age who are single, but I've made friends with pretty much everyone who is my age and single. I've never had so many female friends.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there!
I found your blog via the Orthodox conversion group at Yahoo. I just wanted to say that I'm in ATL (for the summer, then I move to Charlotte for my last year as an undergrad) and I'm kinda in the same boat a you. I haven't yet approached a Rabbi about converting, though. I'm attending Cong. Beth Jacob and have loved it.
Good luck with everything!
~ Brekke

Tamara said...

Check out: JewsByChoice.Org