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JEWISH BOOK ANNUAL
An important discussion of the religious rift between the O r
thodox and the non-Orthodox from an Orthodox perspective
can be found in Reuven P. Bulka’s
The Coming Cataclysm: The
Orthodox-Reform Rift and the Future o f the Jewish People
(Oakville,
Ontario: Mosaic Press, 1984. Second Printing, 1986). Bulka pro
vides an historical background by considering especially the po
sition of the Reform movement, the various elements in that
rift, prominent among which is conversion, a specific proposal
for dealing with each crisis, and projections about the future.
A useful collection of articles on the subject is
The Conversion
Crisis: Essays from the Pages of Tradition
edited by Emanuel
Feldman and Joel B. Wolowelsky (New York: Ktav/The Rab
binical Council of America, 1990). The essays, from such re
spected Orthodox thinkers as J. David Bleich, Marc D. Angel,
and J. Simcha Cohen, are of a high intellectual caliber. Angel’s
article is particularly provocative because it provides an halakhic
approach to conversion that treats non-Orthodox preconcep
tions about what the Orthodox believe.
INSTRUCTIVE GUIDE
Becoming a Jew
by Maurice Lamm (Middle Village, NY: Jon
athan David, 1991) is also valuable. This book is meant for non-
Jews considering converting, for converts, and even for those
born Jewish. Lamm’s book, like Kukoffs and Kling’s, under
scores an interesting educational point: in terms of Jewish
knowledge, many born Jews are as Jewishly illiterate as those
coming to the religion for the first time. Because of that, in
struction books aimed at potential converts can often be ex
tremely useful for born Jews who have not received a sound
Jewish education. Rabbi Lamm’s book is also interesting because
it is clearly written from an Orthodox perspective. The book
may be said to indicate a more welcoming attitude toward the
very idea of conversion by the Orthodox.
Unfortunately, there is little curricular material specifically
about conversion. An excellent exception is
Jewish By Choice:
A Mini-Course on Conversion
by Bruce Kadden (Denver, Colo
rado: Alternatives in Religious Education, 1985). This Leader’s
Guide is to help those who wish to teach a course on conversion
for 7th graders all the way to adult education classes. There
is a useful outline of a course of eight one-hour classes with