How basic is too basic?
When I went to Rabbi S and asked to convert, he told me that the best thing to do after twenty-five years was to proceed as if I knew nothing. This would include taking a (very expensive) Intro to Judaism class offered by the URJ. I enthusiastically agreed, figuring I could fill in the gaps in my knowledge through classroom instruction and regular consultations with Rabbi S.
Then I attended my first session. Wow.
I can forgive people for being technologically ignorant, even now, and this online course had some bumps as it started. People who don’t know how to open their camera shutter, for example, or how to turn on their microphone. These things happen. But what I wasn’t prepared for was just how completely uninformed my cohort was about even the most basic things related to Judaism.
Like what? How about that Israel refers to a people, a place, and a nation? Or this doozy of a question: are the Jewish people a race?
That anyone could need an answer to that eighty years after the most horrific slaughter ever perpetrated by humanity is disturbing.
There is such a thing as too basic, and we’ve found it. And while I will attend the next nineteen weeks and glean what I can from the class, I am not feeling confident. I’m not an expert or a genius, but I at least can hold my knowledge above that of eugenicists and murderers.
Please, let this be a good decision.