Why Do Rabbis Discourage Conversions?
为什么犹太的法学博士不鼓励加入犹太教
(英语水平有限,有错误请指正,以表达正确的意思)
By Aron Moss
 
 
Question:

问:
I am a bit confused. I have many Jewish friends, but they are mostly indifferent and
我有些困惑,我有许多犹太人朋友,但是有时候他们大部分对自己的宗教冷漠甚至有时候还很敌视
sometimes even hostile towards their own religion. I myself am not Jewish but I have
我不是个犹太人,但我了解犹太教,我喜欢这个教.我很希望加入这个教
studied Judaism and love it and am very excited about converting.

My confusion is this: when I went to speak to a rabbi about conversion, he discouraged
我的困惑是:当我告诉rabbi我想皈依犹太教时,他不鼓励我这样做,并说加入犹太教比你想得更加严格,你

可以不加入犹太教也能过十分愉快的生活.我告诉他我是多么想加入犹太教,但是他仍然拒绝了我.
me from converting, saying that it is more serious than I think, and that I can live a

fulfilled life without becoming Jewish. I told him how excited I am about Judaism but he

still pushed me away.
该怎么办?我是很热情地想加入犹太教,却被拒绝了,而许多犹太人却不想多知道一些他们宗教的东西.

What is going on? I am thirsty for Judaism and I am pushed away, while so many Jews are not

even open to learning more about their own religion!

Answer:

回答:
There is a Jewish belief that Judaism is not just good for the Jewish soul, it's
犹太人有一个观念:犹太教不仅适合犹太人的心灵.这也是犹太人心里内在东西.
natural for the Jewish soul. The soul feels at home when it says Hebrew prayers,
当它说希伯来人的祈祷时候,看到Shabbat 桌子, 或搭起 mezuzah心灵便感觉自在
experiences a Shabbat table, or puts up a mezuzah. These acts are what makes the Jewish

soul comfortable. A Jew has an innate affinity towards Judaism.
这些行为使犹太人的心灵感到舒适.犹太人内心有着和犹太教的密切关系.

So why do so many Jews not seem interested in their religion? Because there is another

Jewish belief that every
那为什么许多犹太人看起来对他们的宗教不感兴趣?因为这里还有另一个犹太的观念:每一个力量都有一

个相反的力量
energy has a counter-energy. If the Jewish soul is attracted to Judaism, there must be an

equal and opposite
如果犹太人的心灵被犹太教吸引了,那也会有一个相反的力量使犹太人远离犹太教.唯物主义，犬儒主义

，怠惰, 漠然和更多
force that drives the Jew away from Judaism. Materialism, cynicism, laziness, apathy -- all

these and more
的阴谋使犹太人远离他或她的犹太内心.事实上,犹太教徒的心灵越强,就会越强烈地感觉到阻力
conspire to drive the Jew away from connecting to his/her Jewishness. In fact, the more

powerful the Jewish soul, the more intense this resistance will be.

And it must be this way. Otherwise the spiritual life would be too easy -- a Jewish soul

would just naturally fall into Judaism. And G-d wants us to be challenged. When Jews engage

in Judaism, they are taking upon
这是必须要走的路,否则这个精神上的生活来得太容易---- 一个犹太人的心将会很自然地归依犹太教.上

帝是想让我们被考验的.
themselves the life-long challenge to overcome these internal obstacles and find their

deeper self.
但一个犹太人专注于犹太教时,他们正在用他们一生的时间经受考验去克服他们内在的障碍并找到更加深

层次的自己

When a non-Jew approaches Judaism, it is a whole different story. He or she has no

"baggage," so he's open to
当一个非犹太人接近犹太教的时候,这和犹太人的心理是完全不同的.他或她心理没有包袱.所以他的心灵

对犹太的教义是敞开的
what Judaism has to say. He may be attracted, he may not be -- but he doesn't have the

emotional resistance that
他或许被犹太教吸引,或许不会被吸引-----但是他没有像犹太人那样在感情上的阻力.
a Jew does. This is why many non-Jews come to respect Judaism when they actually study it.

They are coming with an open heart, unlike the Jew who has an automatic resistance to

anything Jewish.
这就是为什么许多非犹太人在学习犹太教后就非常尊敬犹太教.他们有一个敞开的心,不象犹太人那样习

惯性地对犹太教信仰的阻力.

This is fine -- until the non-Jew considers conversion. He may feel that Judaism has a

depth and warmth that he seeks, he may feel good going to synagogue and celebrating

festivals, and this may lead him to think that it
直到非犹太人考虑加入犹太教前,这种心理是好的.他会感觉犹太教就是他要寻找的有深度和温暖的宗教.

他会对犹太人集会和犹太人的节日庆祝感到高兴.这些会让他觉得成为一个犹太人和使犹太教成为他的精

神家园是很容易的事情.但这里有一个因素他没有意识到
would be so easy to just become Jewish and make it his spiritual home. But there is one

factor that he's not aware of.

Now it all seems so nice and comfortable because you're just visiting. It's not yours yet,

so you can look at it 现在的一切看上去很美好和舒适,那只是因为你只是一个来访的观看者.你还不

是犹太教徒,你没有一点抵抗情绪,所以你可以客观地看待它,因为它的教义喜欢它.
objectively and just enjoy it for what it is, without any resistance. But the minute you

become Jewish, everything changes. Conversion means not only you receive the Jewish soul,

but you also receive the Jewish
但是当你成为一个信犹太教的人时候,所有的都变了.加入犹太教意味着不只是你接受了犹太人的心灵,而

且也接受到了犹太教徒的包袱,那使你感到沉重的包袱,那试图阻止你成为一个活跃的犹太人的包袱     

   
baggage that weighs you down and tries to hold you back from being an active Jew (again, in

order to retain balance and give you a challenge).

This is one reason why we push away converts. We set obstacles in their way so they can

taste what it's really like to be Jewish. So that it should be clear from the outset that a

Jewish life is not an easy one. There will
(为了保持平衡所以给你一个考验)
这是我们拒绝加入犹太教的原因之一.我们在他们加入犹太教的路上设置障碍,以让他们能尝试到作为一

个真正的犹太教信徒的滋味.让他们一开始就清楚一个犹太教徒的生活不是容易的生活.会经常有障碍等

着他们.
always be obstacles. The only difference is, before conversion the obstacles are from

without -- stubborn rabbis who tell you "don't bother with Judaism." After converting,

those same rabbis will welcome you with open arms,
唯一不同的是:在加入犹太教前,障碍来自"顽固"的rabbi告诉你:"不要烦扰犹太教".在加入犹太教后,这

些rabbis将展开双臂欢迎你.但依然会有一个声音告诉你不要来烦扰犹太教-----但是这个时候的声音是

来自你自己
and there will still be a voice telling you to not to bother -- but then it will be a voice

from within you.

If you can overcome the resistance set up by the rabbis, then you have a good chance of

being able to overcome the inner resistance that is the struggle of every Jew.
如果你能克服rabbis们设置的对你的抵制.那么你将获得好的机会和所有的犹太人一样为克服自己内心的

阻力而努力.