Class Topics

In our nine months of conversion classes, we will learn about and discuss the following topics:

Torah: the Book that kept the "People of the Book"

Torah: the Book that kept the “People of the Book”

The starting point for Jewish ideas and values, a Jewish manual for living and determining God’s Will.

Kierkegaard called Judaism a religion of “outspoken optimism.” We will see that optimism throughout the Torah and Judaism.

God, Torah (God’s Word) and the People Israel

God, Torah (God’s Word) and the People Israel

  • The foundations of Judaism
  • A religion of the heart and the head
  • The spirit and the letter of the commandments, of God’s love for humanity and man’s love for God

God’s Commandments (Mitzvot)

God’s Commandments (Mitzvot)

  • God’s instructions for living and loving
  • Halachah
  • God’s commandments as evidence of His great love for humans
  • God in search of man to be His partner in redeeming the world
  • Different kinds of commandments
  • The necessity of religious ritual

Judaism and Christianity

Judaism and Christianity

  • Theological differences
  • The reasons Jews did not accept that Jesus was the Messiah
  • Jesus as an observant Jew
  • The religious and political milieu at the turn of the millennium
  • The inclusiveness of Judaism
  • The Noahide Laws
  • Dual covenants
  • Paul’s role in interpreting Judaism
  • The Torah as source for Jesus’ sayings and the Sermon on the Mount

Justice and the Mission of the Jewish People

Justice and the Mission of the Jewish People

  • Jewish ethics in every aspect of life
  • To do the right and the good
  • Abraham and the Jewish tradition of protest
  • A treasured people and a holy nation

Holiness and Chosenness

  • What “chosenness” really means
  • Holiness as a potential for all humans

Made in the Image of God

Made in the Image of God

  • The Jewish God of Love
  • God-consciousness
  • Making the mundane activities of life holy
  • Loving your neighbor as yourself
  • Profoundly respecting life
  • Repentance and forgiveness
  • Free will
  • Absence of “original sin” in Judaism
  • Theodicy and the problem of evil
  • Teshuvah (repentance/return) and its centrality in Judaism
  • Keeping kosher – making the act of eating holy

Shabbat: God’s Gift to the Jews

Shabbat: God’s Gift to the Jews

  • How to observe Shabbat – lighting candles, saying blessings, singing songs, saying grace after meals
  • Enjoying Sabbath activities
  • Focus on being rather than having
  • Putting the world of work aside to make room for God
  • Making room for relationships rather than things
  • Havdalah – separating the sacred from the ordinary at the end of Shabbat

The Sacredness of Life

The Sacredness of Life

  • Honoring parents
  • Visiting the sick
  • Giving financial assistance
  • Bestowing loving kindness
  • Hospitality
  • Feeding the hungry
  • Kindness to animals
  • Redeeming the captive

The Jewish Laws of Fair Speech

  • A close look at how words can destroy or heal
  • Opinions of the great Jewish sages about respecting human beings by one’s choice of words

Jewish History

Jewish History

  • From Adam to the present, a four-thousand year odyssey of faith, trial and miracles.

A Look at the Major Streams of Judaism

  • The Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist and Reform Movements in Judaism, what they stand for and how they differ
  • The role of women in the major streams of Judaism

Sacred Relationships

Sacred Relationships

  • Marriage rituals and their meanings
  • The Ketubah
  • The laws of family purity
  • The mikvah
  • Pastoral Letter: “This is My Beloved, This is My Friend”
  • Divorce
  • Lieberman Clause
  • Prenuptial agreements
  • The Get
  • Sexual Orientation

Entering the Covenant

Entering the Covenant

  • What is the covenant between God and man and why is it so important
  • Birth, Brit Milah (circumcision)
  • Brit Bat (covenant of the daughter)
  • Simhat Bat
  • Pidyon Ha Ben

Conversion to Judaism

Conversion to Judaism

  • How Judaism views converts
  • An historical look at how non-Jews have joined the Jewish people at various historical times
  • The steps in the conversion process today
  • The beautiful story of Ruth
  • Use of the mikvah in the conversion process
  • Psychological issues in relating to non-Jewish relatives
  • Embracing Judaism and the Jewish People

The Jewish Holidays and Living in Sacred Time

The Jewish Holidays and Living in Sacred Time

  • Theological underpinnings, traditions, religious rituals and meanings for today
  • The holidays as renewals of God’s encounters with man in history

How to Make a Jewish Home

The many Jewish traditions and rituals which make the home an expression of one’s Jewish beliefs and a focus for Jewish family learning and observance.

Jewish Texts

Jewish Texts

  • Torah, Oral Torah
  • Mishnah
  • Gemara
  • Talmud
  • Law Codes
  • Responsa
  • Midrash

Jewish Death and Mourning Rituals

Jewish Death and Mourning Rituals

  • Jewish ideas of the Life To Come
  • Jewish ideas regarding the resurrection of the body
  • The Messianic Age
  • The Messiah
  • Death, funeral, shiva and mourning rituals
  • Respect for the dead
  • The psychology of Jewish mourning rituals
  • Jewish halachah regarding converts mourning the death of close non-Jewish relatives
  • Jewish medical directives; organ donation

Prayer and Liturgy

Prayer and Liturgy

  • Talking to God
  • Blessings
  • Three daily services
  • The Amidah and other major prayers
  • Reasons for prayer
  • Understanding the Shabbat morning service and the Siddur (prayerbook)
  • The Shema

The Shoah

The Shoah

  • The destruction of 6 million Jews
  • How to remember it
  • How to make it a force for life

Jew Hatred, the Longest Hatred

  • Origins and chronology
  • Examples
  • Trends
  • How to respond to it and to be a knowledgeable force for change and education

Zionism and the Miracle of the Birth of the State of Israel

Zionism and the Miracle of the Birth of the State of Israel

  • What the Torah says about the land of milk and honey
  • History leading up to the 1948 declaration of the State by David Ben Gurion
  • Events from 1948 until the present
  • Facts and myths regarding the land of Israel and its occupants
  • The significance of Israel in the Conservative Movement and among Jews of the Diaspora
  • The amazing story of the return of a dispersed and persecuted people to their homeland

Israel Today

Israel Today

  • The people
  • The land
  • Law and government
  • Cultures
  • Religions
  • Scientific developments
  • Archaeological finds
  • Jerusalem, its history and significance
  • The accomplishments of Israelis

What is Judaism?

According to theologian Byron Sherwin of Chicago’s Spertus College, Judaism is “a way of thinking as well as a way of living” and Jewish theology is “a study of the human relationship with the Divine, and the nature and implications of religious faith.”

Some of the topics we discuss are:

  • Jewish Texts
  • God’s Commandments (Mitzvot)
  • Jewish Holidays
  • Sacred Relationships
  • Prayer and Liturgy
  • Israel Today

In this class, we will discover the myriad ways in which Judaism helps us create God-conscious moments in every aspect of our lives – fostering change in our hearts and minds and souls.

Contact Us Today

To contact Nancy Labbie or a sponsoring Rabbi, please contact the United Synagogue Office below:

Students may register and begin classes at any time from September to June.

Partner Program

Looking for a program in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago?

Anshe Emet Synagogue offers a comprehensive program for people who are considering conversion to Judaism.