Page 39 - issue
P. 39
Jews by Choice 31
conversions is because Conservative rabbis don’t require
their congregants to be observant,’ You can ride on
Shabbos and don’t have to eat kosher or do things that
the halacha requires of you.”
Orthodox Jews of Color
When the Womacks were in graduate school in
Massachusetts, Tzadik Lev came home one day and told
Tikvah that he had a meeting with an Orthodox rabbi. He
asked her if she was willing to meet with him.
“I said, ‘Oh no!’” reminisces Tikvah. “It wasn’t because I
didn’t believe in Orthodoxy at the time; it was because I
knew what was required of an Orthodox woman – and I
guess I just wasn’t there yet. I knew that I needed a com-
munity and a support around me in order to be there, and
I didn’t have that in Massachusetts. With family being
here, plus being in a large, vibrant Orthodox community,
the move for Baltimore was necessary for me to make that
lifestyle change.
“In addition,” adds Tikvah, “the main thing that was
missing in our conversation was Hashem…. We have to
remember why we are on this journey – to honor Hashem
all our lives and to have a relationship, a connection, to
bring meaning to our lives, to our family, and to the world.
We also knew we needed to make that move in order to
bring Hashem back into our conversation.”
The Womacks took on Orthodox practice in 2013 and
underwent an RCA Orthodox-approved conversion
(accepted by the State of Israel) on Tzom Gedalya, 2014.
Tikvah conceived a couple of months later.
Tzadik Lev reflects on one aspect of their conversion:
“Unfortunately, there is a lot of racism that we encounter
in our community, and being Jews of color, and raising a
child who is going to be a Jew of color as an adult, we feel
that if our child, if he would walk into a room, he can feel,
‘Hey, I’m frum-from-birth; I know who I am.’”
“We daven in Ner Tamid, and Rabbi Motzen is our very
supportive, amazing rabbi,” says Tikvah. “We’ve had con-
versations with him about this issue, and he welcomes the
conversation. It is a very diverse community, and we feel
very much at home here. We feel very privileged to be part
of a community, because, as Tzadik says, some Jews of
color end up off the derech because they can’t find a com-
munity. We feel fortunate that we were able to.”
“It’s a very special thing, just in terms of the support the
rabbi has offered my family,” remarks Tzadik Lev. “For
example, my grandmother, whom I love dearly, passed
almost a couple of years ago, on an erev Shabbos. Besides
my wife, she was the woman I was closest to, in addition
to my mother (who passed when I was a freshman in col-
lege). I would have to stand outside of the church during
the funeral. I don’t know if my family members would have
understood that. That is something that my rabbi helped
u 410 358 8509 u
conversions is because Conservative rabbis don’t require
their congregants to be observant,’ You can ride on
Shabbos and don’t have to eat kosher or do things that
the halacha requires of you.”
Orthodox Jews of Color
When the Womacks were in graduate school in
Massachusetts, Tzadik Lev came home one day and told
Tikvah that he had a meeting with an Orthodox rabbi. He
asked her if she was willing to meet with him.
“I said, ‘Oh no!’” reminisces Tikvah. “It wasn’t because I
didn’t believe in Orthodoxy at the time; it was because I
knew what was required of an Orthodox woman – and I
guess I just wasn’t there yet. I knew that I needed a com-
munity and a support around me in order to be there, and
I didn’t have that in Massachusetts. With family being
here, plus being in a large, vibrant Orthodox community,
the move for Baltimore was necessary for me to make that
lifestyle change.
“In addition,” adds Tikvah, “the main thing that was
missing in our conversation was Hashem…. We have to
remember why we are on this journey – to honor Hashem
all our lives and to have a relationship, a connection, to
bring meaning to our lives, to our family, and to the world.
We also knew we needed to make that move in order to
bring Hashem back into our conversation.”
The Womacks took on Orthodox practice in 2013 and
underwent an RCA Orthodox-approved conversion
(accepted by the State of Israel) on Tzom Gedalya, 2014.
Tikvah conceived a couple of months later.
Tzadik Lev reflects on one aspect of their conversion:
“Unfortunately, there is a lot of racism that we encounter
in our community, and being Jews of color, and raising a
child who is going to be a Jew of color as an adult, we feel
that if our child, if he would walk into a room, he can feel,
‘Hey, I’m frum-from-birth; I know who I am.’”
“We daven in Ner Tamid, and Rabbi Motzen is our very
supportive, amazing rabbi,” says Tikvah. “We’ve had con-
versations with him about this issue, and he welcomes the
conversation. It is a very diverse community, and we feel
very much at home here. We feel very privileged to be part
of a community, because, as Tzadik says, some Jews of
color end up off the derech because they can’t find a com-
munity. We feel fortunate that we were able to.”
“It’s a very special thing, just in terms of the support the
rabbi has offered my family,” remarks Tzadik Lev. “For
example, my grandmother, whom I love dearly, passed
almost a couple of years ago, on an erev Shabbos. Besides
my wife, she was the woman I was closest to, in addition
to my mother (who passed when I was a freshman in col-
lege). I would have to stand outside of the church during
the funeral. I don’t know if my family members would have
understood that. That is something that my rabbi helped
u 410 358 8509 u
