Is a Jewish Convert obligated to reveal their status? (September 2008)

   i found this link on aliza hausman's website www.alizahausman.net . its very interesting. when you are born jewish you always wonder why someone born not a member of the tribe would want to be one . chaviva galatz discusses a little of the why and mostly the just wanting to blend in with everyone else part because once you are jewish that is what you are.

suddenly goyish.

i have a friend who always had thought she was jewish because her father was jewish until one day she found out that orthodox jews only go by matralineal descent. so she converted to judaism and became orthodox. i always wondered what someone in this situation feels. my friends mom wasn't alive when she came across this information. all of her family at the time was jewish. they weren't orthodox, but they were jewish.

what would you do if you found out you weren't really jewish? as a kid my first thought was that i would leave judaism. as an adult i realize that my answer is quite different. if i wasn't jewish i certainly would not be christian. christianity seems like b.s. to me. especially after a lifetime of judaism i could not even contemplate being a christian. islam is anti-woman and pro-suicide bombing so that religion would be out as well. i suppose i would consider becoming a member of the "i just believe in being a good person " religion that many secular jews believe in .

the thing is if i found out that i wasn't jewish but the rest of my family was jewish (as they are now) i would find it hard not to be jewish anymore. being jewish is so much a part of my life. the thing is , if i found out i wasn't really jewish as in i was adopted as a baby i would like to think that i would choose judaism. maybe this is because if i would adopt a child i would hope that they would want to be jewish. but on the other hand adoptive children usually want to become a part of their adoptive families lives which includes their religion. i think that unless i had a bad relationship with my adoptive family i would remain jewish. being jewish would be all i would know. and if i would be the same person i am now, i know that i enjoy being jewish and observing the holidays and the mitzvos .

still, its hard to really consider an answer because its hard to choose an answer to a question that isnt. im jewish . im not adopted. three of my grandparents and all of my great -grandparents were born in the shtetls of russia-poland. so whatever answer i might have to the "what would you do if you found out you weren't really jewish?" question are purely hypothetical.

why be jewish?

often when jewish people are confronted by sincere converts to judaism they ask they "WHY would you want to convert" after all its no easy task to be jewish even if one is not observant. i think that a convert makes people turn inward and access ones own connection to judaism. it is different to have chosen to be jewish as opposed to being born jewish .when one is born jewish one can decide how jewish one wants to be but the pintele yid will always be there no matter what . a convert always must uphold his judaism to prove he really is a member of the tribe.
as a person who was born jewish i cant imagine being anything but jewish. christianity and islam dont interest me. if i wouldnt be jewish i wouldnt be any religion. but would i choose judaism? i dont know. its so hard to ask oneself a question that is so hypothetical that i cant be unbiased in my answer.
though i find this question so hard to answer i will also say that since i am jewish i cant imagine not being frum. it is so much a part of who i am. i have friends who have gone off the derech who think not being frum would bring me more dates. of course they arent frum but they dont have as many dates as i do. the truth is for my off the derech friends, not being frum is so much a part of who they are. it really has nothing to do with whether or not they think they will find a relationship. its just how they feel most comfortable. alas ... we all have to do what is best for us. which bring me back to the converts who make us contemplate our relationship with hashem. why be jewish? well because it is what we feel is right for us. or at the very least what i think is right for me.