Winston's Conversion

I thought I would update everyone on Winston and his trip to the mikveh. (Don't worry, she didn't throw him into the body of water behind her in the picture.)

When we walked into Shul on Friday night, LO was off and running. She went to talk with our Rabbi and I had no clue what she was talking about but he was nodding his head in agreement and smiling the whole time.

At the oneg, the Rabbi told me about their conversation. She apparently was concerned that Winston was not Jewish and she wanted to arrange for him to go to the mikveh as soon as possible. She also made sure to point out to the Rabbi that although Winston was not Jewish, he was wearing a baseball hat to cover his head so he could attend services. (Oy - this kid!) The Rabbi explained that teddy bears had a special blessing that would make them Jewish and that unlike people, it is not necessary for teddy bears to go to the mikveh. She seemed satisifed with this and seems at ease knowing that her teddy bear is now a member of the Jewish people.

She continued to "make the rounds" at all the tables being what I can only describe as a "cheerleader for Judaism". I shook my head, looked at the Rabbi and motioned toward her and said, "There she is, the future of the Jewish people." The Rabbi replied, "I think we are in good hands."

Winston goes to the mikveh

I was waiting to write this post until I could take a picture with LO and Winston. However, I hear that there is someone who is a little unpatient looking for a new post from me. And since I have all of 7 readers, I wouldn't dare lose him. So...here's a "placemark" picture for my post. I'll update the post with LO's picture later.

After all of the adoption paperwork for LO went to China, all I had to do was wait. For anyone with a child, surely you can understand that this waiting is much like being pregnant except for the fact that the whole process takes longer than 9 months. (Oh and another benefit is that I didn't have to gain a million pounds to have her.) Sometimes the wait was unbearable for me (pun intended) and my sister did her best to help me deal with it. One day she brought me to Build-A-Bear Workshop and we built a teddy bear for LO long before we even knew who she was. We named the bear Winston after my grandfather Z"L.

LO has never been all that attached to any of her stuffed animals but recently she has decided that Winston is her favourite bear and that he has to go everywhere with us. On the way to Hebrew school yesterday we had the following conversation:

LO: Mama, is Winston Jewish?

Me: Well, um...I guess he is since you are his mother and you are Jewish.

LO: But he didn't come out of my belly so he can't be Jewish until he goes to the mikveh.

Me: (Trying very hard not to laugh) Um...well I guess you are right. Since he didn't come out of your belly he will need to be converted.

LO: (looking at Winston) Winston, don't worry, you can go to the mikveh and it's not scary and then you can be Jewish just like us! Mama, can we ask the Rabbi when he can take Winston to the mikveh?

Me: Sure we can ask him.

This of course led to this conversation:

LO: Can I bring Winston to Shabbat with us?

Me: As long as he doesn't make too much noise during services you can bring him.

LO: Will he have to wear a kippah?

Me: Well he's a boy so he will have to wear one.

LO: Ok, can we make him one?

Me: Yes - we'll make him one.

LO: How will it stay on?

Me: We'll figure out a way.

LO: Ok, but don't sew it to his head, it might hurt.

Me: I promise, we won't hurt him.

So, I actually did speak to the Rabbi (and no, he didn't think I was meshugganah). He said he would have to look up the blessing for converting her bear but it looks like Winston will be going to the mikveh.

Is this kid Jewish or what? (I'm kvelling.)

How can you be Jewish? You're Chinese!

Yep, that's the look I usually get when I tell people that we are Jewish. I don't know why it is such a surprise to people. Maybe it's because we don't look Jewish? (And what does Jewish look like anyway?) Isn't Judaism a religion and aren't we all free to chose what religion we want to be? Oh....I know - it's that whole race vs. religion thing right? Well, when they put a "J" for Jewish checkbox next to the W, B, H and A on all those silly forms we fill out in life, then you can talk to me about the race thing. (Oh, but if they do that, do I check the "J" box or the "A" box or am I allowed to check both?)

For whatever reason our Judaism is such a surprise, I tell the story quite often, so here it is out in the Blogosphere for all to see. I wish I could tell some great story like I traced my lineage to the Jews of Keifeng or explain it by saying that my neshama was at Mount Sinai and for whatever reason, G-d decided that my neshama should be in Chinese body this time around, but the story is less grandiose.

Remember the movie "The Jerk" with Steve Martin? It started with him saying, "I was born a poor black child..." It goes on to the point where he realizes that this was not really the case and he is something totally different. I feel like that sometimes.

Both of my parents are 100% Chinese. I was born in New York (isn't that where most Jews in the Diaspora are born?) My parents divorced when I was 2-years old and shortly thereafter my mother married a Jewish man. I didn't know until I was around 13 or so that this man was not my father. (The fact that I looked nothing like him or his family apparently meant nothing to me.) Many of my childhood memories are that of a Jewish child in a Jewish household...Shabbats, holidays, typical Jewish Grandmother, typical Jewish Great-Grandmother (who made the BEST gefilite fish and latkes!), etc.

Fast forward a bunch of years to when I adopted LO in China. Since halakha does not consider adoption a blood relation, I knew that LO would need to be converted. And so I went to talk to our Rabbi about it. In the process we learned that my mother had never converted and that she had never converted me. So, not only did LO need to convert, I needed to convert! Since we keep kosher, we go to shul on every Shabbat, LO goes to Sunday school, and all of our non-work/non-school activities are shul related, my circle of friends has often dubbed me "the most Jewish of all". The irony of the fact that I was not "technically" Jewish became the brunt of much joking around. I was angry at first because I felt like a part of my identity that I had always known was actually a falsehood. The anger was short lived because the process of studying our beloved Torah and the several meetings with our Rabbi taught me so much and gave me an even greater love for Judaism than I already had. And so on the 6-year anniversary of the first day that I ever held LO in my arms, she and I did our tevillah and officially joined the people of Israel. Never has anything felt so "right".

Shabbat Shalom.